Born and raised in Haiti, a country whose culture combines a range of influences from the many people who have settled it, Marthine considers herself as one of the proudest woman in her town. Living in her native land for fifteen years, she learned from her parents many important elements of the Haitian culture such as religion, family structure, the importance of education and employment. Although these elements are important to one’s identity, how they really affect us is what I hope to prove in my essay.
Religion is one the many aspects Marthine learned from her parents. Although most of the population is catholic, her parents are Christians who worship in a nearby Pentecostal church and are involved in various choirs and prayer groups.
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Like most families, Marthine lived in a “lakou” a cluster of houses shared by extended families. There the elders are the most respected as they are perceived as grandparents figures, they stay home and care for the infants while their parents work. They are also known for the good advices they give, they share everything from their food, clothes, to their money.
Moreover education and employment are also valuable assets to Haitian families. Although Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world and is often referred to as the home of the unemployed, Marthine grew up with her parents’ daily reminder that “le travail c’est la liberte” a saying that simply means that working gives freedom. She then developed a strong sense of independency and believed that finishing school will give her the education she needs to compete for a job, thus becoming an independent
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In the article “From Home to School” Dilg shows the different experiences some students have at home and at school, she says: “They roll out of bed at 7:45a.m., wolf down breakfast, and sprint across the street to class. The local hangouts they frequent during lunchtime are the same ones they’re drawn to on the weekend. For other students, leaving each day the neighborhood of their home for the neighborhood of the school means losing touch with family, relatives, friends, and the community where they’ve been raised. For some it means traveling each day between two different worlds. For some it feels like living two different lives and not fully inhabiting either”. (P 147-148) Very often ELLs or newcomers find themselves not only struggling to learn a new language but also fighting between their original culture and the new one they are creating. They try very hard to stay true to their roots while they are also pretending to be someone else just to fit in, which results in a lack of sense of
“Standard English was imposed on children of immigrant parents, then the children were separated from native English speakers, then the children were labeled “inferior” and “ignorant” (Hughes 70) because they could not speak Standard English. In addition to feeling inferior about their second language skills, these students also felt inadequate in regard to speaking their own mother tongues” (qtd in Kanae)
Why are these background informations useful? Because these informations provide us some important basic knowledges of Haiti. As a country mainly composed of ex-slaves, Haiti is mainly composed of people of African origin. However, why is Haiti so poor compared to its other black majority neighbors such as Saint Kitts and Neves and Barbados? Because Haiti did not attain its independence through peaceful means. Haitian revolt against the French, and they indeed won, against Napoleon Bonaparte[2].
Language is an important part of who we are. It influences the way we think and behave on a great scale. However, sometimes it is forced upon us to go in different directions just so we can physically and mentally feel as if we belong to the society in which we live in. Just as we see in Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez’s “A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, both authors faced some challenges along the way by coping with two different languages, while still trying to achieve the social position which they desired.
Although, most of Haitian parents act almost the same way. My Haitian Parents are one of a kind. Whose parents are not annoying and want them to stay home and stay their baby girl forever. No matter what happens, I will always be their baby and they will always be my parents. My parents only want me to be better than them without socializing, or doing anything that relates to going outside or a thousand miles away. Who will watch over me after God if they don’t? Family Love never
It’s stated more than once in this story that a true and honest living is not easily come by for any native of Haiti and they earn very little money when a job is available. The people are paid an insubstantial wage, live in shantytowns, and often times go to bed with their stomachs distended from a voracious and unforgiving hunger. In The Norton Mix Introduction to Literature, Danticat shows these significant consequences of the Revolution through stating that when it got really bad for the family, they would boil ground sugar cane so that it would get rid of the hunger pangs that often tormented the children of the poor (p. 229). The way they live shows the negative effects of the Revolution by showing that although they are technically free, they are still oppressed through economic conditions and puny and sporadic
For more than 300 years, immigrants from every corner of the globe have settled in America, creating the most diverse and heterogeneous nation on Earth. Though immigrants have given much to the country, their process of changing from their homeland to the new land has never been easy. To immigrate does not only mean to come and live in a country after leaving your own country, but it also means to deal with many new and unfamiliar situations, social backgrounds, cultures, and mainly with the acquisition and master of a new language. This often causes mixed emotions, frustration, awkward feelings, and other conflicts. In Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, the author describes the social, cultural and linguistic difficulties encountered in America as he attempts to assimilate to the American culture. Richard Rodriguez by committing himself to speaking English, he lost his cultural ties, family background and ethnic heritage.
The word community is defined as a group of individuals residing in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. We all, whether we know this or not, belong to particular communities and even sub communities (self contained community within an unusually large area). One particular community that I've been a part of during my entire life is the Haitian community. An Haitian Community is usually a place where a group of Haitian nationals reside, we share many cultural beliefs and practices together. In this paper I will be investigating some of the beliefs and practices of the Haitian Community.
