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What are the effects of breaking social norms
Rebellion in modern literature
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Imagine the pressure of being expected to follow your culture’s traditions even if you want to rebel and create your own identity. Carrying on traditions can be difficult for many young people who are searching for their identities as they grow up. One movie and one text, “Whale Rider” by Niki Caro and “El Olvido” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, tell about rebellion and tradition. One shows the reader that when one rebels against cultural traditions there can be surprising results, while the other demonstrates that leaving one’s tradition and culture can be dangerous. In Niki Caro’s film titled “Whale Rider” the character Pai is underestimated. Pai is faced with the challenge of being a girl who wants to be a chief of her tribe. Ultimately, through
Have you ever disobeyed your families culture? Or ever wanted to forget about something in your past culture? It’s not always easy, to follow traditions, sometimes you want to create or change your lifestyle.In the poem ‘’El Olvido’’ by Judith Ortiz Cofer and ‘’Life In The Age Of The Mimis’’ by Domingo Martinez. The authors of these texts indicate the idea that trying to hide your cultures identity is defiance against your heritage.
The concept of culture spurs many individuals to study, understand, and obtain knowledge of certain customs, values, standards, and rituals that create another perspective to empathetically grasp, and each relatable truth, discovered by its researcher, can establish foundational, inalienable traits to argument the researcher’s identity. Each human is elected to be a researcher of culture with or without the knowledge of the research, but ironically, identity is not a firm state of being; it is continually shaped and molded after each new experience. The Amish society is not the exception from the foundational consistencies of culture and identity, and furthermore, this society, akin to other cultural entities, has created an interesting form of identity exploration from a rite of passage known as Rumspringa. Consequently, Rumspringa relies on thin layers of accountability with many standards, which inevitably, induces negative consequences to an adolescent’s search for personal identity affirmations.
of the native tongue is lost , certain holidays may not be celebrated the same , and American born generations feel that they might have lost their identity , making it hard to fit in either cultures . Was is significant about this book is the fact it’s like telling a story to someone about something that happened when they were kid . Anyone can relate because we all have stories from when we were kids . Alvarez presents this method of writing by making it so that it doesn’t feel like it’s a story about Latin Americans , when
Through our readings of the Mexicans in the U.S. and the African-American experience modules, we begin to understand the formation of identity through the hardships minorities faced from discrimination. In this paper, I am going to compare and contrast the ideas of identity shown through the readings. These two modules exemplify the theme of identity. We see how Blacks and Latinos tried to find their identity both personally and as a culture through the forced lifestyles they had to live.
Family is one of the most important institutions in society. Family influences different aspects of a person’s life, such as their religion, values, morals and behavior. Unfortunately, problems may arise when an individual’s belief system or behavior does not coincide with that of family standards. Consequently, individuals may be forced to repress their emotions or avoid acting in ways that that are not acceptable to the family. In the novel The Rain God, written by Arturo Islas, we are presented with a story about a matriarchal family that deals with various conflicts. One major internal conflict is repression. Throughout the novel the characters act in strange ways and many of the family members have internal “monsters” that represent the past that they are repressing. In his article, “The Historical Imagination in Arturo Islas’s The Rain God and Migrant Souls”, Antonio C. Marquez’s implicitly asserts a true idea that The Rain God is a story about repression. Marquez’s idea can be supported from an analysis of secondary sources and a reading of the primary text.
When people are forced to make a choice between keeping their own roots and blending into the mainstream culture, many people tend to assimilate into the mainstream culture. Blending into the mainstream means new opportunities and better lives, but keeping old identities make them get the sense of belonging. There are numerous ways for people to keep their roots. In the essay “Once Upon a Quinceanera”, Julia Alvarez follows the female “coming-of-age” tradition known among Hispanic communities as quinceanera. In the end, she finds in order to give young Latina women a sense of empowerment and individual importance, the tradition must be redefined in a way that reflects and embodies the values and desires of
When living in the same place for a long time, the people and the surrounding culture gives you an identity. This identity molds you, influences you, and grows with you. When you move from your originating identity, there is always the fear of losing oneself. A person’s identity is what makes you, you. Granted, identities can and most likely will evolve and change with you. In Alfredo Veá, Jr.’s novel La Maravilla, we see the identities of three very different people and how those identities help shape the fourth person who is on a path of self-reflection. Along the way there are other cultural influences of Buckeye Road’s inhabitants and how those cultures help the main protagonist.
The killer whales are mammals. They have two common names the killer whale and the ocra. Killer whales inhabit most of the world’s oceans, going from warm waters to freezing cold waters (Monterey Aquarium). Not all of the killer whales are known because their are so many. Orca’s are very social and travel in pods. The whales usually stay with the same pods of whales as they travel.
“Imagine what Hispanic viewers-both inside and outside the US-think when they watch Raiders of the Lost Ark and see in the film’s opening ten minutes the dashing Angle hero betrayed four different times by Hispanic underlings. Couldn’t this be insidious reaffirmation of a true power structure and existing social order? The main goal is not just to spot stereotypes, but to analyze the system that endorses them.”
