“My Husband’s Lover” is an article from the New York Times discussing a wife and her husband’s ever-changing relationship and how that has impacted the way they parent. The wife is the narrator of the article. She tells of the highlights and challenges of her marriage and how these things influence their relationship with their child. I could relate their relationship back to the chapter on how cultural differences affect parenting styles. I saw this to be true in the telling of the authors’ marriage and family. Her husband’s culture dictates his priorities, views, and beliefs when it comes to how he parents and how involved he is with the family. The wife’s culture certainly seems to affect her view on parenting as well, however since the wife/mom of the story is the narrator we see things from her point of view and the husbands/fathers culture seems to be a bit of a hardship in their relationship. It is a hurdle she’s learned to overcome. …show more content…
She tells the story in a poetical way. We learn that their daughter Elena is 2 years old. The husband in this article is from Mexico and the wife tells of how she has had to learn to accept that there is this gap in their relationship between “his Mexico” and ‘her United States.” She states that “over the years, and especially in parenthood, he becomes more his Mexican self and me more my American one.” Her husband often is away in Mexico. This relates back to family structure. In class, we discussed how often the mom seems to be the main, most involved parent and I see that to be true in this case because the dad is frequently putting his desires and culture first and is not willing to do
Then, the story goes to express the changes the father-in-law has experiences and how contrasting is his past with his present. He apparently is being affected by an undefined condition, which has made him change in temper and personality. During several moments, the narrator’s father-in-law presents issues of insecurity and some aggressiveness, and in others, he delights the family with the appearance of a sudden charismatic behavior. At some point, the narrator and her husband, after a brief discussion, recognize their responsibility as children to take future care of their parents. The narrator reveals at the end the acknowledge of her father-in-law permanent change in character and how much it affects them. Jen’s central idea relates how there is a cyclical change in family roles and responsibilities between sons and elder parents that naturally repeats itself. It also suggests that when issues are presented, the duties can be overwhelming for the new
In this reading the author talks about the Latina experience in the US and the cultural differences. She said that her religion and culture created vagueness about her womanhood. Womanhood was a subject not spoken about often, making it difficult for her to get out of her comfort zone, seek guidance, and in some cases talk about it. After the event with her classmate she understood why they are many pregnant teens. Their own culture and religion had made the subject of womanhood a taboo, by not letting them know the reality of love and the different ways to protect themselves during sex. This had also caused them to be ashamed and scared to talk about the subject.
source for information and inspiration. She makes the argument that in a Mexican family, the girl is only
Aydann is a six year old female, who was born in Ft Lauderdale Florida on July 28th, 2004. Aydann has a sister who is 18 years old and is a senior in high school. She lives with her family in a middle class neighborhood in central Florida. Aydann’s mother is of Hispanic decent and her father is of European decent. Spanish is spoken regularly in Aydann’s home by her mother, sister and grandmother, who live one block away, but Aydann has not begun speaking Spanish. Both of Aydann’s parents attended college and have degrees, and work in a professional setting. Aydann’s parents have been married for almost 18 years.
In “Only Daughter,” published in Glamour magazine in 1990, Sandra Cisneros talks about how it’s like for her to be the only daughter in a Mexican-American family of six sons. She talks about some of the struggles she faces. Sandra is a writer. A writer who wants her dad to be curious about her writing. He never bothers to ask what she’s writing. When they’d ask her father how many children's he has, he’d respond with “I have seven sons.” The mention of only sons, not a daughter. This proves to her he was only proud of his sons but not her. According to him she’d also have to go to college but only to find a husband. A man who will take her out of poorness. Since, according to Sandra that's why her dad thought college was important for her. He didn't care about her major. Sandra Cisneros is a writer who didn’t have the attention she was meant to receive. Towards the end she finally gets the attention she desired. She translated
The theme of the short story The Judge’s Wife written by Isabel Allende’s, is that without shared love in a relationship between a mother and son there is no trust. Nicolás Vidal never felt love from his mother Juana la Triste, and therefore has no good memory growing up, Allende writes “Those words weighted on the boy like a deformity. With a woman’s love, his life might have been less miserable” (186). If Nicolás Vidal felt love from his mother than he would have been able to more easily have a relationship and find love elsewhere. Juana le Triste never wanted him since she knew he had no place in this world. Because of this loveless relationship and the shame her own son left her in that cage to die, Juanita killed herself. Allende writes,
In “Never Marry a Mexican” a short story by Sandra Cisneros, a woman by the name of Clemencia describes her personal life and an affair with a married man. The story emphasizes, on infidelity. The infidelity described in Sandra Cisneros’s “Never Marry a Mexican” often leaves family member(s) with psychological repercussions once infidelity has become evident. The earlier years of adolescents experiences give them an idea as to what is normal and what is not. Clemencia’s life in adulthood is a result of her experiences during her childhood. Children internalize their experiences with caregivers Clemencia provides a great example of this.