My cultural identity, is Haitian American. My parents come from a country of beautiful landscape and valleys of the hidden treasures of knowledge, diverse people, and rustic towns. My parents walked up steep plateaus for water, laid in grassy plains for peace, and dive into the sea for cooling in Haiti’s humid heat. Although, I come from a culture of deep history, the first country to gain independence in the result of a successful slave rebellion, my parents knew the plague of suffering Haiti’s battle with will not recover through the poverty, unemployment, and illiteracy. As Haiti fought through its demons, my parents fought to provide plentiful opportunity for their family and immigrated to the United States of America.
Marriages are traditions they are colorful and festivals with an emphasis on music, dance, community, family and friends. Haitians are big on family values and they place great importance on family life no matter what class they belong to middle and upper-class habitants often live in urban environment and celebrate formal marriages and have family traditions like modern American values. The lower economic class families of tin have a policy or common -law marriages and live in more informal- extended family environments family comes first above work and other responsibilities the younger kids might go to school and the older ones will just have to go straight to work at a young age. The climate in there is mostly hot and humid but it’s also a very tropical place as well but during November to January Haiti is very wet. Haiti’s culture differs from America culture I a few different ways such as the language is very different Haitians language is a very unique mix of French, African and indigenous in America we speak English their food is different from ours just as well as ours is different form
People who are part of the Haitian-American culture, like myself, are either born in Haiti and moved to the U.S. and have assimilate to the American culture or were born in the U.S. and have parent who were originally from Haiti. I was born in Haiti and raised in the U.S. I can relate to other people, female and male, who were also born in Haiti and have moved to the U.S at a young age. Members
English is an invisible gate. Immigrants are the outsiders. And native speakers are the gatekeepers. Whether the gate is wide open to welcome the broken English speakers depends on their perceptions. Sadly, most of the times, the gate is shut tight, like the case of Tan’s mother as she discusses in her essay, "the mother tongue." People treat her mother with attitudes because of her improper English before they get to know her. Tan sympathizes for her mother as well as other immigrants. Tan, once embarrassed by her mother, now begins her writing journal through a brand-new kaleidoscope. She sees the beauty behind the "broken" English, even though it is different. Tan combines repetition, cause and effect, and exemplification to emphasize her belief that there are more than one proper way (proper English) to communicate with each other. Tan hopes her audience to understand that the power of language- “the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth”- purposes to connect societies, cultures, and individuals, rather than to rank our intelligence.
Tan’s essay does more than just illuminate the trouble with language variations; her essay features a story of perseverance, a story of making a “problem” harmonize into a “normal” life. Almost like a how-to, Tan’s essay describes an obstacle and what it takes to go above and beyond. Mirroring Tan, I have been able to assimilate “the [world] that helped shape the way I saw things” and the world that I had to conform to (Tan 129). Life is a struggle, but what makes it worth it is the climb, not what is on the other side.
Corruption and abuse have been cancerous hallmarks of Haiti’s political system and leaders. Until recently, power switched hands quickly and brutally as dictators faced assassinations, coups, and international interference. The instability of political roulette has made it difficult to accomplish or establish any social, economic, or environmental plans or policies. Racism is a rampant residual from the colonial era. Wealth and power are controlled by the mulatto elite and little concern or regard is shown for the poor. Few social programs have been created to assist the poor as resources are diverted away from communities and into the hungry pockets of the corrupt. Differences in languages and religions also echo the past. The ruling class speaks French and is predominately Roman Catholic while the majority of Haitians speak the slave language of Creole and practice the voudon (voodoo) religion. The focus of power resides in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Rural communities are ignored and struggle to survive by farming. During the colonial era, much of Haiti’s land was deforested to accommodate sprawling plantations. Wood is also used in the building of homes and as a primary fuel. The removal of trees caused severe erosion and the loss of the nutrient topsoil which washed into the ocean, impacting marine life and fishing. Farmers have moved to Port-au-Prince to seek employment. The desperate
...xpressing her Chinese culture. Mastering a second language allows her to articulate her and her mother’s thoughts; it is a foundation for her pride and a foundation to express herself. For Gloria Anzaldua, instead of choosing one language over the other, she chose a mix of the two and fights for it. She realized the value of her language when she lost it and now treasures it. The kind of Spanish she speaks is neither English nor Spanish, but both. It is overflowing with culture from Medieval Spain, France, Germany, etc., just from the origins of the words. It is her pride and a representation of herself, fighting and living. In conclusion, in addition to Lera Boroditsky’s article proving that the structure of language affects how we think, the articles by Eric Liu, Amy Tan, and Gloria Anzaldua show how language is a foundation for a person’s culture, pride, and self.
...ents go on addressing them in their natural language, but the children reply in English. What the children of immigrants end up with is not a compromise, not a blend. They end up pure and simple with the language and culture of their peers” (pg. 30).