Generational Differences The films The Jazz Singer and Brighton Beach Memoirs have a different sense of Jewish values. The two films are in two different decades, the ‘20’s and ‘30’s respectively, so the biggest difference is going to be the generation, where in The Jazz Singer there were mostly immigrants, and in Brighton Beach Memoirs there were second generation immigrants. From this, it is determined that the first generation Jewish immigrants was focused on being Jewish while also successful, and the second was about being successful while also Jewish. In the Rabinowitz family there were three characters, two of which were immigrants, and one of which was a second generation immigrant. The two first generations, mama and papa, were very focused on making sure Jewish values and behaviour were instilled upon Jackie, the second generation immigrant. Mainly this comes up in Jackie’s career choice. While his father wanted him to continue tradition and become a cantor for their very traditional synagogue, Jackie wanted to become a jazz singer. This change of goals was extremely disapproved of by Jackie’s father, who disowned him in practice but not …show more content…
anything legal. Jackie’s mother was a slightly different story. While mama did want Jackie to do what he wanted in life, she did not fight for him when it got serious. Mama was overruled by papa, but she may have seen where papa was coming from. Since mama couldn’t read, it is assumed that she was not trying to change herself to be more Americanized, and therefore also stood by her traditional Jewish values. In the Jerome family there were no first generation immigrants. The parents were second generation and the children third generation. In “At Home in America” there was a lot of talk about the neighbourhoods the Jews lived in, one of the key point being that the new generations were moving out. This is reflected in Brighton Beach Memoirs where the family lives on across the street from Irish Catholics. But that does not mean they had become secular. While the Jerome family was not orthodox, they still made sure they were Jewish. From the children being beaten up to the people they hang around with, the role of Jewishness in their family was not too prominent but it was there. That being combined with them living in a place that is not overly Jewish further proves the reading that talked all about moving out and expanding their horizons while still being Jewish. Comparing the two families ends up having a weird looking venn diagram.
While the first generation Jews and third generation do not overlap, and therefore can’t be compared, the second generation does. In The Jazz Singer the first generation was about keeping with Jewish values and traditions, whereas the second generation was about being successful as well. In the Jerome family, there was a larger emphasis on working their way up the socioeconomic ladder than being Jewish. The raising of the children is the key. In the Rabinowitz family Jackie was raised to be observant, obedient, and a cantor. In the Jerome family the children were raised to be regular Americans, get good educations, and follow the Jewish traditions in the background of their lives. This is seen with the cemetery and whispering the names of
diseases. As far as this reflecting the community, there is a notable difference between the two films. In The Jazz Singer everything was as a community. The father taught lessons and the family was heavily integrated with the synagogue. In Brighton Beach Memoirs there was more of a ‘we as a family’ than a ‘we as a religion/nation’ sense of conduct. There was still the local grocer, Greenblatt’s, and the parents tried to only associate with Jews, but the third generation didn’t appreciate any of it. Eugene wasn’t a raincoat cutter, he was going to be a writer, someone who could become famous. Because of that generational difference, it is seen that the 20’s were more about practicing Judaism, and the 30’s about happening to be Jewish. Taking a final look at the generations, a timeline of Jewishness can be formed. The first generation was gung-ho about being Jewish and integrating with Judaism. The second generation was all about filtering out what was slowing them down from success while still keeping themselves identifiable Jewish if you looked hard enough. The third generation had very little respect for Jewish tradition, and was more about making sure they fit in with society. That difference in goals is what shows how the 20’s were about being Jewish Americans, and the 30’s about being American Jews.
Jackie came home and married Rachel. A girl that he’d had his eye on for a long time, and knew that he would one day marry. A couple months later, they had a beautiful son. Jackie promised himself and his son that he would not be like his own father. He was always going to be there for him.
Jackie was born and raised in Cairo, Georgia 1919. He was raised by his single mother Mallie along with is four siblings. He was the first person at UCLA to obtain a varsity letter in baseball, basketball, football, and track. He married Rachel Isum who he met at UCLA. He however had to leave school due to financial reasons and decided to enlist in the military, but was honorably discharged due to being court-martialed due to his actions against racial discrimination. Jackie played one season in 1945 with the Kansas City Monarchs leading to further achievements in his professional baseball career.
Sara Smolinsky’s culture, like the African-American culture promoted by Langston Hughes is neither purely Jewish nor American. As a student, Sara is not an American college student; as a teacher, Sara is not an American teacher. She is a Jewish-American student; she is a Jewish-American teacher. Her cultural identity is shaped by both worlds. She is Americanized to an extent, but her cultural origins remain distinct from those identified as purely American. Her American college education distanced her from the Old World culture embodied by her father, yet her return to the community marks the importance of—and the inability to remove herself entirely from— her roots.
The country club gave the Patimkin’s a replica of middle class life in America. Since the Patimkin’s were Jewish they didn’t have the opportunity to belong to a regular country club, they belonged to the Jewish one, which is why it was the closest replica of the American dream to them, because they were not allowed to be part of the non-Jewish country clubs. The Patimikin’s represent the new world, they achieved higher success and they are able to identify with the non-Jewish part of middle class society a lot more then their fellow Jewish immigrants who have not fully assimilated to society. On the other side of the coin there is the Klugman family. They represent the old world. They live in the valley with the rest of the Jewish immigrants and they live meagerly because they do not have that much and they have not gained much success in their lives while living in the United States. The two characters that represent the old and new world are Brenda Patimkin and Neil Klugman. To Neil, Brenda represents what he doe...
