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Family stories are told to younger generations to show them important lessons from the life of the narrator, one such story that can be told is that of a love story. Love stories are told to lead the culture in which the narrator grew up with into another. In the passage “Family Stories” by Steven Zeitlin, Amy Kotkin, and Holly Baker, the authors explain that family stories are told as a means to pass on culture to the next generation. They point out, “It stimulates healthy family interaction, it provides a technique for influencing and managing family members, and it serves as a ‘family engineered canal’ through which culture flows from one generation to the next” (19). By “canal through which culture flows” the family stories represent the …show more content…
Ramon says, “ Even if the woman says yes it’s up to the parents” this shows that the woman can say yes to marriage but ultimately it is up to the parents whether or not you will marry a specific person. By explaining the possibility of the parents saying no to a marriage Ramon also shows the mutual respect that family has on a parent’s decision. Ramon gives the hypothetical situation in which the parents don’t allow you to marry and he says “if she does then her extended family won’t go to the wedding as a sign of respect to the parents.” He shows that the entire familial community understands that the parents of the daughter are to be respected primarily. It is towards this central cultural belief that Ramon and Jaquelinne will rebel.
In developing their story, the narrators, Ramon and Jaquelinne build an exciting plot that expresses the idea of their going against the cultural norm of asking for permission from parents and rather running away together to the United States. They create this plot in the following
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When Ramon says, “…I had to ask her parent’s permission to go out with your mom” he is describing the cultural norm that he follows to be with Jaquelinne. Then in the rising action Ramon and Jaquelinne run away from Honduras to the United States as rebellious lovers against Jaquelinne’s parents. Jaquelinne describes her parents as “yelling at me and they were so mad that I left to a whole new country” when they found out. Her parents reacted angrily to her decision to run away due to the fact that they disrespected them as parents and went against the Honduran cultural upbringing. The climax of the story telling comes from Jaquelinne’s crossing into the US illegally to be with Ramon, not only going against her parents but also going against international law. She describes the experience of crossing the border, “it [the border] was dark night time” and then she contrasts the darkness with “the large light that lightens up everything [spotlight]”. Her experience was depicted as one of fright and danger which brought her to the United States with Ramon. The resolution can be seen with the marriage between Ramon and Jaquelinne in the United States showing the ending of their rebellious sentiments against the Honduran culture and Jaquelinne’s parents. Jaqueline shows the
The book “The distance between us” is the story of immigration written by Reyna Grande. The book recounts her true personal story before and after entering the United States. The story shows how poverty and parenting impacts the family. Grande was 2years old when her dad left her, 4 years old when her mom (Juana) left her and her two siblings (Mago and Carlos) with her grandmother in the Mexico. Since, then she was seeking her parents either her dad or mom in the story. Her illegal and undocumented entry in the United States depicits the struggles and challenges she faced while crossing the border. After she arrived in the United States she found that living in the U.S was not that easy what she has dreamed for and “The man behind the glass” was not like that what she had met before. Her siblings were angry because of their not supportive mother and abusive father which weaken their intimacy in the family. Instead, Mago her elder
In the second story of Drown by Junot Diaz, Yunior and Rafa have already been in the United States of America for about three years. In this story, their mother’s sister came to the United States. They travel to the Bronx in order to celebrate their aunts and uncles’ arrival. In Fiesta 1980, we meet their father and sister, and learn more about their mother. Through the way they all interact, we learn more about each family member’s characteristics and their family dynamic.
This bewilderment is not limited to just the girls either; the parents experience their fair share of perplexity at the chaos that is America. Unlike their offspring, Mr. and Mrs. Garcia work to retain and remember their Island roots...
As a young child, Rodriguez finds comfort and safety in his noisy home full of Spanish sounds. Spanish, is his family's' intimate language that comforts Rodriguez by surrounding him in a web built by the family love and security which is conveyed using the Spanish language. "I recognize you as someone close, like no one outside. You belong with us, in the family, Ricardo.? When the nuns came to the Rodriquez?s house one Saturday morning, the nuns informed the parents that it would be best if they spoke English. Torn with a new since of confusion, his home is turned upside down. His sacred family language, now banished from the home, transforms his web into isolation from his parents. "There was a new silence in the home.? Rodriguez is resentful that it is quiet at the dinner table, or that he can't communicate with his parents about his day as clearly as before. He is heartbroken when he overhears his mother and father speaking Spanish together but suddenly stop when they see Rodriguez. Thi...
