ipl-logo

Cultural Baggage Ehrenreich Analysis

1308 Words6 Pages

In Barbara Ehrenreich’s essay, Cultural Baggage, she talks about the topic of ethnic heritage as the author in the paper is replying to a friend that’s asking her what her background is. Barbara states that her reason for writing her essay is to make readers conscious that having no ethnic background is in fact an ethnic background. She takes on an uncommon view of herself as most people pride themselves in stating where they came from and the traditions of the culture they abide by, rather than feeling embarrassed to claim their background. Perhaps Barbara is trying to get us to understand that a family that doesn’t cling to their culture and abide by its standards can be just as successful as those that do ,and also that being different isn’t always a bad thing.
Throughout the essay, Ehrenreich …show more content…

They even scoff at her attempts to get them to be religious as they point out that she didn’t even believe in God herself. At this time, it just seems like she’s trying to give her children a sense of identity that she never was able to achieve when she was their age. However, after she tucks them in bed, she asks herself, over an alcoholic drink, why she even bothered trying, since even their grandparents that knew their religious culture, didn’t even bother following it. So why did she expect them to follow it? Maybe because she was second guessing herself about not having any ethnic identity is a good thing. However, she does go on to point that her grandparents and great grandparents don’t believe in God either. So far, it just seems like Ehrenreich is portraying a high sense of disconnect from her ethnic roots, so much that it seems like she doesn’t have the ability to cultural pride like others do. However , she turns that into something that she quite proud of the older she

Show More
Related

  • My Identity And African American Identity

    1601 Words  | 7 Pages

    but I do not think about what that means nor what means for my other identities nearly as much as I probably should. While the captured Africans, repressed Native Americans, and the European settlers that fragmented them are all parts of my ancestry and have led to my current identity, my identity now is so vastly different from their modern counterparts. Let me begin with the dominate culture that makes up the bulk of my identity, African

    Read More

  • Samantha Skylander Research Paper

    535 Words  | 3 Pages

    She wanted to do this when she was younger but her father would no allow any of this because it was a useless lazy trait. Now she has her chance to prove that he was wrong. That she can have a family that she doesn't need to be blood related, or have to have the same ideals. She can finally be

    Read More

  • Cultural Identity In Ethnic Hash By Patricia J. Williams

    405 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “Ethnic Hash,” Patricia J. Williams writes about her personal discovery of her cultural identity. She teaches the audience that cultural identity is the history of you and your family. At the beginning of her story, Patricia J. Williams viewed cultural identity as purely her race. Her initial response to the dish was to list her cultural background, which includes “Welsh…Cherokee

    Read More

  • Collision Of Culture In The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

    276 Words  | 2 Pages

    Growing up with parents who had complete opposite religious beliefs would be confusing, especially for Jeanette 's situation growing up with no stability.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Eat Turkey, Become American By Marie Myung-Ok Lee

    958 Words  | 4 Pages

    Families serve as children's principal settings for cultural and racial transmission, serving as their primary crucible for socialization, “What it all comes down to is that the family is the unit of cultural preservation. This is true for all families, but for immigrants, it is particularly bittersweet; to do one thing means something else is excluded” (Lee). Lee says that she felt lost at times for not knowing about her family's history before migrating to the United States, "Because our parents never spoke about Korea, we felt as if we’d landed in the middle of the Iron Range of Minnesota via spaceship" (Lee), and for not practicing the culture of their country of origin, “They (author’s parents) insisted that we were not Koreans or even Korean-Americans, but Americans”

    Read More

  • Serving In Florida Rhetorical Analysis

    1626 Words  | 7 Pages

    At the end of the essay, Ehrenreich loses her effectiveness because she starts to talk about a male server who pulled three shifts in a row and the things he did after the shift. The problem clearly evident to the reader is that instead of following through with an influential conclusion about how she overcame her difficulties as a restaurant worker, she instead talks about a male server who is capable of three shifts and other activities afterwards. Despite the fact that Ehrenreich uses many personal anecdotes, I got lost at the end because this makes the reader not want to take the author seriously in the conclusion and rethink everything that was previously said. Ehrenreich could conclude on a strong point about how she was able to quit working at that restaurant and find a better job that gave her better pay, benefits, hours and respectful people. Ehrenreich did a good job using a metaphor because it provided the reader with sensory detail to allow the reader to feel as if they were working in the restaurant.

    Read More

  • Who Am I Beverly Daniel Tatum Analysis

    759 Words  | 4 Pages

    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)

    Read More

  • The Poisonwood Bible Literary Analysis

    1462 Words  | 6 Pages

    Her religious views are almost nonexistent throughout the novel, so she never comes to terms with if it is something she does or does not believe in. Besides her clinging to American civilization, she has nothing guide her through the darkness, and never even attempts to learn how to. She doesn 't let herself connect to anyone, except for the only other American in the village, Eeben Axelroot. Because of this, she cannot grow and adjust, only remain in the same spot she had when they had first arrived in the Congo. Turning away from a darkness that one does not want to face is a perfect way to stay in the same spot that you have been for your whole

    Read More

  • African American Family Traditions

    995 Words  | 4 Pages

    My understanding of my ethnic culture is African American once was an oppressed group of people in the United States of America. African Americans were enslaved by Caucasian Americans and was treated as property. During the times of oppression, African American was not prohibited to read or write, to maintain stable family relationship and to have human rights. This traditions of the African American culture are emplace so the generations of African American can experience the rights other African Americans were

    Read More

  • Nonconformity In Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451

    582 Words  | 3 Pages

    We’ve a recording of her family. We have watched them carefully. ”(57) In this society, they spy on families for being different. Which shows how bad they react to nonconformity.

    Read More

  • Nickel And Dimed Rhetorical Strategies

    381 Words  | 2 Pages

    90, Pathos Pg. 132. How & Effect: In this case, Ehrenreich fuses both her mental/physical feelings and work experiences into her rhetorical strategies. Due to this, the effect is that the readers are able to Ehrenreich’s frustration about her working conditions and the physical ailments that the poor workers suffer everyday because of their jobs; the credible exaggeration and emotional appeal effectively allows Ehrenreich to bring realization about poverty to the readers. Why: Ehrenreich’s main goal is to induce the readers about the fact that poverty is something that needs to be dealt with, through her credible and personal use of rhetorical

    Read More

  • Cultural Conflict In Amy Tan's Short Story 'Two Kinds'

    477 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jaden= Orange Justin= Blue Qylan= Green intro Family is a part of our culture that can also affect the way we view things. In the short story, “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, Jing-Mei is facing cultural conflict with her mother causing Jing-Mei to see the world differently with different morals.

    Read More

  • Social Issues In Nickel And Dimed Essay

    492 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ehrenreich finds that rent “is well beyond [her] reach” (Ehrenreich, 13). She sees that

    Read More

  • Growing Up Asian In America Summary

    315 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the Story “Growing Up Asian in America” by Kesaya E. Noda, she discuss many of her life events that helped her become who she is today. Noda throughout the story struggles to find her true identity. She struggles to take her three identities, Japanese, Japanese-American, and Japanese-American- woman and make them all turn into one. A great example of Noda’s struggle to find out her identity in the Japanese culture would be, “My race is a line that stretches across the ocean and time to link me to the shrine where my grandmother was raised” (lines 44-45). This means that no matter where in the world she goes she will always be connected her family.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Personal Cultural Heritage

    1044 Words  | 5 Pages

    Personal Cultural Heritage Item 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.

    Read More

More about Cultural Baggage Ehrenreich Analysis

Open Document