I am currently reading Vaclav & Lena by Haley Tanner. The first half of the book is the story of two ten-year-old Russian immigrants (Vaclav came here when he was four, and Lena came here as a baby, but was raised by her grandmother so she went into kindergarten speaking only Russian) living in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn in around 2003 (that’s a guess, they don’t provide actual dates). The second half of the book fast-forwards 7 years later to when Vaclav and Lena are 17. I have just started that bit.
A character I think is really interesting is Vaclav’s mother, Rasia. She did everything she could to get her son here so he could have a better life. Rasia is often bewildered, perplexed or frightened by American things. She finds Vaclav’s new skinny jeans weird and when Vaclav says he is going to Ozzie’s, she asks who this Ozzie person is and if they are a drug dealer. At first I just found this hysterical. Originally I thought it was simply because of how badly Rasia misinterpreted what Vaclav said. Then I started thinking about it more. Vaclav really just has a neurotic mother. This is something I can relate to. As I kept thinking about it, there are a lot of ways in which Vaclav’s mother isn’t so different from an American mom. She is hates Vaclav’s girlfriend, she is always really worried about him, she makes him do his homework every night, and ultimately, she really just wants what is best for him.
I think that often, we look at people who are from a culture that is different from ours as something foreign or alien. We see that they eat different food then we do or have different customs and we back away. We get so caught up in all the little details that are different, that we forget about the big picture. Even as cultures or mannerisms change, there are certain things that we all share. Our values may rank in importance differently but they are still all there. We are all ultimately human. We all care about people and want things and have hopes and dreams and fears. We spend so much time picking out all the little things that make us different from someone else, that I think we begin to forget about all of the things that make us the same, and those are the things that really matter.
we are all connected and all that, good post and i especially agree with your point about the similarities between cultures because when you get down to it we are all just human.
ReplyDeleteChay-key-in
ReplyDeleteWhat an insightful post. I am always nervous about covering topics on culture because I dont want to offend anyone but this is a very nice post. I like where you went with it.
A+
I like your post and I think a lot of us can relate to it. Our parents were raised to think a certain way, and had their own idea of what 'normal' was, but then a new generation comes along and changes the standard, and I think they get confused or even a little bit disgusted. Only some of them actually accept it and even embrace it. When you're talking about how we are all the same, I agree, but I also think that those differences are what make us unique and who we are. Good post :)
ReplyDelete(Agh, one more day 'til the identity of River Song is revealed [too bad we live in America, though]
I got the Weeping Angel by just adding an image from the design option on my dashboard. Whatever holds the image of an angel become an angel itself... gah! I want to blink so badly!)