In the current age of globalization, the United States is more ethnically diverse than ever before. However, the majority of that diversity remains concentrated in large cities, such as Los Angeles and New York City. House and Vaswani’s choice to create two characters living in vastly different geographical demographics marks a contrast between the diverse large cities, like Meena’s New York City, and the predominantly white communities in rural parts of the country, such as River’s town of Black Banks, Kentucky.

As Meena navigates life in a new culture, she befriends people from all over the world, such as River, Mrs. Lau, and Ana Maria. Conversely, at the beginning of the book, River doesn’t have any friends who look different from him. The only Indian people in his community are Mr. and Mrs. Patel. Throughout the course of Meena and River’s correspondence, they discover they share many similarities and differences. Meena teaches River about her language, culture, and religious traditions, and River does the same in return. As they learn from one another, they discover that the similarities between them outweigh the differences. Observing the people around them, they also see how struggles such as homesickness, grief, and the desire for acceptance affect all people, no matter their culture or skin color.