my son my compass Essay examples

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

She once again references Thailand and their family cultures by saying that in Thai families all of the members of the family stick together and take care of each other and the children of the family really aren’t given independency until they get married and move out. Ms. Sponsel tries to show the extreme differences between the two cultures to emphasize America’s individualism.

In present-day society, families go through several problems and arguments regarding numerous issues which would have been considered unacceptable in past times. Throughout a variety of different cultures, the level of respect and obedience for one’s parents has diminished while the negotiation of conformity and rebellion has risen. This statement is supported and evidential in two different stories, “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker. Although these stories represent different cultures, they both exemplify the values and importance of family relations; as well as demonstrate in every culture families face social problems. In both these stories, two major topics stood out which allowed me to compare each one to one

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 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

Describe the primary Family dynamics: Although father himself is an immigrant but he adopted the local culture very well and there appears to be no cultural issue in the family till grandpa arrived. Father is also a very

Parent’s role in South Korea is taking care of their children until they get married. Children usually live with their parents until they are married, even if they are full grown adults. Parents are desperate attempt to give children an educational advantage, and grant them explore to a globalized worldview (in contrast with Korea's strictly homogenous culture and community), children are often sent to boarding schools abroad usually to the U.S., Canada and Australia, and family members strangely separated for many years.

Families have their own ways of getting along and getting through tough and emotional times. Some talk it out and some even just give nothing but silence to each other. Some can't even forgive each other for years and years. All of that sounds so bad to go through. Even though there are those times of disagreement there are families who have a blast with each other. Theres so many different ways problems can be solved, but I love how unique my family gets through things. Now your views of a family being happy and my views are gunna be different. You may even say my views sound like an unhappy family. Even if you don't agree with my family ways doesn't mean it doesn't work. In this essay I'm going to try and show you my views both happy and unhappy families in my experience.