“Interpersonal relationships have traditionally been regarded as one of the major determinants of health and well-being” (Paat). But what constitutes a healthy relationship? In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” a man and his wife on the surface have a rocky relationship that seems to be teetering on the husband’s impartiality to his wife and the wife’s resentment towards her husband’s impartiality. However, Brewer-Davis states that, “loving someone sometimes seems to appropriately override impartiality…”. The ties that this couple has established and the healthy communication of their moral standing is the key to their growth. Although the husband is considered sort of a ‘bad boy’ and the wife is characterized as a sweet, caring individual; it is this difference in personalities that brings them together as the husband receives emotional stimulation that he could not otherwise get by himself. Consequently, the wife receives a reality check from her husband’s partiality and rational demeanor. Paat
Alvarez is always rooting for the underdog. She despises hierarchies and always imagines a world of equity and unity. She says happily, “everybody is part of la familia” (Heredia page 5). She is not a mother. Alvarez felt her childless life was a disgrace to her identity as a Latina. She pondered and questioned, “what does it mean to be a childless woman?” (5). That question induced her to an introspective state of mind. Consequently, she answered the questions she was seeking in her groundbreaking essay, “Imagining Motherhood.” Conversely, she did not get married until she was much older. Similarly, to her characters, she always felt out of place. She never had an attachment to any place or thing. The only attachment she had was to her own
The mother reported that she feels the father is making statements to the child which leaves the child knowing that the father needs him. The reported that Hudson often asks how come he is with each parent for different periods of time. She indicated that Hudson reported to her that “his father wants to spend more time with him, but his mother has to agree to it”.
It seems that the generation gaps are always appearing among parent-child relationship. I was brought up by my grandmother in mainland China, but my mom worked in Hong Kong since I was ten. There were few opportunities for me to see my mom. Lacking some of communication, we got problems. To improve the relationship and avoid argument between my mom and me, I try to participate in intercultural communication. After my exploration, I found that we have different culture, including the belief, values, norms, and cultural patterns. In this journal, I would like to share the experiences of exploring the cultural differences of my mom and me, investigating and overcoming the problems as well as examining our “language” of expressing love.
As mentioned in Experiences of Parenting Classes for Mexican American Mothers Parenting Alone: “Offering Culturally Responsive Approaches, some studies indicate that Latino parents exhibit an authoritarian style characterized by being strict, controlling, directive, and disciplinarian with their children” (Bermudez 12). From the beginning when Tita is reminded of her duty, her mother belittles Tita’s every move. At most times, Elena would hurt Tita physically. With her society beliefs, Elena would brook no argument from Tita regarding her protestations about Rosaura and Pedro’s wedding. For example, while Tita exhibited torn emotions on her face during the making of the wedding cake, Elena became so enraged that she slapped Tita. Having cried over the cake batter, once the wedding was over and the guests had eaten the wedding cake, they became deathly sick. Mama Elena was convinced that Tita and Nacha, the cook, had transpired to ruin the wedding and had beaten Tita. Tita was forced to stay in bed two weeks just to recover. Another incident occurred when Tita is informed that her nephew is dead. Tita becomes angry and goes up into their empty dovecote. Mama Elena was so
One simple sequence of actions can create a ripple of complex changes in the life of a child. The narrator in “Simple Recipes” has a simple view of love as she begins this short story. Being a member of an immigrant family, there can be many culture shocks, even for the parents. The narrator was born in Canada, but her brother, mother, and father were born in Malaysia. She has many fond memories of her father, as they did everything together when she was young. One day, a problem arose with her brother and father, causing a change in the narrator’s view of life forever. The brother’s choice to reject the Malaysian culture, her father’s simple, yet explosive, way of dealing with his rejection, and the narrator’s innocent ignorance of her father’s imperfections all create a ripple of complexities.
Amy Chua demands the best from her children, but this does not always translate to a social standpoint. In Why Chinese Mother’s Are Superior, Chua uses real life examples of her strict parenting regime, however, she fails to back them up with success stories. Also, Chua makes a point to portray the differences between Chinese parenting and that of Westerners.
Audra slept fitfully that night with her husband at her side. Harboring this secret, the fact she loved another man, made her feel as if she was doing a terrible wrong every moment of every day. Would Carlton eventually be able to read it in her eyes? Hear her love for Maxen in her voice? And further, did Audra love Carlton? It seemed possible to love two men at the same time. Audra felt a closeness to Carlton, an affinity for the man. She respected him. Cared for him. But after what he’d done, the weeks and weeks on end where he’d been unwilling or unable to give up Owena, she wondered if true, honest love for the man would ever manifest.