The children of these immigrants, Mexican Americans, wanted to form their own unique sense of identity. They wanted to break away from the American social norms and the old traditional Mexican ways of their ancestors, thus the zoot suits were created. The zoot suiters were young working-class men who were Mexican or African American. They symbolized, “a refusal: a subcultural gesture that refused to concede to the manners of subservience.” These suits created tension with American’s who felt angry that these young Mexican Americans were wasting cloth that could be used for their soldiers overseas. As shown, “As a large group of Anglo American bystanders looked on in amusement, the sailors ripped off his clothes, kicked and beat him, and left him bleeding an unconscious”. These ‘Zoot Suit Riots’ of 1943 showed the unfair treatment of Mexican Americans who just wanted to express themselves. Whereas young Mexican American women created the Pachuca, the female version of a Zoot suiter, which became popularized with the story of Mrs. Venegas defending a Zoot suiter who was being attacked. The Pachuca was a rebel, she challenged social norms in both American and Mexican cultures, “The Pachuca became at once the symbol and the reality of Mexican women’s new assertiveness, her unwillingness to stay in her traditionally assigned place in Mexican and Anglo society.” Where once young Mexican American women were in inner turmoil to follow their family’s social roles or the social role set by the society surrounding them, they broke off from the chain of submissiveness and became their own person with their new self-identity. But tensions were brewing within the household, with Mexican parents not understanding their child’s new identity and feeling like they were removing themselves from the Mexican culture.
In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel García Márquez demonstrates the extent that people will go to be accepted by their community. Cultural acceptance is a common goal that people try to achieve, however, it can induce negative effects on a person’s quality of life. The author uses clear diction to expose how family and society force people to abandon their personal values and self honesty to conform to the values of their community.
The curiosity of what our destiny will be and what our future holds has crossed our minds once or twice. Destiny is the conclusion to many life situations we are faced with in our everyday lives, but no one could figure out what their destiny is until the time is right. Antonio from the novel Bless Me, Ultima written by Rudolfo Anaya and Paikea from Whale Riders run through many conflicts trying to seek their destinies. Antonio, must choose to follow her mother’s footsteps of tending the land or become free and wild like his father and older brothers as well as deciding whether or not to follow and walk alongside Ultima, even if she may be evil. Unlike Antonio, Paikea must prove to herself and her grandfather that she is able to lead her tribe out of depression and laziness, even if she may not physically hold the components of becoming a leader. Both Antonio and Paikea are able to find their destinies, but they each have unique and individual experiences of family pressure, spiritual leaders and becoming a leader.
When growing up in a traditional civilization and continuing education in a mainstream environment, one can notice the work of two opposing ways of life. If one could study a traditional identity closely, one may sometimes see a mainstream identity in most of that organization’s people. Usually, a culture is any group of individuals that share the same beliefs, philosophies, and customs; identity can be defined as the image and viewpoints that others see when they look at someone. When looking into someone’s traditional organization, one can easily see two opposing identities. Similarly, Robert Bellah explains the formation of identity in his essay “Community, Commitment, and Individuality” which shows how identity comes about. Traditional society places a moral authority over its subjects, while the mainstream society does not. Such power can be seen in the Old Chinese customs inside of Maxine Hong Kingston’s essay. Her essay “No Name Woman” discusses a story of a Chinese mother abusing her own power to teach her daughter a lesson in morality. Some people within a group are responsible for giving power and identity; power is the ability to have more influence inside a culture at the expense of someone else. In addition, Dean Barnlund argues that because both groups want to increase their own well being, their opposing identities must clash with one another. He talks about cultural behaviors in “Communication in a Global Village.” All of these authors provide key wisdom into such things as culture, identity, and power. Customs can sometimes become a problem. One discovers that it is mandatory that one must reexamine his own identity. Until then, many problems may surface when transitioning between two contradictory cultures. In o...
The film The Whale Rider, directed by Niki Caro, follows the story of a young Maori girl called Pai, to fulfil her destiny of one day becoming the leader of her tribe. One of the most important characters to the story, is the main character, Paikea ‘Pai’ Apirana, She helps the audience appreciate and better understand the themes of leadership, and sexism. Caro uses many techniques to convey these themes, such as symbolism, different camera shots and angles, dialogue and lighting.
The first identities that every person is assigned are based upon a historical significance - a factor which should never solely determine an identity, especially in the form of a primary identity. It seems quite counterintuitive to give a person an identity based upon another’s identity, even if it is that of a parent. An identity should be a composition based solely upon an individual’s actions and experiences, not one that is imbued or assigned. When a child begins to develop a basic idea of one’s self, it seldom coincides with these given identities and ultimately creates the necessity for rebellion. The extent of this rebellion is determined by factors including the expectations of friends, family and society. The degrees of variatio...