Term Paper on When I Was Puerto Rican
Esmeralda Santiago’s first book, a memoir of her childhood entitled ‘When I Was
Puerto Rican’ appeared in 1993. In the book Santiago describes herself and her
family with affection and sadness. She sees the attractiveness as well as the
poverty in the Puerto Rican rural area where she spent her childhood, and she
writes of her hardworking mother, her aberrant, romantic father, and their
severing love-hate relationship, with suffering but without judgment. Santiago's
history of her Puerto Rican childhood and her family's move to the strange and
awesome new world of New York City is a strange story of the endurance of a
strong individual, but it also gives insight into the lives of thousands of
immigrants to this country. While left very much as a part of the world they
left behind, these immigrants are faced with a neoteric language, a new culture,
and new expectations and codes of conduct.
Order Your
Custom Term Papers, College Essays and Research Papers
The difference and the transformation from a typical Puerto Rican culture to a
modernistic American culture is quite tough, as depicted by Santiago. In
Santiago's biography, she warmly recalls her own passage through childhood, when
her mother moved her children away from their father and the modest dwelling
they all shared in the country outside San Juan to a Brooklyn apartment
adjoining the projects. There she depicts the powerful role of mother n a
typical Puerto Rican family, where most of the decisions are left to be taken by
the mother who has most of the say in the family. Depicting a rural life in
Puerto Rico amidst the hardships and tensions of everyday life and Santiago's
turning out as a young woman, who, in spite of the fact that she was startled by
culture shock, valorously confronted New York, head-on.
The book depicts that respect for family is critical in the Puerto Rican
culture. Mothers and elders are adored and duty to the family, including the
extended family, is essential. Family ties are strong. Families often gather for
holidays, birthdays, and weddings. Machismo is a critical element of the
society. Women usually make decisions on foods purchased and served.
Traditionally meals are served when the entire family is together.
Breast-feeding is frequently practiced. Puerto Ricans believes breast-feeding is
nourishing and creates bonding between mother and child. In addition, father
involvement is influenced by competence as a father, the quality of the
relationship with the mother, and the child's characteristics. Father
involvement has direct and indirect implications for child health, and
incorporates the promotion of healthy development, prevention of unhealthy
development and intervention in cases of failure to attain developmental
milestones and of illnesses through seeking appropriate health care.
This has diversity to a larger aspect to the American culture where the
decisions are shared by both the parents along with the financial burden. Here
the roles are not defined, as is done in the Puerto Rican culture. Rather the
roles are shared among the father and the mother. This is how Santiago explains
the role that has to be transformed so as to adjust in the new culture.
Works Cited
Santiago, Esmeralda (1993) When I Was Puerto Rican
Aguinaco, Carmen. "Creative Tension: How Latina Writers Sense Two Worlds." U.S.
Catholic (1999): 34-35.
Order Your
Custom Term Papers, College Essays and Research Papers
