Ralph Nader’s book, The Seventeen Traditions, discusses several traditions, seventeen in total, which the author learned from his parents, siblings, and other individuals in the community and draws certain inspiring life lessons for the current society. The book is genially human and full of sensory chronicles. Through the key traditions outlined in the book, Nader looks back at his Lebanese background and childhood experiences that directly shaped his worldview. This review analyses some of the most significant traditions in the book such as family table, independent thinking, health, and business. These key traditions will also be vital in discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the book.
Nader’s book has really achieved its principal purpose, which is to educate the society on some of the values and traditions that are vital in shaping a person’s life. Through his key seventeen traditions, the author has succeeded in creating a modern-day fable on how one can grow from a child to a responsible and successful adult. Nader’s tradition of the family table proves to be the most significant base in a child’s education. The author reveals that the family table provided an ideal place in which his parents taught him and his siblings respect and manners. To the author, most of the historical and cultural topics together with various proverbs were discussed at the family table. This tradition has some connections with my childhood experiences. Just like in the author’s case, my
During life, birth, and death, a family is one of the few natures of life that are present throughout. Often times, the value of family is taken for granted, and people tend to disregard the importance it carries. Due to the power present in the nature of a man, often times it is challenging for women to establish a firm independence, in distinction of the common norms inaugurated in society and in family. In both A Thousand Splendid Suns and Pride and Prejudice, men are the dominant figures in all households, as they have control over their financial status, who their children marry, where they live, and create means in which the females of the family must follow. The inferiority that women face leads to an inquiry of an immense pride
At first, we examine Responsibility which is shown in both books such as “Bloodline” and “The House on Mango Street” in such a way all the problems revolve around it, that is to say the sense of responsibility is present in all the situations that the characters live in and it constitutes one of the most important challenge to overcome in the life as presented by the Sandra Cisneros and Gaines. Responsibility is also addressed as a way of facing the duties or sometime as an inevitable fate which some characters understand early they cannot do anything but adapt it to overcome and achieve their obligation. However according to this situation of responsibility it will be necessary to analyze some aspects about the responsibility attitude as presented
Many of us are very family oriented and believe that family should always be present in our life no matter what do in life. While some of us feel that, our desire is worth more important than family due to the lack of communication with family members. In the “Achievement of Desire” by Richard Rodriguez, Rodriguez recalls some of the difficulties he had at a young age, which was balancing his life academically and practicing the Mexican traditions. His desire was more important to him than his family because communication with his family was not as strong as before when he began to get more involved in his education, which separates him from his family mentally and physically.
In today’s society, family is often attempted to be organized within a social structure. Within this structure family typically is consisted of mom, dad, daughter, and son. However, many families do not fit into this configuration. These families may include same sex couples, separated or divorced families, extended families, or even blended families. Even though these families may be happy and healthy, to many they are not considered real families. Going along with the topic of imperfect families, both Barbara Kingsolver and Richard Rodriguez try to break down the traditional family structure through their writing. While Kingsolver’s “Stone Soup” and Rodriguez’s “Family Values” explore the ideas of different family structures and traditional American values, “Stone Soup” breaks down what an actual family is like while “Family Values” expresses the value of family in different cultures.
The first feeling of this story is that the boy and his father struggle with their relationship, but as it unfolds, the reader sees how they do care for each other. It also becomes easier to spot the difficulties of communicating within a broken family. The father does a fine job to of turning the boy’s scheduling obsessions into a positive for the boy by noting it as one of his strong points.
There are invaluable life lessons to be learned before one even reaches the age of eighteen; lessons that range of the difference between right and wrong, which friends are the right friends, and the importance of faith. But what influences the questions and answers asked and given during this critical beginning to an individual’s life? Family values built around the influence of the modern age, ethnic background and religion shape an individual and the values they will pass on to future generations.
Values are an important aspect of life. Having values is a representation of the individual of not only who they are but what they believe as well. Someone who does not have any values cannot have any respect for themselves These lack of family values are progressive, and have become a part of the postmodern. In both stories “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri and” The Storm “by Kate Chopin, the plot sets upon the characters having a lack of values, and as a result may encounter negative consequences.
Wilson Q. James. American Government, Brief Version. 11th ed. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. 2009, 2012, 2014.
In both short stories, it is evident that aged traditions possess the capability to construct barriers between the strong bonds existent in families. Traditions have the ability to turn
In my life I have never had any political enforcement or strict religious influence. My parents were very lenient when it came too political preaching. I was taught to be a caring and respectful individual. My political understanding and beliefs have been molded from my early political memories and socialization experiences. As a young adult I have always strived to become knowledgeable about political ideals mainly because I was never really taught to believe in something specific. I eventually was drawn towards many different social and political perspectives, which is how I came to a logical conclusion of how I view the world politically
This highlights the realistic atmosphere prevailing as well as reflects the true meaning of relationship. The readers are exposed to the mother-son relationship. It can be seen that even if the narrator is a twenty-year old law student, he is still the little boy who needed his neck scrubbed from the point of view of the mother. Whatever good advice the son gives, it is not followed and instead he is given a lecture. This is a typical mother-son relationship which shows that no matter how much a child grows, he always remains a little kid for the mother. Moreover, the readers also notice the routine life of the narrator and his mother. The boy used to accompany his mother to work and help her which makes a four-hour job becomes two. There is solidarity, strong family bond and understanding between them because although he did not like his mother
Have you ever read the cultural story “A Family Supper” by Japanese author, Kazuo Ishiguro? Generally, it’s the conflict between generations in changing Japan, one can understand that this story depicts a young Japanese man (the narrator) who lived in America and has come back to Japan, his motherland to attend the funeral of his mother. He had dinner with his family at the first time of the year. With emphasis on generational conflict, the three aspects that are relationship between the son and his father from their conservation, the cultural property mentioned in the story and how the father’s disappointment affects his son, the narrator of the story.
The significance of family commensality within the household is that it is the foundation of the socialisation process. Family meal times are therefore, most significant and beneficiary for the children involved. It acts as one of the events in which parents acculturate their children to everyday norms and values. Meal times are often where
Since the nineteenth century, in the western societies, family patterns changed under the forces of industrialisation and urbanisation. Another factor which has been involved in those changes is the growing intervention of the state, by legislative action, in the domestic affairs of the family. As a result of these trends, the modern “nuclear” family has been substituted for the traditional extended family. The increase of values such as individualism and egalitarism has influenced the patterns of
In every home, there is a different definition of family and how family should treat each other. Two short stories were read by an author named Flannery O’Connor. “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. It was about a dysfunctional family who encounters a criminal named “The Misfit”. The grandmother which is the main character is very judgmental towards others and sometimes her own family at times. This story starts off with a disagreement on where to go for a family trip, but they decide on going to Florida for the family trip after a while of arguing. On this trip, it showed what type of family they are. They talk about everything with one another as well as bicker and fight but at the end of the day, they are still family and love each other. They come together the most in panicking situations such as the accident and waiting for a car to help them. The point of this paper is the theme of family. Specifically, family is a theme in this short story because it depicts a dysfunctional family; the family you see on a crazy television show and can’t get enough of because they’re funny but also they have serious moments. There 's the two troublesome and annoying kids, the hot-headed dad who tries to maintain control of a situation and fails, the wife busy attending to the baby, and the grandmother, who 's a case all to herself (and also the main character). Though the story starts out seeming like a comedy, it takes a serious turn when the family encounters a criminal, who kills them