The Other Family Plot
Introduction
The short story starts as the daughter is walking home for school while the mother watches the daughter from the window. Almost right away the reader learns that they are immigrants to Canada. The mother seems to regret the move to Canada as she misses her old country and the familiarity of it. “She had drifted away from a world that she had lived in and understood.” (1) We see the mother and the daughter eat dinner, however the mother seems to be preoccupied by work and the unsettling letters that arrived from home.
Rising Action
The daughter shows her mom a picture she drew at school, a white family with blonde hair, blue eyes and freckles. The mother is shocked by the picture and begins to wonder if her daughter wishes to be white, like the rest of her class. She asks the child if it was their family but the little girl says that she drew it from a book like everyone else in the class. The mother gets angry and lashes out questions like, “Don’t you want us anymore,” “You want to be a mem-sahib, a white girl?” Panic is shown because the mother thinks she is losing her child and that one day the little girl would grow to resent and be embarrassed by her family.
Climax
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The little girl believes that “whether she looked like the little girl in it or not, made not one jot of a difference. That was, yes, that was the right picture.” The mother cried for a long time while the little girl watched,
This story allowed me to see into the thoughts and emotions of a recently immigrated family. I was able to see how difficult it is to find a balance between your old culture and the one you are moving into, which I wasn’t aware was such a struggle. As a reader I was able to understand how the people around me potentially may be feeling, as this story gave me a good view of the emotions they experienced. Canada is a diverse place and now I am able to sympathize to people around me, since many have gone through the struggle of immigrating. Hopefully the story has allowed all readers to also see the challenge of moving to a new place, as some of them may have experienced it themselves and never had anyone understand. As an individual I cannot
In an age where the United States has been colored many different colors over the course of many years, younger Americans tend to be more ignorant when it comes to their family's heritage. Journalist, Christine Granados makes an effort to remind readers of their heritage in order to help the readers learn to cherish and appreciate their family's culture. While questioning her readers' own acknowledgment of their heritage, Granados utilizes a reflective tone when reminiscing about her adolescent life in the United States as a Mexican American and describing the impact of her adolescent years on her life as an adult in her article, "True Colors." Granados appeals to the sense of empathy by immediately leading off her essay by recalling her
unprivileged with her home. Her family, on the other hand, tries to escape Mango Street
Nevertheless, instead of the satisfaction he expected from his wife about her new house, Mamacita seems to feel discontented about it. “She still sighs for her pink house, and then I think she cries. I would. Sometimes the man gets disgusted. He starts screaming and you can hear it all the way down the street” (p. 77). Mamacita gets extremely nostalgic about her pink house in Mexico. Her complaints make her now-irritated husband to yell and force her to stay in her house on Mango Street. To make matters even worse, her baby boy begins to imitate an English commercial he has heard on television. The book mentions, “… the baby boy, who has begun to talk, starts to sing the Pepsi commercial… No speak English, no speak English, and bubbles into tears. No, no, no, as if she can’t believe her ears” (p. 78). Mamacita’s child has begun to speak English, a language that she can’t interpret at all. The thought that her family relies on English devastates Mamacita, and this makes her feel completely torn apart. In the end, Mamacita refuses to learn English and assimilate to the people around her, so she becomes isolated and lonely.
In the short story, there is a conflict between the mother and the guards at the border. As the mother and son approach the American border the mother refuses to give her citizenship as either Canadian or American. Once she reaches the border, she has a conversation with the guard:
Sarah pulled down the visor mirror and peeked at Painted Girl in the backseat. Painted Girl stared gloomily at the landscape passing them by. Sarah could only guess at her thoughts. She is probably worried that Grandfather will pitch a fit when he learns about their change in arrangements. Sarah sighed. Painted Girl was a miniature version of Grandfather. Family, heritage, honor above all else. Sarah did not want traditions hindering her life, but she knew deep down that they were important to her family. Her father, however, never had time to teach her about life as a Native American before he died. She had grown up in an Anglo world; far from any reservations; only Grandfather and his community center connected her to her heritage.
The mother begins to rebel against tradition by taking an active role in educating and freeing herself. Through her radio, telephone and trips out with her sons she develops her own opinions about the world, the war, and the domination and seclusion of woman. She loses her innocence as a result to her new knowledge and experience.
The author shows similarities between the narrator and his more skeptical colleague in an attempt to highlight the narrator’s thoughts. His thoughts show that his caustic colleague is very critical in describing the immigrant mother as a “bugger” and the daughter as a “pimply-faced bitch”. (pg. 55) The story then ends with a sense of hope for the young girl as she returns to school.
It is about a woman who is trying to bring up her illegitimate son while she tries to overcome her jealousy as her sons father brings home his new beautiful wife. The main message that
An African American single mother raises two daughters that have different meanings of life and heritage. Maggie is the youngest daughter, the girl who is shy who is not attractive and is pleased with her culture and life. Then there is Dee the girl who is attractive, sophisticated and knows what she wants in life and wants to be something more than her family. Even though Dee is sophisticated she does not know the true importance of heritage. This is what starts struggle between mother and Dee, because Dee desires the quilt for decoration which her mother would not give it to her for that reason. The mother believes the quilt is not for ornamenting it is more meaningful and signifies the heritage of her family. Only Maggie can transmit
After her failure to satisfy her mother and herself at the talent show, the relationship between them soured at an accelerated pace, culminating in one final argument. "Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!" the mother shouted. "Then I wish I weren't your daughter," came the reply. A few words later, the daughter delivered the blow that all but destroyed the mother's dreams: "Then I wish I'd never been born! I wish I were dead! Like them," she screamed, alluding to her mother's miscarriages.
The movie gives the message that women must do acknowledge their responsibilities towards themselves, which can and should never be neglected or postponed for the sake of anyone or anything. Nothing in this world is worth sacrificing your own aspirations for. A person’s greatest assets are self-respect, dignity and individuality. Woman should safeguard her identity by not letting her individuality get submerged and by keeping her priorities intact all her life and creating a place for herself.
seen as bad, but the grandmother refuses to let go of her culture. The daughter in “Two Kinds,”
The resentment within the young girl’s family is essential to the novel because one can understand the young girl better as she makes her decision.
The story encompasses a white collar class family where two siblings, Pappa and Sakharam, with dint of diligent work, set up a prosperous development organization. In his inordinate voracity for cash, Pappa beguiles his sibling and assumes control over the whole property. Pappa isolates his riches between his children Ramakant and Umakant. The pair in conspiracy with their sister Manik, plots to press out everything from their dad. In the mean time, Manik takes part in an extramarital entanglements with the Raja of Hondur, who impregnates her. The siblings endeavor to coerce the Raja, yet he kicks the bucket of heart assault. Frantic, they kick out the baby developing in Manik ' s womb. Ramakat can 't have an issue from Rama, following quite a long while of marital life, without affection. Rama looks for passionate and physical satisfaction from Rajaninath who impregnates her. Knowing about Rama 's pregnancy, Manik endeavors by superstitious spell to