Cultural Baggage Ehrenreich Analysis

“Where are you from?” is a common question people ask if you look ethnically mysterious. Being a different race with unique facial features shows you are, not what they call in the United States “American”. Evelyn Alsultany was born and raised in New York City. Her ethnicity is Arab from her father's side and Cuban from her mother's side. She describes the social issue, she confronts the way people approach her creating assumptions, consequently making her feel excluded from her cultural background. For that reason, she wrote her experiences and suggests ethnicity should be recast.

Describe one of the social issues presented in Nickel and Dimed. What is the author's point of view about this issue? What is your point of view?

Thesis: Ehrenreich’s personal use of varied rhetorical strategies allowed her to divulge the working conditions and struggles of the poverty-stricken class to the readers in order to provoke them to realize that something has to be done about poverty..

In the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, the main character Jeannette goes through a collision of culture by the way her parents disagree about their religious beliefs. The difference between the two parents are shown when Jeannette says “Church was particularly excruciating when Dad came along. Dad had been raised a Baptist, but he didn’t like religion and didn’t believe in God. He believed in science and reason, he said, not superstition and voodoo. But Mom had refused to have children unless Dad agreed to raise them as Catholics and to attend church himself on holy days of obligation”. Growing up with parents who had complete opposite religious beliefs would be confusing, especially for Jeanette 's situation growing up with no stability.

The backgrounds of person represent the person’s current recognition. The background of the person can include such as culture, heritage, and religion. In “ Who Am I?” by Beverly Daniel Tatum, ‘’… the psychoanalytic theorist who coined the term identity crisis, introduced the notion that the social, cultural, and historical context is the ground in which individual identity is embedded. (Erikson QTD in Tatum 10) In Tatum classroom she asked student to complete the sentence” I am”. The “ Jewish students often say they are Jews, while mainline Protestants rarely mention their religious identification.” So, the student in her class knew their identity based of their religious. They were classifying their self by what they believe in as their identification. The heritage comes along with religious that is pass down by families. They often follow or believe in what their great grandparents believed. The identity of person comes from the people pasts, which shapes their unique

The culture I identify is African American. The African American culture have several traditions that my family and I practice. The traditions of the African American culture that are practices among my family are maintaining family relationships, practicing Christianity, maintain hospitality, gaining education, and cooking.

Prior to reading these two articles, I had never heard of Dorothy Allison. After reading them, I do not think I will forget her. “A Question of Class” and “Don’t Tell Me You Don’t Know” grabbed my attention, but I could relate to “A Question of Class” more. Thankfully, I did not live in poverty the first eighteen years of my life like Dorothy Allison did. Also, I never experienced any kind of sexual abuse. Therefore, I cannot completely relate to her, but I can personally understand some aspects of what she had to say.

A restaurant worker’s work is never complete: many restaurant workers feel that they are public servants because they make harsh comparisons, generalizations and arguments. Barbara Ehrenreich’s piece titled “Serving in Florida” represents the condition in which workers are treated while working in a restaurant. Ehrenreich describes this condition as unfair because she must perform duties as if they are “strictly theatrical exercises” (130). By this she means that even if there is no work left to do, the managers do not want to see workers sitting. Ehrenreich believes that she is performing in a play while she is at work because she must pretend to be doing work at all times so that the managers, who sit around, don’t yell. Ehrenreich argues

In the novel, The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, a missionary family travel to the African Congo during the 1960’s, in hopes of bringing enlightenment to the Congolese in terms of religion. The father, Nathan, believes wholeheartedly in his commitment, and this is ultimately his downfall when he fails to realize the damage that he is placing upon his family and onto the people living in Kilanga, and refuses to change the way he sees things. However, his wife, Orleanna, and her daughters, Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May, take the Congo in, and make the necessary changes in their lives, and they do this in order to survive with their new darkness that they are living in. Curiosity and acceptance help the ones with curious minds,

“Cultural Baggage” by Barbara Ehrenreich explains the author’s views on traditional values that come from family ancestry. Ehrenreich’s motivation to write about this subject came from the way she was raised and challenged. She grew up finding new things to try and not to succumb to the mindset of accepting something because it’s always been that way. Ehrenreich’s father said in the essay, ‘“think for yourself’ and ‘always ask why’” (Ehrenreich, 04 Apr. 1992). Ehrenreich eventually figured out that she’s “the kind of people … who do not believe, who do not carry on traditions, who do not do things just because someone has done them before” (Ehrenreich, 04 Apr. 1992). In the author’s opinion, there’s nothing wrong to not follow or to neglect

Due to the constant contact between various people of the nation, there is some kind adaptation of one kind of culture from other. The impact of such contribution of culture is known as the culture legacies. Each national history and culture unfolds in its own particular way. Sometimes it could be the explanation for people’s previously inexplicable behaviors. In Chapter six of Outliers, Gladwell claims that cultural legacies “play such a role in directing attitudes and behaviors that we cannot make sense of our world without them”(175). In the film Stand and Deliver, Escalante is strongly aware of his students’ cultural legacies and takes as an advantage to change their attitudes in his classroom, his use of his knowledge of his students ' cultural legacies in his teaching practices. In this sense, culture legacies are powerful and persist and affect people attitudes and behaviors.

The intriguing texts, “My Mother Pieced Quilts” by Teresa Palomo Acosta, and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker contain two main ideas that explain how everyone’s culture has a direct influence on the way that we view the world. In other words, each of our backgrounds are full of experiences and knowledge, and we use what we know in every aspect in life. Specifically, Acosta expressed in her poem, “... how the thread darted in and out / galloping along the frayed edges, tucking them in / as you did us at night.” This passage is suggesting when the author remembers her mother mother making quilts, she remembers the memories that she associated with the quilts, making the quilts have a special meaning to her and her culture growing up. Additionally, Walker had a similar idea in her narrative about quilts but she includes another example where she writes,”... you could see where thumbs

Cultural heritage is what influences the values and fashion choices we adopt (Goddard, 2015). It is influences our family traditions and our family members. Most importantly, cultural heritage influences our zeitgeist or spirit of times that fits into our own history (Goddard, 2015). There are some people that take an interest in understanding their culture and their influences while others do not. The purpose of this assignment is to discuss my family’s cultural heritage. I will be including a cultural item, my family ties and traditions, and my current cultural patterns that reflect my lifestyle.

How does a person value heritage and what type of impact does it hold on a family with a substantial history? Taking a glimpse beneath the surface of family relationships and views on traditional heritage, author Alice Walker showcases a true grasp on letting readers see into the compassionate lives of three strong female leads. With her short story “Everyday Use” each character relatable and described in such detail, the reader can truly sympathize and understand the impact heritage brings to a family. Walker’s compelling short story “Everyday Use” explores how complicated family dynamics can impact the attitude towards heritage through the three female leads.

Some parents aim to include partially, if not all of the child’s birth culture into their household (Harf et al., 2015). While others, are not so keen and tend to favour bringing up the child completely into the culture of the adopted family (IBID). These different parenting practices, will ultimately influence the child’s future identity.