After reading several novels and stories in class, I was able to more clearly see my own culture by comparison of others’ cultures. Some characters in various cultures held beliefs or acted in such a way that I either saw similarities or differences to my own culture. Of all the books we’ve read, I felt that I was able to most closely relate to Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You. There are some key differences between my family and their family, but there were enough similarities to understand them more than I could the other stories.
I am a white American with very little, if any, culture directly and knowingly obtained from one other singular country. Much of my family could be considered to be very average in comparison to a “typical” American family. We are middle class, my family is Protestant and live in a suburban area. All of my great-grandparents have lived in America and all of them (to my knowledge) have lived in or near Ohio. However, there are enough differences from this typical American culture to that of my own family.
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We don’t make many purchases that are large and flamboyant, but our family is not in a struggling socioeconomic class either. This also in line with how our family tends to go for bachelor’s degrees; it is an easier way to provide opportunities for higher pay and a middle class life. Some other aspects of the frugality of our family includes my mother cooking meals from home. She stayed at home while I grew up and my father worked. We would eat out only on occasion or for occasions. The foods we usually ate were either standard American foods or Americanized versions of others’ cultures foods. We also didn’t have cable television when I grew up, so we tended to watch either shows on public television or rent movies growing up which was cheaper than cable. Even now, I don’t really see a need for buying cable, especially with the prevalence of online television and movie
“Melting pot” is a common term used to describe the culture of the United States, as the country blends the values and ideologies of an abundance of different groups of people and individuals. As a result, there are a variety of possible positions on what it truly means to be an American. Some may argue that American identity depends on ethnic origin, religious background, or other personal characteristics. Others might claim that being American depends on whether one believes in liberty, equality, individualism, and justice. Nevertheless, Dwight Okita and Sandra Cisneros demonstrate that some perceptions about American identity can induce more harm than others.
In the realistic fiction book, The Red Umbrella, by Christina Diaz Gonzalez, the main character Lucia needs to remember how to celebrate her culture when moving to America. In the realistic fiction book, Inside Out and Back Again, by Thanhha Lai, the main character Kim-Ha needs to show her culture even though she thinks differently and is
While reading the second part of New Kids Yasmeen and Mohamod stories really resonated with me both for similar reasons. Yasmeen came to American with a complete family, her parents and siblings. Through the course of just one year her entire world has flipped upside-down. She lost both parents at different time and had to take on the role as caretaker for her younger siblings. She did this while also having to attend school.
For example, as I stated before Kelly grew up in the city along with his family, but compared to mine, my family did not have such luxuries. My family liked the getting down and dirty morality of life, can not say the same for Kelly’s family. My family and I are very different, Grand Prairies culture are similar to what my family experienced. Living off the land and owning large amounts of land, but me I grew up in a typical suburban neighborhood. All of these cultures reside in the Grand Prairie district, and how these cultures interact with each other is a different
The Millionaire Next Door “Frugal Frugal Frugal” Jayla Helton ECON 202 Summary What defines Frugal? According to Webster’s dictionary, this means the behaviors reflecting the economy in the use of a resources.
Culture defines us and how we are as we get older, it plays a big role growing up. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, the main character Janie goes through many different challenges to find herself and others. No matter how difficult things got, she always had a positive attitude, or stood up for herself. That's how she was raised. The people around her too, had positive outlooks.
Nevertheless, the interviewees frown upon being labelled as someone that values luxury over reasonable spending. Hence, they expressed their emphasis on the importance of needs over wants, and that practicality should triumph over extravagance. They see “limited” consumption as a form of self discipline, where excessive spending was only justifiable when it is spent on the family and invested in the children. If
I come from a United States of America culture, created from cultures of Native Hawaiians with Aloha spirit and a family Catholic background, having a strong faith of a higher power. I may speak English and have attended American schools, like most of the high-culture in America. However, I have also studied my low native culture from dancing hula and attending Hawaiian schools. United States of America derives from countless cultures and many continue to influence the American life-style.
In 1940, America was dominated by the verge of World War II which dampened the American culture. Everyone was more focused on preparing for war versus focusing on each individual’s religion, clothing, language, music, race, etc. There was a slight expression of racism, where African American were not allowed to donate blood to save the lives of fellow servicemen (Tindall, George Brown., and David E. Shi, p. 897,2013). In today’s society, America is considered to be a “melting pot”. People from different cultural backgrounds have migrated from all over the world and have influenced American living through religion, music, education, food, arts, etc (Bargo Jr, Michael, 2016).
“The Other Family” by Himani Bannerji, can teach people a life lesson about appreciating the culture they come from and that they should stay true to who they are regardless of what others think is right. In “The Other Family” when the little girl came home from school, she showed her mom a picture she drew of their family. When the mom saw the picture, she was very disappointed because the picture showed a white family, not theirs. The little girl said she drew a white family because all the books she read showed only white families. “I drew it from a book…all our books have this same picture of the family.”
America has long been a nation built upon the differences of the various people who have inhabited the land. Over time, while many groups have tried to hide these differences and create a “civilized” society where the white male is the epitome of the American man, they have not been able to silence the opposition that has challenged this view of America. America is a mix of cultures and people that have continuously fought for equal representation and rights to prove that they too are not simply citizens, but human beings. There have been select individuals that have tried to challenge this status quo and present the numerous different people that make up America. The best representation of cultural change over time can be seen through
How Do Stories Teach Us About Other Cultures Or Our Own? From the selection of stories, I chose Guan Nian and The Highwayman. Both stories teach us about techniques, quotes, values and attitudes. The values and attitudes in The Highwayman are Love, sacrifice, loyalty and that jealousy in not acceptable. The Values and Attitudes in Guan Nian are That teamwork is the key to success and Individual people doing things is harder than working together.
Two Worlds, One Girl There are many different cultures around the world, but you never really know what is like being between two different cultures, until you are experiencing it yourself. While growing up, I had the privilege and misfortune of becoming familiar with two different cultures: my family’s culture, from their birth country, Guatemala, and the culture of the United States of America. I say misfortune not because it was a disaster, catastrophe, or bad luck; I say it because sometimes you get so used to being in one culture that you start to forget about your family’s origin. Sometimes you even like something in one culture better than the other, and you feel guilty for having a preference.
I have grown up in Florida which is a diverse area which makes my personal culture contain numerous influences. Both my maternal and paternal sides of my family are pure Italian Americans. There is not much known about my great grandparents but they are believed to be peasants who migrated from Sicily into United States in the 1800’s. Traditions, influenced by beliefs, rituals and values are passed down or inherited by one generation to another (Inglehart & Baker, 2000). Many Italian Americans try to carry on traditions and cultures that their grandparents and parents had.
I have seen conspicuous consumption play out in many ways growing up. I grew up in a middle-class