Mexican Americans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mexican Americans - Essay Example While the author describes the grandmother as an â€Å"awful grandmother† because of her persistent desire to maintain the traditional church doctrines, the rest of her significant others and other younger generations are embracing a new way of life that is more liberal. This conflict of traditional and modern ways puts the religious grandmother and her grandchildren into constant conflicts. In the story, the grandmother maintains the ways of the church, observing the doctrines of the Catholic Church to the latter. First, the grandmother maintains the use of light candles and use of rosaries when praying for the her family, while the daughter never attends the mass as would be desired by the grandmother. The grandmother maintains the traditional church ways, and use her prayer times to pray for the entire family who are seemingly drifting away from the church and embracing the more liberal approach to life. According to the grandmother’s designated way of life, which ex emplified the conservative ways, there are specific material things that are supposed to be completely shunned. First, the people should shun eating fast foods such as fries, should not spend money on comic books, and should not stay anywhere else other than near the church. The desire to maintain ‘purity’, according to the traditional church doctrines, led to strict ways of life that only matched grandmother’s standards and not any other members of the family. For instance, the son is noncommittal on matters church, and the grandchildren are busy Americanizing their lives from language to general behaviors. It is apparent that the subject family in the story is natives of Spain. However, while only the grandmother is able to speak and understand Spanish, her grandchildren struggles with the native Spanish language, thereby causing some sort of barrier to communication. This exposes the fact that there is an adoption of a different culture from that of the native Spain. The successive generations struggle with the native language, a fact that the older generations understand quite well. While the grandmother's generation lived within the church doctrines, their goals focused into the price that is of a society that is prayerful and bent on defending the outright ways of the church, the changing American society of the younger generation do not mind doing things that are outside the realm of church teachings. For example, the young boy challenges the status quo that he sees as against his good. By telling the sister he is the Flash Gordon, and that the sister is â€Å"Ming the Merciless and the Mud People†, the young boy is trying to spate his ability from that of the sister, portraying himself as the strong righteous one. The younger generations, as represented by the young boy, challenges the role of church rituals such as buring of the candles, kneeling down when praying, and taking of the holy water. To the younger generation, suc h rituals never changed anything as far as reduction of human suffering is concerned. The constant church rituals did not stop people from getting sick from worms and life threatening problems such as depression. The society has played a role in the changes in the attitudes of the young generation. For example, the narrator’s little brother is claiming to want to be a flying feather dancer, but in the process somehow subconsciously expresses what he has seen the surrounding, the second world war

Compare and contrast Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Compare and contrast - Assignment Example Shannon at this time is tired of leaving the traditional life and decides to America so that she can be free. Surprisingly she and Joseph escape away together with joseph disguising himself as her servant. Along the way, Shannon gets herself in trouble but Joseph comes to her rescue. They find jobs in a chicken processing plant and Joseph starts boxing making him somewhat a celebrity in the Irish town. Things however start going sour for the both of them and Shannon is even shot. Shannon’s father comes in search of her daughter and tries to separate them but in vain. In the end Joseph and Shannon, profess their love and go ahead to take away the land they had acquired together (Fandango 2013). Comparing and Contrasting When comparing the two main characters in this film: Joseph and Shannon, it is easy to see quite a number of similarities. For one both characters are extremely strong and hardheaded. Joseph’s strong character comes from his determination to avenge the de ath of his father. For this, he is capable of doing anything, even murder. He does not even hide the intentions he has such that his home village is supportive of his mission and cheerfully bid him farewell. Shannon on the other hand is similarly a strong, rebellious and headstrong. This character is brought out by the fact that she wants to be free of the traditional life at her home and wants to go and explore the world. She does not like being the perfect and well-mannered daughter her parents and the society wants her to be. Her strong character is evident by the way she shoots at Joseph when he invades their home trying to kill her father Daniel. Both Joseph and Shannon are strong enough to survive a hard life in Boston. Shannon tries to dance in order to get money while Joseph becomes a ring boxer to also make money. The owners of the home they had invaded shoot Shannon but Joseph attends to her until she gains her strength back. This shows that both characters faced their cha llenges head on despite of how cornered they were. While contrasting both characters it is easy to see that Joseph and Shannon are still different in their own way. For instance, once Shannon has set her mind to do something nothing can deter her and she is not easily swayed by anything. Conversely, from the film one can see that Joseph does not stick to what she has originally planned. One instance is when Joseph decides to seek revenge on the person who murdered his father but after he see’s Shannon, he is mesmerized by her strong character and somehow forgets his mission. In addition, while in Boston both Joseph and Shannon decide to work in order to acquire a piece of land but when Joseph is paid, he uses his money on expensive clothes so as to get Shannon’s admiration (Ebert 1992). This however does not sit well with Shannon who cannot believe Joseph is wasting the money on other things instead of saving for their daily upkeep. Shannon is a very goal oriented pers on and anyone who tries to mess around with her plans of being independent is not very welcome. Another aspect that can be contrasted is the setting of Shannon’s home and where she escapes to in search of a modern and free life. From the film, it is evident that despite Shannon calling home traditional and wanting to be free, while there she was well taken care of by her parents who were wealthy. This is unlike Oklahoma where on the