Conflicts and Flawed Assumptions in “mistaken Identity”

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Lastly, both Steve and Kali are under a lot of social pressure. This contains the final conflict; the conflict of society. They are under pressure in two different ways. Steve is in his thirties and society would expect him to find someone, get married and start having children at this point in his life. He feels the pressure to find this so he took this opportunity to reach the first two steps in one night. “Your brother made is sound like it would be easy. I was looking for that.” (Cooper, 3). He actually jumped to this opportunity, that’s why he popped the question right away. If I was this desperate to find a girl to marry, I would’ve approach this situation differently. If he wanted this to work, he should’ve gotten to know her and her religion over dinner. On the other hand, Kali is under a different kind of pressure. It is expected of her to marry a great Hindu bloke and take them home for Diwali, have grandchildren and live happily ever after. In this way their societies are exactly alike; they are expected to get married, but at the same time their cultures are completely different. Throughout the play both Steve and Kali come to know each other better; where they came from, why they act the way they do, why they are at this dinner, and what made them do the things they did; “why would you tell me you’re a lesbian and not your brother? Kali: Maybe for the same reason you would ask a woman you’ve never met before to marry you.” (Cooper, 2-3).

What this story shows is that not only conflicts of culture, sexuality, and society, but any conflict could be resolved and any stereotype could be overcome just simply by the exchange of words. There is very little chance that all stereotypes and prejudices will dissolve from out nowadays society in just an instant, however, we can start with ourselves, start with our inner Steve. Just simply sit down and invest time and interest into someone you might not understand or someone who has a different story than you. Try to understand their points of views, where they came from, their emotions, feelings, thoughts, but most importantly their worldview.