We often see connections from the story to our own lives. Personally I feel like “Scar” by Amy Tan does this. Like Ralston Bowles once said “ Don’t let your struggles become your identity.” This story touches on the topics of cultural identity, forgiveness and relationship. An-me struggles are forgiveness and relationship while she’s also trying to find herself. In the story, we see Popo (the grandmother) has taken care of An-mei and her younger sibling. They seem to be a really close family, sadly An-mei father passed away and her mother fled to the north. Years go on by and we see the mother have came back to take An-mei with her, but the grandmother rejected. As the narrator says “this dark boiling soup spilled forward and spilled”. …show more content…
In order for Popo to survive, the mother has done a physical sacrifice. “My mother took her flesh and put it in the soup. She cooked magic in the ancient tradition to try to cure her mother this one last time.” (Tan 295) We see two different cultures colliding here in the western civilization, eating your own skin is seen as taboo, It’s also known to be form of torture. In the eastern civilization is a way to cure the illness that Popo has. Also, We see how the mother “had married a man with a wife, two concubines, and other bad children.” We see polygamy which is seen as a taboo, we see reports on how it can be so evil. For example, we hear how the Mormons polygamy is all based on family and children end up being confused once everything is brought out to the light. As many other children in the world now, they are confused on who they are and what’s the new norm, with these two examples we see how anyone even a child can be cultural confusion because we all do. We can see a connection to this with the world in the fact of having religion being a big part on identity. I remember meeting a girl, she would go to church five days a week, had long hair and wore long skirts everyday until she arrived to seventh grade. I remember students asking her why do you wear that, why do you pray before every meal. She would always respond to well my father told me to do it, she didn’t have no real idea why. Then she started to ask herself well …show more content…
An-mei seems to have a problem to forgive her mother after all since she left her children because they were disobedient children. Popo has a problem forgetting her daughter (An-mei’s mother) because she left her family to marry somebody else. A way we see that An-mei’s mother tries to ask for forgiveness is to do a ritual. An-mei’s mother had to cut a piece off her skin and eat it to cure her Popo. An-mei didn’t have to forgive her because she saw her mother in her and “put herself in her footsteps.” I can relate to this section because I have started to see the text to my world. I took my father nine years to realize that he was doing wrong, just like An-mei I saw fear in his eyes of being alone and not having his only daughter there with him. I feel like forgiveness and having petty towards somebody
Identity is defined as being oneself and not acting or being something else. The identity that one forms throughout their life time is a slow and tedious process, each and every event in one’s life whether it’s larger or small scale has an effect on developing ones overall identity. In the play Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth by Drew Hayden Taylor, Janice it caught between two identities and struggles to find a happy medium. Being adopted into a white family at a young age, Janice has become accustom to many of the white traditions and ways. Janice’s native family has recently gotten in touch with her and has put a great deal of pressure on her to regain some of the native culture she was born into. With pressure building Janice begins to question her identity and begins to show signs that she wants nothing to do with her native roots. Drew Hayden Taylor does an excellent job in this play showing how stereotypes and pre-conceived notions affect ones identity and their relationships within society. Each character within the play shows how their identity has been shaped through the relationships they have acquired throughout their lives; Tonto’s identity is heavily influenced by his father and best friend Rodney, Barb is influenced by the customs and traditional ways of her mother, and Janice after being adopted at a young age has formed an identity revolving around that of her adopted parents but she faces a great deal of pressure from her native birth family.
The main problem for the Liang family was that they had been scattered. Father and Mother divorced, Liang off at college, and the two girls (although they later lived near Liang Shan) were off for a long time in the country. This separation made hard times even harder.
A person’s identity develops from birth and is shaped by many components, including values and attitudes given at home. We all have a different perspective about who we want to be and what fits better with our personality. However, is our identity only shaped by personal choices or does culture play an important role here? It is a fact that the human being is always looking for an inclusion in society. For instance, there is a clear emphasis in both, “Masks”, by Lucy Grealy, and “Stranger in the Village”, by James Baldwin that identity can be shaped by culture. Grealy does a great job writing about the main issue that has made her life so difficult: her appearance. Cancer has placed her in a position where people,
The essay "Forgiveness," written by June Callwood, explores the concept of forgiving and how it influences people's lives for the better. Her work describes many components of forgiveness, such as how difficult it can be to come to terms with, why it is such a crucial part of humanity, and how it affects all people. Her essay aims to prove that forgiveness is the key to living peacefully and explains specific examples of people who have encountered extremely difficult situations in their lives- all of whom found it within themselves to forgive. To clearly portray this message in her writing, Callwood uses several strategies. She includes fear inducing statistics, makes many references to famous events and leaders, and uses a serious convincing tone, all of which are very effective.
