My Cultural Experience That Relates To Predominate American Culture - Essay Example

This paper examines my personal cultural experiences which I had while I was growing up in a different atmosphere at home, where there is still a strong immigrant ethos. Furthermore, I will also describe my other, adult experiences, as they relate to my own culture. I am a full-fledged wife and a mother, who married a Mexican man, who in many ways is also carrying his own cultural baggage as a Latino with the predominant so-called macho culture and its rules as regards relationships with women.

A lot of people have to make some adjustments to make their relationships work out for the best; it is no exception in my case where I do most of the compromising to make the best of the situation. To begin with, my early childhood experiences started with an Italian-Hungarian father who married my Irish-American mother. This means I grew up in a mixed ethnic atmosphere at home; however, I was mostly surrounded by relatives from my father's side with a strong value system. This included my paternal grandmother, a Roman Catholic, who never spoke a word of English and loved cooking the usual favorite authentic Italian dishes like spaghetti and macaroni.

The women in this family (my great-grandmother, grandmother, and aunts) did the usual household chores such as cleaning, cooking, washing the laundry, and taking care of the kids as was expected in the old days, when women stayed at home and did not have jobs or careers but in many ways provided for the family's needs in terms of loving care, support, and encouragements. They performed a crucial function so that my father could focus on his work; my grandfather is a skilled mason, and his skills were passed on to the men of my family (father and uncles).

Similarities. At first, my young mind did distinguish that my family was different in some ways; rather, I discerned that we were very similar to all other American families in many ways. We (classmates, friends, and me) were not aware that there were subtle differences between some families of different ethnic backgrounds; instead, all of us had the same values and expectations that American society offers to everyone. The adults in the family were somewhat aware of these minor differences; in essence, however, everybody had the same dream of making it successfully in America, an immigrant's vision of the “American Dream” – a vision of becoming somebody to reckon with in the foreseeable future.

Most of the families I knew of functioned in the same way as my family – the men were working while the women stayed at home to take care of children, cook the meals, and do the usual chores. Over time, my family gradually made some changes that conformed to the predominant American culture. This was manifested by the women who wanted to obtain a college education, which they saw as something valuable for them personally and also professionally, as a means of their fulfillment and advancement.

This was how I learned the value of education, which enticed me to study hard myself, as there is equality between genders and my future is up to me. My grandmother took a job in a factory, so there were two breadwinners in the family now. The other native languages were not spoken as frequently as before, and English became common in our household. We strove to adapt