Who Will Light The Candles When Mother s Gone - 1008 Words

Who Will Light the Candles When Mother s Gone? is a classic example of the first generation immigrant s struggle to find their place in America. On the one side, they have their own deep, rich heritage at home that is the only way that their parents often know how to live. However, on the other hand, they have the American culture. The American culture is often the culture that they socially grow up in. It s who their friends are and what they see at school, in stores and TV. The children in these families are often living in two worlds, trying to resonate and connect one with another, usually without much success. In this essay, he loves his mother dearly and he has a deep sense of appreciation for her rituals and the various aspects of her Vietnamese origins, yet he cannot force himself to personally identify with it. As such, his relationship with his mother became a struggle until they eventually found even ground. Even though they are at peace, he knows that he will still not be the one to light the candles for the dead once she s gone simply because that s not who he is. His identity is no longer rooted in the Vietnamese traditions, even if that makes him a bit sad. I do struggle a bit with this one in particular, because I can see where it could definitely be considered a story of conformity and rebellion, I feel that Lam doesn t fully have a desire to fit here or there. It merely is that he has learned who he is and what he will and will not do. He hasn tShow MoreRelatedWho Will Light Incense When Mother s Gone915 Words   |  4 Pages How does your identity define you? The definition of identity is â€Å"who or what a person is†. A writer named Andrew Lam reveals what personal identity means in â€Å"Who Will Light Incense When Mother s Gone. In this non-fiction story, Lam moves to America, and he begins to emphasize who he is as an individual, rather than becoming a duplicate of his family. Since Lam moved to America, he does not recall his old ways of living, therefore he is on a quest for his identity presented by rejection, changeRead MoreEssay Tennessee Williams Life and The Glass Menagerie1643 Words   |  7 Pagesand Amanda are very much like Williams, his sister Rose, and his mother Edwina. We can see this very clearly when we look at the dialogue, and the relations between the action in the play and the actions in Tennessee Williamsamp;#8217; life. The first character that we will look at is Tom, the narrator. It can be interpreted that Tom is a likeness of Tennessee Williams. There are many similarities between his life and Tomamp;#8217;s life. Some of them are about his own actions, and some of themRead MoreThe s Funeral By Bram Stoker Essay986 Words   |  4 Pageshysterically after Lucy s funeral. How did this come about? Lucy was sleepwalking one night when her friend, Mina, finds her with two puncture wounds on her neck. Lucy continues to have sleep disturbances and becomes pale and weak, requiring several blood transfusions from each of three men who have all asked Lucy to marry them: Arthur Holcomb, Quincey Morris, and Dr. Seward. Dr. Seward s friend, Van Helsing cared for Lucy during her illness. However, after a terrible night where a wolf s head came throughRead MoreThematic Comparison Of The Glass Menagerie And A Streetcar Named Desire1399 Words   |  6 Pagesplays, Williams addresses important issues that no oth er writers of his time were willing to discuss, including addiction, substance abuse, and mental illness. Recurring themes in William’s works include the dysfunctional family, obsessive and absent mothers and fathers, and emotionally damaged women. These characters were inspired by his experiences with his own family. These characters appear repeatedly in his works with their own recurring themes. Through The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named DesireRead MoreWhy Is Biodiversity Loss A Concern To Us Today? Biodiversity1520 Words   |  7 Pagesfilters, helping to remove excess biomass and enhancing natural removal of the built-up biofilm. Rotifers are very complex organisms found in lagoons that remove harmful bacteria and algae from the water. Some plants such as them, Areca palm,The mother-in-law s tongue plant, and the Money Tree, actually clean the air, not just replenish it. Some animals we can not live without, such as the bee, the reason why we get to enjoy fruits, and many other natural everyday items. Bats,worms, fish, and butterfliesRead MoreOppression In The Yellow Wallpaper1422 Words   |  6 PagesIn â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a woman who is a wife and mother is forced into a confined, isolated house to help with her mental illness. The woman is told by her husband, a physician, that the confinement is the best cure for her. The short story shows how the woman slowly succumbs to insanity as she spends her days in her room locked away from society. The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, was known as a prominent feminist and social thinker during the late eighteenth centuryRead MoreBarbara Ehrenreichs Struggle to Live the Life of a Low Income Worker1089 Words   |  5 PagesBarbara Ehrenreich s Struggle to Live the Life of a Low Income Worker In the novel Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehnreich, there are many hurtles she must overcome to experience the life of a low income worker. She sets some ground rules for herself, such as always having a car, and starting out with a certain amount of money for her down payment on an apartment. Although the rules are doable, she admits that she broke all of the rules at least once. Even though Barbara didn t hold to herRead MoreThe Role Of Detective Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle1280 Words   |  6 Pageswhere he was institutionalized. The family, therefore suffered financially, though Doyle’s mother, Mary, was able to pay for his schooling at a Jesuit institution (Grade Saver). Doyle decided to pursue medical studies at Edinburgh University, and had to take a job as a doctor’s assistant to pay for his school fees. He was already writing and publishing stories but, set up a practice in Southsea in the early 1800’s. During this period, he completed the first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet,Read MoreThe Invention Of Thomas Edison Essay1662 Words   |  7 PagesThomas Edison is probably one of the world greatest inventors and largest contributors to the modern world we live in. Think of the world where candles were used more than light bulbs and there was no way to listen to music without it being live, or watching a motion picture movie. It seems impossible to have a world without these things but if Edison did not invent the footing for these objects they might not exist. Edison one of the most accomplished inventors to ever exist, with over one thousandRead MoreA Beam Of Light Through The Darkness1748 Words   |  7 Pages A Beam of Light Through the Darkness The novel â€Å"Night† by Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, tells the story of Wiesel as a Jewish teenager who studied the Torah and the Cabbala and the rocking of that faith by the events that we now know as the Holocaust. The narrative begins in 1944 in Wiesel’s hometown of Sighet, in Hungarian Transylvania. It tells the story of the Nazi occupation of Hungary and Elie and his family’s, as well as other Jews’