“Our own culture is often hidden from us, and we frequently describe it as “the way things are.”” People do not even realize their own cultural identity, so then how do people know what shapes it? A person’s identity is shaped by cultural experiences that make them into the person they are today. Some of these experiences include someone’s parents, the media, and where they grew up.
Forgiveness is described as a conscious and deliberate decision to let go of feelings of bitterness or revenge towards oneself or a person who has caused harm. Understanding the past can help see behind the pain and suffering and lead to forgiving and accepting oneself. In Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees, Lily learns that forgiving others expedites the process of self-healing. By forgiving herself, Lily is able to recognize the guilt, hatred and pain she placed upon herself and put it behind her. In doing so, she made it possible to move on with her life and accept love from others. Lily’s understanding of her mother’s past helps her to forgive both herself and her mother for their actions.
A Pair of Tickets”, by Amy Tan, is a brief narrative about the conscience and reminiscence of a young Chinese American woman, Jing-Mei, who is on a trip to China to meet her two half-sisters for the first time in her life. Amy Tan is an author who uses the theme of Chinese-American life, converging primarily on mother-daughter relationships, where the mother is an emigrant from China and the daughter is fully Americanized --yellow on the surface and white underneath. In this story, the mother tries to communicate rich Chinese history and legacy to her daughter, but she is completely ignorant of their heritage. At the opening of the story "A Pair of Tickets" Jandale Woo and her father are on a train, the are destined for China. Their first stop will be Guangzhou, China where father will reunite with his long lost aunt. After visiting with her for a day they plan to take a plane to Shanghai, China where Jandale meets her two half-sisters for the first time. It is both a joyful time and yet a time of contrition, Jandale has come to China to find her Chinese roots that her mother told ...
Stories are created over time through our attempts to connect events in our experiences and derive meaning from them (Morgan, 2000). Maya Angelou once said, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Narrative methodologies assume that individuals have a various set of skills, capabilities, beliefs, values, and commitments that will assist them in reducing the influence of troubles in their lives. During the practice of narrative therapy the client is encouraged to deconstruct and critically appraise their story in search for new meanings (White & Epston, 1990). White (2000) believed that if one can change the way they describe their lives and the events within, there will be a change for the better.
When we think about our identity we often think about the way we look. Such features as hair color, eye color, skin tone, height and weight come to mind. Whilst these features are part of our identity, there are many more complex factors that make us who we are. Whilst psychological issues are paramount to the formation of our identity, I will be addressing the nature of our identity in relation to socio-cultural factors (Austin, 2002, p.9). During the course of this essay I will be discussing the term of Identity and some of the axes of identity, including Race, Class and Gender. It is important to understand some of the significant issues of identity so that we have more of an understanding of who and what we are, which in turn may help us to begin to better understand others.
In today’s society there are many words that are used or said without giving it complete thought. For example, the word “identity” is something to which I have never really given much thought or even considered how I identify myself.
Within his writing, Nam Le achieves autonomy by expressing authentic traits through the presence of the novel’s characters. In Le’s novel The Boat, the author introduces key behaviors and personas within the first story of the narrative. Though he could approach culture from a Vietnamese perspective, the writer offers a transnational impression throughout the story. By including various characters in numerous roles, Nam Le appropriately applies and articulates the title of his first story, “Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice,” which focuses on the ideas of lineage, identity, and inspiration.
Almost all the stories we had read throughout the semester reflect the conflict within a character. Some of them are physically imprisoned as the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper, others are confined in their own prejudices and emotional lives like the narrator in Cathedral and in Sonny’s Blues or the
Who am I; my beliefs, values, morals, and views on society have assisted in molding me into the person that I am considered to be today. I was raced with specifics values, traditions, and norms. Being raised in a small town made being socially aware very easy. I was raised under the southern Baptist Christian religion. Church was always the same and it had a majority of women in attendance although the men and elderly people ran the church overall. It was always the same, repetitive habits and events that occurred in my town but after a while I became accustomed to always being near or known by others.
I have never really sat down and thought about my cultural identity, at least until I started this class. I never thought about how my identity was different than that of other members in my community. I also never put much mind to the communication challenges that I could face when speaking with members of my community. To be totally honest, there is more cultural differences that I have faced and actually paid attention to, and now I seem to understand the importance of how one culture differs from another.
In Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake, the protagonist, Gogol, struggles with his cultural identity. He is an American-born Bengali struggling to define himself. He wants to fit into the typical American-lifestyle, a lifestyle his parents do not understand. This causes him tension through his adolescence and adult life, he has trouble finding a balance between America and Bengali culture. This is exemplified with his romantic relationships. These relationships directly reflect where he is in his life, what he is going through and his relationship with his parents. Each woman indicates a particular moment in time where he is trying to figure out his cultural identity. Ruth represents an initial break away from Bengali culture; Maxine represents