My Son, My Compass By Caroline Hwang

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 emphasis on individualism has provoked a deeper inspection of one’s personal values and beliefs while feminism has opened the door for a new type of traditional family to emerge with new dynamics between parents, children and their roles within the home. These new dynamics merge right along with cultural values as the two merge. In America, life is varied from home to home with different culturally-influenced family values. While throughout other parts of the world, different countries have maintained a balance within a core value system that affects all families alike through religion and a national way of life. There is no doubt that the many varied factors of modern society, ethnic background and religion all play significant roles in forming family values that shape the life of an

A breakaway from tradition also includes a breakaway from family in the case for author Ha Jin’s short story, “Children as Enemies.” The story focuses on immigrant Chinese grandparents from the Xi family who came to America to be with their son and his children, only to be driven away by their grandchildren’s hostility towards everything Chinese that started with their dislike for their traditional names. The children are trying to Americanize themselves as much as they can while the grandparents are trying to keep everything as traditional as they can whereas the son of the grandparents tries to act as a neutral barrier of sorts that ultimately fails when the grandparents move out. The short story takes on the numerous themes but mainly the clash of cultures and how one’s heritage can potentially dwindle from one generation to the next.

Good families have many ingredients that make them function properly. One of these elements is values, or what the family views as important. This helps family members know what is good and bad for them. The article “Celebrating Your Family Culture” states, “Around our household, we constantly say, ‘Well, in our family we believe…and everyone’s family is different.’ I’m sure my son gets tired of hearing this in response to why he can’t have the latest electronic gadget, but I also think hearing this anchors him. Kids want to know where you stand on important issues and what your family values,” (Trudeau). The article tells how even though the family values can annoy a member; it steadies them to know the priorities. Having that clear view can also have other effects on family members. When My Name was Keoko tells how Keoko or Sun-hee saw her uncle and mom value their patriotism. This helped her see that her own patriotism should be strong (Park 11, 32, 33, 93). The family values were very important when the Japanese invaded Korea. They were probably the only Korean thing the people of Korea had. Without them the Koreans would give up and never have their own culture again. Concluding, the values that families have are very

My mother, Lisa Dawn Hicks Kern, was born at Wadley Regional Medical Center, Texarkana, TX, on Sunday, June 15, 1969. Her father, James Kenneth Hicks, was 28 at the time of my mother’s birth; he was employed at Red River Army Depot as an electrical engineer. Her mother, Sharon Lee Clark Hicks, was 25 when my mother was born, at the time she was the home maker. My mother had an older sister who was a four year old toddler at the time of my mother’s birth. Kimberly Ann Hicks was born at Wadley Regional Medical Center, Texarkana, TX, on Monday, August 30, 1965.

women, children, and it also create cross-generational influences unique to every family. In using this example of Asian American families, Brooks (2008) suggested:

Family traditions are passed on from generation to generation, however they are not always static rules. Tradition is like a living organism that adapts to change over time. In order to understand modern North Korea’s family customs, it is important to consider the tradition of the past. Before North Korea’s liberation from Japan in 1945, North Korean families operated differently than they do today. Their ideology was founded on Confucius’s principles of family, including “only a country where family life was harmonious could be peaceful and prosperous” (Asia Society). The family is an integral part of society the same way a cell is important to a body (Suzy, 264). The government is even considered “one family” that everyone is a part of (Monday). Every individual in a family has a role and every family has a role in society. The ideal family is modeled from Kim Il Sung’s nuclear family (Suzy, 268). It is clear that family is a fundamental priority in North Korean society.

Written by Margaret K. Pai, the Dreams of Two Yi-min narrates the story of her Korean American family with the main focus on the life journeys of her father and mother, Do In Kwon and Hee Kyung Lee. Much like the majority of the pre-World War II immigrants, the author’s family is marked and characterized by the common perception of the “typical” Asian immigrant status in the early 20th century: low class, lack of English speaking ability, lack of transferable education and skills, and lack of knowledge on the host society’s mainstream networks and institutions (Zhou and Gatewood 120, Zhou 224). Despite living in a foreign land with countless barriers and lack of capital, Kwon lead his wife and children to assimilate culturally,

In the film “Corner Store” the structural functional approach can be applied to analyse the lives of the immigrant Korean family which stars in the film. The family in the film resembles and differs from many qualities that are found in Canadian families. One resemblance is that the parents in this family just want what is best for their kids much like every other parent wants for their own. They differ in the sense that they expect their kids to live according to their own culture rather than Canadian culture, or they expect their children to marry in to their culture and don’t give them much support in marrying outside of it. In doing this they put the children in an awkward situation as the children don’t want to disappoint their parents

Families, which are basic units of human commit, are constructed from individuals with unique character; these individuals taken as a whole, construct the larger character of the family itself. However, because no individual’s character is perfectly compatible with another’s, there exist inevitable conflict within the family, such as can be expressed as conflict between the self and either another single member or the entire group. Naturally, the rational self will seek to ameliorate such as conflict, perhaps by simply accepting it as a natural part of human life. Other instances, which form the basis of the essay and find roots in essays by Alison Bechdel, Joan Didion, and Richard Rodriguez, occur when such acceptance does not. I strongly suggest that the common response to familial conflict, avoidance, that is, escaping the friction between human characters by refusing on some level to participate in family, introduces a new conflict. While Didion, Bechdel, and Rodriguez, provide textual support to the birth of this second conflict, I shall seek to explain its nature. Born of contrasting characters in family and self, conflict will not be replaced, but bolstered in avoidance. Thus, in acceptance, the self finds resolution.

Since the first immigrants moved into American neighborhoods, many issues have arisen between Americans and the Korean community. In 1911 and 1913,

Higher expectations by first-generation immigrant parents also involve as intergenerational conflict in forming the American identity. In the article “Intergenerational

Because America is such a diverse country, there are many differences between cultures of various immigrant groups. Members of each culture, have their own beliefs and values regarding what they think is right. The cultural diversity allows for each person to have a different view of things. Amy Chua’s essay “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior,” she describes her way of parenting her two daughters following Chinese values about education. She explains how Western parents are much more lenient than Chinese parents with their children and education. Chua gives examples of how she raised her daughter Lulu and Sophia which lead them to achieve success. She makes comparisons between Western and Chinese parenting styles throughout the essay and concludes that both types of parents want the best for their children, but just approach parenting it in different ways. In the article, “Chinese vs Western Mothers: Q&A with Amy Chua,” Amy Chua is interviewed by Belinda Luscombe where she clarifies how her Chinese method of parenting did not hurt her children the way many readers thought it did. Chua explains that her relationship with her two daughters is very strong and believes there are many effective ways of parenting in addition to the Chinese approach. Chua’s essay shows the Chinese immigrant approach to parenting and gives insight into why so many children of Chinese parents are so successful. Discussing the cultural differences shows the risk of stereotyping groups where feelings

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

Ahn’s parents have many strong characterizations that lead to Ahn’s own development. Ahn father hold a strong, proud shoulder of what he believes in either it be his Korean culture or anything other cultures than his own. His father love to trying new ways to explore different culture and food in his spare time. While Ahn mother never grow comfortable in America as his father did she feel content while learning it though her children. Ahn mother had strong belief in upholding tradition culture even though they in America. She mostly speaks native tongue to him and only cook tradition home meal that she believes that it beneficial to him. She a realistic mother who does not try to give her children fall hope of their future. Half of Ahn progression