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Gabriel Diaz
Professor Dawn Trook
Writing 10-25D
April 14, 2010
Diagnostic Essay: I Begin My Life All Over
Based on the reading, what are some sources of conflict between generations? How do those
conflicts reveal themselves? Do you agree with this author's assessment of the issue? Why or why not?
Please use other parts of the text and your personal experience to support your argument.
The main sources of conflict between generations are created simply by the way people
are raised—through a changing culture and environment. Each paragraph in the reading reveals
aspects that build on this change.
In the first two paragraphs, the source of conflict introduced is the idea of hierarchy.
Back in Laos, people in families knew their place, with fathers being on the top of the pyramid,
and children at the bottom. However, by moving to America, the Laotian families’ lifestyles
change. The American system somewhat robs the original Laos way of life. The text makes the
point that situations become more complex after transitioning from Laos to America. In Laos,
elders were the wisest of the clan; but in America, “the elders feel they have been reduced to
helpless children […] it’s hard to present yourself as a wise man if your sons or daughters have
to teach you how to cross the street or dial the phone.” The conflict of ‘knowing your place’ in
society reveals itself naturally, with elders and fathers feeling inferior to their children and
grandchildren when dealing with basic deeds such as writing their name on paper or crossing the
street.
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Lifestyles also affect the spreading of knowledge between grandparents and
grandchildren because the typical way of life is changed. In Laos, grandparents usually lived
with their grandchildren and were really close with their extended family—but in America, this
is no longer the case, besides the fact that there’s a growing language barrier between them.
Another main source of conflict between generations is language. Language is the most
important way of verbal communication; it’s the way people are able to understand each other,
communicate, and grasp new information. Pertaining to the previous paragraph: if the
grandparents did in fact live with their grandchildren in America, there is still a “difficulty
communicating with them because the grandparents generally speak little or no English, and the
grandchildren often know very little Hmong.” The language barrier also separates the children
from their parents and grandparents the more they adapt to American society.
The author seems to make the claim that children are able to adapt much easier than their
parents or grandparents, as their parents and grandparents were raised in a different generation in
a dissimilar way. He then provides examples of his personal experience with not being able to
communicate well with his mother. “We lived in the same home, but a part of me belonged to a
world where she had no place.” The author’s main point is that with moving to America, the
young children who are still developing seek to become ‘Americanized.’ However, with this
process of Americanization through their “exposure to school, peers, television, music,” they feel
guilty about “rejecting their parents’ values and failing to measure up to their parents’ notions of
a good child.” Supposedly, Hmong families that move to America and raise their children here
will be brought up the American way, and so the parents feel that they can’t raise them
traditionally anymore. The author claims that parents are ignorant of what it takes for their
children to strive in America.
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I somewhat agree with Toshio Mori’s assessment of the issue. Surely there is a
divergence between children and previous generations, but the ability to adapt can vary for
different families and people. Although my parents were both born in the Philippines and were
raised in a different culture, they’ve adapted to the American way of life, while still being able to
incorporate traditional values at home. Communication hasn’t been a problem between my
parents and me at all, as they learned to speak English well just by the constant exposure to
American culture, which is the same way children adapt as well. Instead of being “stuck
between two worlds,” there can be a formation of a ‘yin and yang’ type of culture. Although
there are in fact differences between the ways one is raised traditionally and in a completely
different culture, there’s not much that can be done to retain each culture completely—one can
only adjust to the way things have become, and continue living.