Essay On Memories Of Montreal And Richness

The text memories of Montreal - and richness by Moses Milstein and the text Lend Me Your Light by Rohinton Mistry deal with the main idea/topic of cultural identity. The authors want to prove how their cultures have influenced them as individuals by explore family, friends, and neighborhoods. The authors describe their childhoods having grown up in vastly different ways. They are recalling their past in a nostalgic manner the good and bad parts of the whole.

cultural identity is strongly formed by where Milstein and Mistry are being raised. Their childhoods are what created the base and background of their cultural identity. In memories of Montreal and richness Milstein states “in the April of my childhood in the Montreal of the 50s, the way to school was still studded with chunks of sandy moraine from winters retreating ice”(pg150 Milstein). He also stated that there are corner stores on all 4 corners of his street and the one they used the “Jewish” one. He describes a rich

In memories of Montreal he stated, “I can recall every building and business along the two blocks to school. Many of the proprietors knew me and my family. I felt safe.” (pg152 Milstein). You get a sense of community and a sense of extended family through that community. With his details you get a sense of a place where children were safe to explore and play. However, in lend me your light much of the opposite is true. He feels shame for his cultural identity, shame for how people treat the ghatis, and the use of the word in general. When he finds himself hiking in a place of childhood vacation as a young adult, he commented they would yell at the tourists “ ‘capitalist pig! You bastard stop riding on your brothers back’ ” (pg 155 Mistry). Again in Mistry’s essay you get a sense of embarrassment as to how his culture treated one