My Father Is A Second Generation - 1600 Words

As anyone in America can relate, heritage and where we come from can construct our personality, build our demeanor, and in some cases, determines who we are as people. It often amazes me when I step foot into a class room, or go into a local bar, even walk down the street and see how many different faces there are. In some aspect, when I look close enough, I can see dead people. Not dead as in walking zombies, but a glimpse of the past ancestors that helped mold these individuals into the people standing before me. With that in mind, when I look the mirror I can see who came before me and through past stories I can feel the struggles that Italians felt as they crossed the ocean to become Americans. My father is a second-generation Sicilian who grew up in East Lynn, and my mother is a second-generation Northern Italian, who grew up in West Lynn. One of the stories I often hear is how the Italians and the Sicilians never really got along, and frequently butt heads. Naturally it was very Romeo and Juliet like that they would end up together. When they become husband and wife my mother had gone to the jewelers and had this pepper like charm created. This amulate is known as the Italian Horn, or â€Å"Cornicello†. Although it is more known today, this charm was hard to come by and not well known outside the Italian culture, and it helped bind the two families together as one. Every culture has very different ways of doing things, and although Sicily is part of Italy, the two culturesShow MoreRelatedThe generation gap in King Lear by Shakespeare1624 Words   |  7 Pagesunderlying themes in Shakespeares play, King Lear is the concept of the generation gap. This gap is mainly illustrated between the family. The older generation is Lear himself, and the younger generation consists of his daughters Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. In the second plot of the play, Gloucester represents the older generation, and his sons, Edmund and Edgar exemplifies the younger generation. Both younger generations can be divided into two distinct groups. Goneril, Regan and Edmund are theRead MoreReflection Of Self Reflection804 Words   |  4 Pagesin class to further my intellectual development and thinking. While many concepts have been discussed in class, the topic of secondary witnessing was the one I could relate to the most. Just like Art Spiegelman, I am a second-generation witness to my fathers life post-Vietnam war. I am a part of the generation that will continue to transmit my fathers war stories to future generations. I am witness to the Vietnam war in terms of how it affected survivors, such as my father, even though I didntRead MoreGenogram: Family and Grandmother Essay1357 Words   |  6 Pagesof one family it can help the student assist other understand how to help their clients. However, genograms backbone is a graphic depiction of how different family member are biologically, legally, and emotionally related to one another from one generation to the next (McGoldrick, Gerson amp;Petry, 2007, p.21). A genogram display â€Å"family information graphically in a way that provides a quick gestalt of complex family patterns; as such they are a rich source of hypotheses about how clinical problemRead MoreThe Memory Thief By Gil Kofman1323 Words   |  6 PagesKofman) explores the effects of post memory (Marianne Hirsch) on second-generation Holocaust survivors. How is this memory of the Holocaust passed on and what kind of different responses to this memory are shown in the film? The purpose of this essay is to understand Marianne Hirsch’s concept of Post memory in relation to Holocaust tragedy. Furthermore, the essay is going to analyse the meaning and effects of post memory on the second-generation. This will be examined with the help of the given case studyRead MoreCultural Background : A Cultural Perspective As A Future Counselor808 Words   |  4 PagesI look at my skin, my paleness is obvious, but my thousands of freckles definitely do not go unnoticed. â€Å"It’s the Irish in me,† I often respond, but if a person could look beyond my spotted skin to within, they’d see that I identify most with my German heritage. When my paternal grandparents immigrated from Germany to the United States in the 1950’s, they brought their culture with them, influencing future generations, and especially myself. After analyzing my three family generations, I was proudRead MoreMusic Culture And The Music Industry1090 Words   |  5 Pag es Born in the late 1950’s, my dad, Robert, has experienced, first hand, the vast changes in the music industry. The first step into the music culture was at the start of middle school when my dad joined the school band. Playing the trumpet and baritone was the bait that caused him to become immersed in music. This initial love of music led to the creation of a garage band with a group of friends adding piano and guitar to the mix. Age 13 signified the second step into the music industry with the purchaseRead MoreHouse Of Houses Reflection Paper960 Words   |  4 PagesHouse of Houses-Reflection Paper Many themes can be found in the book the House of Houses. The main themes are family, religion, and hardships. Family is a very important aspect in the Mexican-American culture. This can be demonstrated when Estella’s father, Raul, says, â€Å"Remember family is the most important thing. If you don’t have family, you don’t have anything† (Mora, 1997,p.104). Family is the one that you can depend on during time of difficulty and hardships. Raul quotes, â€Å"Sometimes one fallsRead MoreEssay I am a Filipino Through the Eyes of an American Citizen1536 Words   |  7 Pagesmany people, because some of them don’t know their culture or their families’ history. People of color, especially many minorities who are born in America (second generation) tend to not learn their histories, for they have to adapt to the American lifestyle which make them lose a part of their identity. Another reason why many second generations don’t know their his tory is that many are learning the American history or many of them are not asking or willing to question the teacher about their historyRead MorePsychological Development in Wuthering Heights1497 Words   |  6 Pageswere raised. In the latter case, the retaliation can sometimes result from a lack of attention, or separated parents, where one raises the child to loathe the other. Although the first generation of Wuthering Heights did not play an integral role in the physical upbringing of their children, the second generation still develops their personalities in response to their parents limited influence. This responsive development manifests within the characters of Linton, Hareton, and Cathy. AdmittedlyRead MoreI Choose Maus by Art Spiegleman785 Words   |  3 Pagesby Art Spiegleman. To be honest, I learned about the book from a television show, Comic Book Men. They were talking about a graphic novel that won the Pulitzer. That peaked my interest, so I decided to research the topic of the book. When I discovered that it was an autobiography about a complex relationship between a father and son, I firmly wanted to read it. The son learning of his father’s story of the holocaust was his way of to understand himself and his heritage and the journey is fascinating