The Influences of Family Traditions on and Individual

Each day we go through life doing activities that we have always done. In a sense we can say this is just tradition. Our political view, language, and our customs can be tied to the culture we have grown up to know. Individualism is created from our culture and is important to how we interact with other cultures in the world. It is safe to say that family tradition and cultural legacies play a very important role in our life. They define who we are and at times that can explicitly deter us from self-individuality.

Traditions are activities or attitude passed down from generation to generation. The meanings of these proceedings are very symbolic to the family. A sense of pride is given when we speak of our family traditions. In our younger years, we had activities that we did as a family on a regular. Summer vacations, birthday parties, family visits, and game nights are just a few things we did. It was during these moments that we genuinely began to learn life lessons in some form. The family traditions directly impact the personality we have as adults. The reason behind my perspective is, these are the times when family talks about events that happened in their life, current world events, or politics. As children we sit and listen to the adults when they speak on these things, and eventually the circle comes right back around and we do the same. Also, our personal drive and ambition is a direct reflection of a family member that we have looked up to. You hear things from the elder like, “You know you are a Hall if you can work the fields.” At this moment, you start to adopt the hard working ways of those before you. It is now you can answer in the affirmative that you are indeed a Hall.

In the literature “Digging” by Seamus Hean...

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...g pot here. We are able to move forward and not be bottlenecked by any unknown cultural traditions.

Some cultures can inhibit your individuality by not allowing you to be yourself. They dictate what you can and cannot do.

All things considered, tradition and cultural influence is needed if we wish to remain true to ourselves. Our differences are evident in what we learn. It can hurt you and it can help you, but the individual mind cannot allow itself to be succumbed by the teachings that can inhibit growth. In the end it is inevitable to be completely an independent individual, because our individual infidelity is already predetermined by our traditions and culture.

Works Cited

Heaney, Seamus. "Digging (1998)." MissyJames, Alan P. Merickel. Reading Literature and Writing Arguments. n.d. 437-438.

"Culture." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2014.