One night Rodolfo overhears Sofia from the attic telling her mother that she is engaged; he is not happy about it but eventually comes to terms and accepts for Sofia to get married. Meanwhile he also tries to connect with his smaller daughter Ana Paula since he has come to realize that his relationship with his older daughter is non-existing. Eventually the family finds out that he has been staying in the attic and Miriam allows for him to move back into the guest room. They agree that he will live there until Sofia’s wedding day. During this time he begins to work on the leaks of the house and restores the house for Sofia’s wedding, meanwhile both Miriam and Rodolfo seem to miss each other and find connections again yet they don’t admit it to each other as well they both stop seeing their lovers. The day of the wedding comes and Rodolfo keeps his word and moves out to his own apartment. The divorce also goes through although it seemed they both new they were making the wrong decision. In the end Rodolfo gains the courage to take serenade to Miriam and they get together again. Sofia ends up getting the blessing from her parents to get married, Victoria gets a scholarship to go study journalism abroad and Ana Paula has gained more attention from both her parents. Rodolfo finds the perfect job that pays well and Miriam comes to feel like more than just a house wife, also they do end up
The emotional letter that Juan left for his mother might be one of the most emotional scenes in the documentary. The pure emotions that the letter was written by Juan to her mother leaves the audience with the bonds and emotions felt between the kids and families. Juan Carlos’s father abandoned the family years ago and left to New York, consequently Juan believe it is his responsibility to provide for his family. He also wants to find his father in New York and confronts him about why he has forgotten about them. The story of Juan is not just about migration of children, but also the issue of family separation. The documentary does not dehumanize but rather bring the humane and sensitive lens to the story of Juan where the human drama that these young immigrants and their families live. Juan Carlos is not the first of Esmeralda’s sons to leave for the United states, his nine-year-old brother Francisco was smuggled into California one month earlier. Francisco now lives with Gloria, his grandmother, who paid a smuggler $3,500 to bring him to Los Angeles, California. Once Juan Carlos is in the shelter for child migrants his mother eagerly awaits him outside. After she sees him she signs a paper that says if Juan Carlos tries to travel again, he will be sent to a foster home.
In Thomas King's short story "Borders," a Blackfoot mother struggles with maintaining her cultural heritage under the pressure of two dominating nations. Storytelling is important, both for the mother and for the dominant White society. Stories are used to maintain and pass on cultural information and customs from one generation to another. Furthermore, stories can be used both positively and negatively. They can trap individuals into certain ways of thinking, but they can also act as catalysts that drive social change within society.
The first paragraph evokes the normal and typical structure of the Italian-American immigrant family in this era. In the Vitale family, everyone has their own role. The father, Giovanni Vitale, has the duty of working long hours to provide for his family. The mother, Lisa, has the role of a homemaker, making dinner for the family, and takin...
The author clearly shows how his childhood effected his adulthood, making in a living example of what he is writing about allowing the audience to more easily trust what he is writing about. Instead of using factually evidence from other dysfunctional family incidences, the author decides to make it more personal, by using his own life and comparing family ideas of the past to the present.
Their experiences and the journeys of their lives are what most Hispanic teenagers go through. The 10 different stories explain the different themes shown throughout the book. The Hispanic community faces many problems and Diaz states a couple of them: gender, immigration, violence, drugs, family, cultural identity, and the Latino experience. In the beginning, Yunior and Rafa are both ignorant and show signs of hate towards Israel. The story about Ysrael is that when he was a baby, a pig bit him in the face.
Throughout my life, I've heard many different stories about my family. Because of these stories, I know about my background, and they have helped form my identity. Randall Bass, professor of English at Georgetown University, agrees that stories help shape people's identities. Bass states that, "Individuals derive their sense of identity from their culture, and cultures are systems of belief that determine how people live their lives" (Bass 1). Cultural stories about family history, religion, nationality, and heritage help influence people's behavior and beliefs. Identities of different people come from their cultures. Story telling begins at home. Stories help connect people to their systems of beliefs. They sculpt people's lives by giving them a model of how to live. People receive their earliest knowledge from different stories.(Bass)
The family's personal encounters with the destructive nature of the traditional family have forced them to think in modern ways so they will not follow the same destructive path that they've seen so many before them get lost on. In this new age struggle for happiness within the Kao family a cultural barrier is constructed between the modern youth and the traditional adults with Chueh-hsin teeter tottering on the edge, lost between them both. While the traditional family seems to be cracking and falling apart much like an iceberg in warm ocean waters, the bond between Chueh-min, Chueh-hui, Chin and their friends becomes as strong as the ocean itself.
That feeling of leaving his parents in the Philippines to go with a stranger when he was 12 years old is truly unfortunate, but his mother was looking looking out with his best interests in mind. She just wanted her son to get a taste of the American dream, and have a better life in America rather than suffering with her in the Philippines. Vargas’s essay moves the reader emotionally as he explains when he was finally successful in getting the highest honor in journalism, but his grandmother was still worried about him getting deported. She wanted Vargas to stay under the radar, and find a way to obtain one more chance at his American dream of being
...es one forgot she existed.” The daughters she raises are “perfect… any man will be happy with them because they’ve been raised to suffer.” As for marriage, they must do as their family says, not out of love. This means they can’t pick anyone they want to marry, the family does. Most Latin American families want their lady to marry a wealthy man. They know that wealthy man is aggressive, so Angela or her sisters would be perfect since they are raised to deal with harsh situations. So when Angela Vicario is told by her parents that she must marry Bayardo San Román, a wealthy and somewhat mysterious stranger who knows from the instant he sees Angela, that she is the woman he must have. She has no choice but to consent, particularly since her family is of modest means.
Nonetheless, this really is a tale of compelling love between the boy and his father. The actions of the boy throughout the story indicate that he really does love his father and seems very torn between his mother expectations and his father’s light heartedness. Many adults and children know this family circumstance so well that one can easily see the characters’ identities without the author even giving the boy and his father a name. Even without other surrounding verification of their lives, the plot, characters, and narrative have meshed together quite well.