At first glance, "Sonny's Blues" seems ambiguous about the relationship between music and drugs. After all, the worlds of jazz and drug addiction are historically intertwined; it could be possible that Sonny's passion for jazz is merely an excuse for his lifestyle and addiction, as the narrator believes for a time. Or perhaps the world that Sonny has entered by becoming involved in jazz is the danger- if he had not encountered jazz he wouldn't have encountered drugs either. But the clues given by the portrayals of music and what it does for other figures in the story demonstrate music's beneficial nature; music and drugs are not interdependent for Sonny. By studying the moments of music interwoven throughout the story, it can be determined that the author portrays music as a good thing, the preserver and sustainer of hope and life, and Sonny's only way out of the "deep and funky hole" of his life in Harlem, with its attendant peril of drugs (414).
Rock ‘n’ roll and 20th Century Culture According to Philip Ennis, rock ‘n’ roll emerged from the convergence of social transformations which resulted from World War II (Ryan 927). Despite its pop culture origins, rock music is arguably one of the strongest cultural factors to develop in this century. Artists such as Lennon, McCartney and Dylan defined the emotions of a generation and, in the last decade, it as even been acknowledged by members of the establishment which it hoped to change as a major influence in the country. In order to understand how rock went from a sign of rebellion to a cultural icon, it is necessary to understand where it came from.
In the face of increasing anti-Semitism during the interwar periods Jewish identity often came into conflict with societal pressures to assimilate. Irving Howe’s, A Memoir of the Thirties, written in 1961, depicts his experiences as a Jew in New York City. In his memoir Howe describes the living and social conditions during this decade that pushed many New York Jews to become involved in some type of socialist movement. Although the memoir is primarily about political activities, his description of the social conditions and the Jewish community provides ...
The two families were just some of those that really cared although all had different stand points and views they stuck to their beliefs and ended with more love for each other in the end than they ever started with. In the white family there was the conservative ex-marine father who loved his children dearly but wanted them to be well behaved and often was hard on them. The mother was more liberal housewife who stood up for her and her children’s opinions to her husband. The oldest son Brian was a football star in high school and later goes on to join the marines and fight in Vietnam. The middle child Michael was very liberal active anti war student who marched with the blacks in the Birmingham. The youngest Katie was a young 16 year old who loved to party and have a good time. The black family was a family of good hearts and lots of hope.
In this essay I will talk about the music in the 60's, noteworthy that in some cases I will compare some situations with the Latino-American situation, I know is has nothing to do with the topic, but who is the guy who is writing in this sheet of paper? ME, Is my essay and I will write what I want (This is an example of Freedom Of Expression, we will see it more on that later)
The Jazz Age was one of the many highlights of the 1920’s before the stock market crash that triggered the start of the Great Depression in 1929. Because of the distress that the American soldiers faced during World War 1, many of them returned questioning the true meaning of life. Their solution was to recklessly enjoy their lives since you only live once. A completely new culture bloomed during the decade through it’s new music, crazy dancing and brand new atmosphere. While the country seemed to be rather optimistic as a whole during the 1920’s, this decade actually had quite a few issues. Although the United States demonstrated confidence throughout the decade, there were many situations in which the country experienced disillusionment and isolation.
How does these two families show their values? The Logan family demonstrate positive like family,pride,learning and courage, The Wallaces demonstrate negative like how there are wealthy, racism and how they think they are more powerful than blacks.
This study demonstrated that pop music influences happiness mood. As hypothesized participants in the pop music category were influence by the music and seem happier. The analysis revealed that participants in the rock and classical music categories didn’t have an effect in their mood. The results for rock and classical music did not supported the hypothesis, which rock music causes a person to have an aggressive mood, and classical music will lead to a calmer mood. The data support the primacy effect pop music results supported the hypothesis that pop music leads to a happier mood. The results from this data support from previous literature research such as the pop category. The results could also interpret as support for (Hargreaves, 1999). People make their music preferences based on the emotional state they are in (Hargreaves, 1999). The analysis revealed that pop music scored higher than students who had rock or classical. The implications for this study are to examine if music influence mood in a negative or positive aspect). As an outcome happiness mood correlated with pop music . There wasn’t no effect between rock music and aggressive mood. Classical music didn’t have a relationship between classic music and calm mood. The results of this study wouldn’t be able to support (Jordana Mena, 2007). This consists of classical music being composed with different emotions based on the key and time signature it is on. If the classical piece is written in a higher key then they saw different mood responses than the classical pieces written in a low key (Jordan Mena, 2007). This study has provided that music is more than just a piece, of a lyric, beat, or instrument it has been proven that music can help people ...
James Baldwin, the author of “Sonny Blues,” is an African American novelist and storywriter. In one of his most famous stories, “Sonny’s Blues,” he writes about a young boy that has an addiction to heroin. The story shows the relationship between two brothers and the problems that they, and their family have to endure. The brothers do not have a close bond during the time that the story takes place. James Baldwin, while growing up also dealt with many family issues. He didn’t know his biological father and had trouble being accepted into society being a homosexual African American. The boy portrayed as Sonny in “Sonny’s Blues” very closely resembles the way Baldwin must have been treated growing up. They both were shunned from society, and both struggled with the way their families interacted with one another. Baldwin could have purposely done this to illustrate what his childhood was like and express it to the world through the story that he wrote.
The Beat Generation explored and influenced American culture through the authors literature. Walt Whitman said, “Resist much, Obey little” (Reynolds, 205) which is quoted from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Whitman believed highly in his philosophy of life and humanity. He believed in mans individual identity, which is distinct to ones self. This quote contrasted Allen Ginsberg’s poem “A Supermarket in California” which portrayed American conformity within a capitalistic society. Ginsberg used imagery to portray America’s capitalism commodity fetishism resulting in a loss of individualism.