The Importance Of Culture InMy Mother Pieced Quilts

Take a moment to think about the following question: what is culture? Culture is everything a person does, believes in, creates, came from, and has done. It is also so much more than this simple list, but this is a good idea of what it generally is. Culture affects a lot of things as well. It can affect what you do, how you do certain things, and how you see things comparison to others. Culture is a major factor in how people perceive the world and those around them. Everybody sees the world differently through their cultural glasses. Some people see things as foreign and confusing, while others see the same things as daily life. The idea of different cultural viewpoints is shown in many articles throughout the years. Each of these stories

Have you thought of someone’s culture as weird? Have you thought that you are completely different from them? If so, what prompts us to make that assumption. Culture is a very good reason for this. So, to what extent does one’s culture inform the way one views others and the world? Culture informs a person on the way others are and the world.

Culture may have its sources in different aspects of human life, as: language, nationality, education, profession, group, religion, family, social class, corporate culture. All these elements influence every member of a society and thus, culture is learnt and transmitted to others.

Culture is one of the most relevant elements that can define not only a society but also a country’s cumulative beliefs and system. Often noted as the origins of a country, culture is definitive in the sense that it harbors all the elements that can provide justification on the traditions and norms set by the society for its members. More often than not, the society members follow norms in order to create a harmonious community, and the beliefs and the traditions serve as the poles or grounding rules for each member to follow. Culture is very dynamic in the way that it can change over a variety of foreign influences but what is permanent about it is that original elements about it often lingers with the influences, therefore making it multi-faceted and broad. More importantly, culture serves as an individual and unique trait each society has, and therefore sets it apart from other countries and other societies.

Stretched out they lay armed/ ready / shouting / celebrating knotted with love the quilts sing on. The quilts are there to tell a story no matter where it lays. “Oh mother you plunged me sobbing and laughing, into our past.” They know that the memories will be with them forever. “How the thread darted in and out galloping along the frayed edges, tucking them in as you did us at night.” The quilt means a lot to the family, they care for it as much as they care for the rest of their family. “They were just meant as covers in the winter as weapons against pounding January winds.” At first they weren’t meant to be anything other than a blanket to keep them warm but over the years of

Culture is a large part of every person’s life, it is what makes each person unique. Within culture there are many aspects such as food, music, clothing, tradition, and many more. Since culture makes up such a large part of our day to day lives, it is almost always responsible shaping and informing our view on the world.

Culture is the most basic cause of a person’s wants and behaviour. Growing up, children learn basic values, perception and wants from the family and other important groups.

There are various aspects that make up a culture in today’s world, ranging from necessities needed for survival, social groups, and the unique traditions they value within the specific culture. That’s why we all are able to conclude that culture is the fluid set of traditions, customs, beliefs, values, and practices developed over time by a specific group or community.

Another piece of the literature that has similar attributes to the is the poem “My Mother Pieced Quilts.” The poem uses a mother’s handmade quilt to access and explore the poet’s childhood memories. Like how a quilt is made, the poem pieces together memories in order to show the reader a complete image between the speaker’s childhood and the mother’s strong influence. The speaker shows how her mother’s influential ways shaped into the person the speaker is today. For example, “But it was just that every morning I awoke to these October ripened canvases passed my hand across their cloth faces and began to wonder how you pieced all these together.” This quote shows the interest that the speaker has towards her mother’s quilt, she then explains in great detail how her mother threads pieces of fabrics together, obviously admiring her mother’s works. This reason shows how a person’s identity is influenced by his or her environment.

“Culture is sometimes described as a lens through which we view the world, meaning that one’s culture influences their perceptions and interactions in everyday life” (Davis, 2006). Every culture has different beliefs and customs

Culture influences people’s perspectives of the world and others through their childhood and how, when, and where they were raised. In the essay, “An Indian Father’s Plea,” Robert Lake writes about how his Indian child’s traditional way of learning is different from those in western education systems and that he's not a “slow” learner but learns in a unique way from his peers. In the personal essay, “Two Ways to Belong in America,” Bharati Mukherjee describes her differing views of living in America with her sister, despite both being raised in India. In the poem, “My Mother Pieced Quilts,” by Teresa Palomo Acosta, Teresa how this quilt that her mother made for her incorporates all these pieces of her past that are stitched together. In the short story, “Everyday Use,” a mother describes the effects of living in a low income community and a certain style of parenting that shaped the way her two daughters view their past and their heritage and how both views are completely different. In all these pieces of writing, they all illustrate the effects of beliefs, heritage, and symbolism within a culture and how it molds the way people interpret others and the world.

Our heritage and ideals, our hieroglyphics and manual to live, the things we fulfil we teach our children. Are preserved and carried on or they parrish along with our identity. There are two passages that abides this; “My mother Pieced Quilts” by Teresa Palomo and “The Keeping Quilt” by Patricia Polacco. Both of these authors present their heritage and remembrance by magnifying quilts to show a story in of itself that took struggles to get where they are today.

Along with the story “Everyday Use” and the poem “My Mother Pieced Quilts”, Culture change in “An Indian Father’s Plea”, affects views greatly, most certainly in Wind Wolf’s case. Wind-Wolf was not accepted in his new school because he was an outlier there. He was raised different, advanced in other aspects, and is just all around different compared to the white kids in his new school. There, Wind-Wolf then starts to defect his culture. Just because someone else's culture and way of life isn't necessarily rubbing off on him.

Several factors affect the formation of one’s culture, Palispis, E. (2007) quoted Sir Edward Tylor, “Culture… refers to that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as member of society.” (Palispis, E., 2007) In this context culture is something we acquire from the people we have lived with since we were born, it is not something a person can learn overnight nor can be disposed effortlessly.

1. Culture is perceived as a way of thinking that influences the behaviors of a group of people.