Reflective Statement Paradise Of The Blind

According to Evelyn Nakano Glenn, family has multiple definitions—the most popular being “a unit in a household consisting of a mother, father, and children residing together.” Another definition of family is “two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption residing in the same housing unit” (Glenn 87). In both stories, it can be seen that the role of a mother is an important role in the family. One characteristic that both mothers resemble in the stories is that of a caring mother. In the story, Sticks and Salt, Nguyen’s mother showed love and compassion toward Nguyen (as a child) during their dangerous boat ride to America.

Blindness applies as both a physical and mental ailment. Raymond Carver portrays this concept to readers with his short story, Cathedral. Told from the point of view of a nameless narrator, Cathedral tells a tale of healing mental blindness and, ultimately, curing one’s ignorance. As the nameless narrator encounters Robert, a blind friend of his wife, he changes from a man with a nearsighted mentality to an aware, empathetic human being. The traits, psyche, and point of view of the narrator of Raymond Carver’s Cathedral each drive the plot toward a theme of healing and transformation.

In the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the seemingly judgmental narrator is faced with meeting a blind man named Robert. The narrator sees himself as superior to others and, in this instance, especially to the blind. Due to the narrator’s pretentious attitude, tension between the blind and himself is revealed when he says, “[m]y idea of blindness came from the movies” (279). In Carver’s short story “Cathedral”, the tension between literal and metaphorical blindness is most evident through the narrator’s insensitivity and bitterness towards the blind man. The character of the narrator progresses from a closed minded individual to someone who can look outside of his own perspective.

Family has been an integral and valued part of Western culture for centuries. The reason for this can be traced back to times when food was not easily accessible to a people, unless they worked for. Families found that it was necessary to stick together in order ensure that everyone had sufficient rations. This idea, drawn from common sense, became a wonderful tradition, which today is called the family nucleus.

Analysis of “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke Since the genesis of the traditional family unit, parents play an immutable and paramount role in the nurturing of their children and successive progenies. Universally, in most societies, it is widely acknowledged that the father is the figurehead of the family unit. However, the role of the father is not cogently defined, especially in the contemporary society, and may vary from one family to another. On the one hand, there are fathers that act as the temporal providers to their children till they grow to adulthood.

Huong uses the significance of food in the plot as a tool to emphasize the importance of community and to display the characters’ financial status in the social order. In Paradise of The Blind, vietnamese cuisine is also a strong

KaYing Yang, a longtime social justice activist, gave a lecture titled “Transforming Cultures to Create Gender Equity”. The lecture was a part of the Southeast Asian Heritage Lecture Series as it dealt with Hmong culture. KaYing Yang described the hardships that Hmong girls experience throughout all their lives simply due to their gender. Females are not as important as males in Hmong culture which results in serious sexism. From their birth boys are favored, given more attention, provided with more education.

While women mostly “retain the name from which they were born, they are still considered a member of their husband’s clan.” (Purnell, 2014, pg. 240) There is not single leader of the Hmong, instead there are leaders for each clan whom are older males. While the father or husband is the decision maker of the family, the oldest son takes over decision making if he dies. Marriage within the Hmong culture is characterized as the daughter living with their husband and in-laws, and the boys marrying before they are considered adults.

“His being blind bothered me” (Carver 1). In Raymond Carver’s short story Cathedral, Carver establishes an ignorant narrator, who is dependent on alcohol and fixated upon physical appearance; he juxtaposes the narrator to a blind man who sees with his heart rather than his eyes. Through indirect characterization, Carver contrasts the narcissistic narrator to the intuitive blind man while utilizing sight as a symbol of emotional understanding. He establishes the difference between looking and seeing to prove that sight is more than physical.

The children learned basic norms and values from the parents. The parents supply the economic needs for the child such as foods and education (ResviseSociology, 2014). In a family, different person performs different role and function such as a mother should take care of her child. The important is the child can feel the love and support from their parents (Gordon, 1997). Family dysfunction may appear in broken families, violent families and divorced families, etc.

In “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the narrator struggles with an internal conflict that involves him never being able to be in a vulnerable or sensitive state, especially when he is with his wife. The narrator creates suspense by having the reader wait until the end to realize what the blind man was referring to when he states, “From all you’ve said about him, I can only conclude—” (Carver 35). The reader can observe that the blind man was explaining that the husband was missing out on all aspects of life and the little things the world has to offer. The husband was so closed-minded, that he was missing out on having a deeper connection with his wife.

Family is moral embryo, a microcosm of society as a whole. This relationship is based on the idea of xiao, or filial piety. It is moral duty toward elders and parents, meaning one must have reverence and devotion toward them. Food is often picked as a metaphor in stories of children giving back to the parents; they fed us, and in return we should obey them in our youth, look after them in their senility, mourn their death, and make sacrifices in their honorary memory. “In early China, besides expressing love or care, the presentation of food, or by extension material support, creates obligation.

In his contemporary short story, “Cathedral,” Raymond Carver tells the story of an unnamed narrator, his wife, and an old friend, a blind man named Robert. Robert has come to visit the narrator’s wife, who is quite excited to see this man whom she hasn’t seen in ten years, yet the same can’t be said of the narrator who is noticeably and vocally uncomfortable about his visit. The story is told through the narrator’s first person point of view, showcasing his thoughts and the events that take place when Robert comes to visit. Carver highlights the theme of having the ability to see, but not truly seeing, through his use of colloquial language, and creation of relatable characters. “Cathedral” begins with the narrator informing the audience

Self-awareness is an initial step to understand the variations of cultures. It could help an individual to realize the essentials of his or her own culture that are usually neglected in daily life. In this essay, I would like to explore the Vietnamese culture under my own reflection and express my opinions about cultural variation discussion in international environments. At first, there is a variety of important factors that influenced Vietnamese culture but family is the most important point. In fact, a typical Viet family includes grandparents, parents and children living together under a same roof.

I believe that every family has their own roots, essence, uniqueness, beliefs and thoughts, some families have both parents, some just the mother, just the father, two mothers or two fathers, they might have an only child or two, or maybe 5 or even 10, therefore, those children start learning all these things from their family and surroundings, they ask questions, they imitate each other’s actions and are constantly learning and trying to catch as much information and experiences as possible. Children are growing fast, their parents are their role models, they learn mostly from them; parents have the tremendous job of forming good citizens that provide to society, healthy and happy beings that keep growing as humans in every stage of their