In “Christa,” Nunez demonstrates how one is connected to their culture by exemplifying how Christa’s, the narrator’s mother, personality is greatly impacted by her German culture as she refuses to accept American culture. In the midst of exploring her own mixed-raced identity, the narrator reflects on her own perspective of her parents’ identities to determine her own. She describes her mother as a person who did not learn to accept the relevant American culture and did not learn to be happy, consequently developing rage. The narrator explains, “But her Germanness and her longing for Germany---her Heimweh---were so much a part of her she cannot be thought of without them. To try to imagine her born of other blood, on other soil, is to lose
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As both a philosophy and a religion, Buddhism teaches one to be kind, compassionate, how to end suffering and be happy, and to focus on becoming a better person. With these objectives in mind, all my thoughts and actions are shaped by the goal to become wiser, more mindful, compassionate, and a respectable individual to myself and to others. Like Christa, if my culture is taken away, I might lose my spark and become a different person with motives and passions different from being kind-hearted and having right intentions. People are greatly influenced by their culture because its beliefs and ways of doing things becomes a part of them. Both Chief Seattle and Christa are passionate and bound to their respective cultures, as Chief Seattle claims that a Native American’s culture embraced by their lands will always be a part of them, while Christa feels strongly connected to her German culture although she is in America, because it shapes a part of their identity and becomes a motive for their existence. People are not only bound to their culture because it becomes a part of their personality, but it also strengthens one’s …show more content…
In “Christa”, Nunez demonstrates how culture can enhance one’s experiences as it serves as a means of connection with other people of the same culture. The narrator recalls the moments when her mother’s German culture stood out the most to her, especially when her mother found someone to converse in German with because she was often isolated from German people. Christa did not have many German friends in America, however, the narrator remembers one of her friends, Mr. Blum, who “was from Berlin (‘He took one look at me and started speaking in German.’)...My mother pretended to be merely putting up with him---‘I thought he would never leave!’---but that’s not how it seemed...They talked for hours at a time, half in English, half in German, fortifying themselves with two pots of coffee and a dozen pastries between them” (Nunez, 74). Because Mr. Blum “was from Berlin,” Germany, there is a cultural connection between him and Christa because they both share the same culture, language, and beliefs, which explains why Mr. Blum “‘took one look at me and started speaking German.’” Christa, despite acting “to be merely putting up with him,” actually enjoys talking to him because it makes her feel less lonely and experience a modest cultural revival with someone else. Because they both share similar backgrounds, born in Germany but moved to
As both a philosophy and a religion, Buddhism teaches one to be kind, compassionate, how to end suffering and be happy, and to focus on becoming a better person. With these objectives in mind, all my thoughts and actions are shaped by the goal to become wiser, more mindful, compassionate, and a respectable individual to myself and to others. Like Christa, if my culture is taken away, I might lose my spark and become a different person with motives and passions different from being kind-hearted and having right intentions. People are greatly influenced by their culture because its beliefs and ways of doing things becomes a part of them. Both Chief Seattle and Christa are passionate and bound to their respective cultures, as Chief Seattle claims that a Native American’s culture embraced by their lands will always be a part of them, while Christa feels strongly connected to her German culture although she is in America, because it shapes a part of their identity and becomes a motive for their existence. People are not only bound to their culture because it becomes a part of their personality, but it also strengthens one’s …show more content…
In “Christa”, Nunez demonstrates how culture can enhance one’s experiences as it serves as a means of connection with other people of the same culture. The narrator recalls the moments when her mother’s German culture stood out the most to her, especially when her mother found someone to converse in German with because she was often isolated from German people. Christa did not have many German friends in America, however, the narrator remembers one of her friends, Mr. Blum, who “was from Berlin (‘He took one look at me and started speaking in German.’)...My mother pretended to be merely putting up with him---‘I thought he would never leave!’---but that’s not how it seemed...They talked for hours at a time, half in English, half in German, fortifying themselves with two pots of coffee and a dozen pastries between them” (Nunez, 74). Because Mr. Blum “was from Berlin,” Germany, there is a cultural connection between him and Christa because they both share the same culture, language, and beliefs, which explains why Mr. Blum “‘took one look at me and started speaking German.’” Christa, despite acting “to be merely putting up with him,” actually enjoys talking to him because it makes her feel less lonely and experience a modest cultural revival with someone else. Because they both share similar backgrounds, born in Germany but moved to