Our Italian Tradition
It was Christmas Eve. I sat, huddled in a ball, behind the armchair in my living room. I was trying to be as still and patient as I could be. I remember moments where I held my breath thinking if she heard me breathe, she would leave and I would never get a chance to see her. I could feel myself drifting off to sleep, but I tried to resist. All I wanted was to see her just once. Usually, I would be scared at the thought of a witch, but she was different. She was a magical witch who flew on a broom from house top to house top, visiting children and filling their shoes with candy and chocolates. Sure enough, I awoke the next morning to find myself still huddled in the same ball; I had fallen asleep before La Befana arrived. As I stood up yawning, I took a big stretch and noticed my Christmas shoes lying by my feet full of goodies.
La Befana is the Italian version of America’s Santa Clause. In fact, the idea of Santa Clause stems from the legend of the La Befana. On the night that baby Jesus was born, the Three Wise Men stopped at her hut asking directions to Bethlehem, and invited her to go along with them but she refused. Later, a shepherd boy stopped to ask her for directions. He invited her to join him in his journey to Bethlehem, but again, she refused. Later that night she saw a large star in the sky and reconsidered going to look for the stable where baby Jesus lay. She wanted to bring him the toys of her child who had died. But she did not find the stable, and now each year she looks for baby Jesus. Since she can not find him, she leaves gifts for the good children of Italy, and coal for the bad ones.
The story of La Befana is just one of the m...
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...” (Myers 119). I have, for as long as I can remember, been aware of the cultural winds. With each Italian tradition that my family embraces, we are fighting the winds of a more mainstream tradition that seeks presence in our home. But I am glad that we have fought these winds. I am glad that I did not spend my Christmases in the same way that many other children did. I am glad that I believed that my Christmas presents were left by La Befana while all the other kids believed they had come only from Santa Clause. I believe that living in America is about embracing difference. My family forces me to embrace difference through our Italian traditions each Christmas, and it has taught me how beautiful and valuable difference can truly be. Buon Natale!
Works Cited
Myers, David. Psychology Seventh Edition in Modules. Holland, Michigan: Hope College, 2004.
Conrad’s main character Marlow is the narrator for most of the story in Heart of Darkness. He is presented as a well-intentioned person, and along his travels he is shocked by the cruelties that he sees inflicted on the native people. Though he is seemingly benevolent and kindly, Marlow shows the racism and ignorance of Conrad and in fact of the majority of white people in his era, in a more subtle way. Marlow uses words to describe the blacks that, though generally accepted in his time, were slanderous and crude. He recalls that some of the first natives he saw in the Congo looked at him “with that complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages” (80; part 1). Marlow casually refers to the Africans with the most offensive of language: “Strings of dusty niggers arrived and departed…” (83; part 1). To Marlow, and thus to Conrad, the Africans are savages, dogs, devils, and criminals. Even the stories that Conrad creates for Marlow to narrate are twisted and false. The natives that Marlow deals with in the book are described as cannibals, and they are even given dialogue that affirms th...
Frida Kahlo’s life was one of tragedy and loss; her paintings are representations of how she was feeling and what she was thinking. Using different methods of symbolism, Self-portrait on the borderline between Mexico and the United States was her way of expressing her homesickness and how she was feeling during her difficult time in the United States of America. Kahlo’s work is a perfect example of turning a dark hurtful time into a beautiful piece of artwork
The purpose of this investigation is to test the effects of multiple sugar substances on the respiration of yeast. Most people think of yeast when they think of what makes bread rise, cheese, alcoholic beverages, or other food products. Another type of yeast can also cause yeast infections, an infection of the skin. Yeasts (Saccharomyces) are tiny, microscopic organisms with a thin membrane and are usually oval or circular-shaped. They are a type of single-celled fungi of the class Ascomycetes, capable of processing sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide (CO2 ) ; this process is known as fermentation. Fermentation and the products are the main focus points for this experiment being that cellular respiration of yeasts happens via the process of fermentation, which creates by-products of alcohol and CO2. The level of CO2 produced by the yeasts will show how effective each sugar substance is in providing cellular energy for the yeasts.
Claris, S. (1998). Italians Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America . October 17, 2004. Boston: Gale Research, Inc., 1995.
Living in Maryland, the narrator and her little brother Joey lived a very simple life. There mother had job that required many hours, and her father was unemployed and still in the process of trying to find a job. They lived in a very run down house in a very small poor community. One summer day, the narrator , Joey, and a group of kids from the community were bored and wanted to do something different. So,the narrator and the kids went down to one of the elders home, Miss Lottie. Miss Lottie was the old woman that everyone made stories about and for the kids they knew her as the witch. In the summer time Miss Lottie would always be in her front yard planting marigolds, which were an easy target to destroy. The kids all took part in throwing rock at Miss Lottie's marigolds, and the narrator was the coordinator. After they sprinted back to the oak tree, the narrator started to feel guilt for what she
This lab attempted to find the rate at which Carbon dioxide is produced when five different test solutions: glycine, sucrose, galactose, water, and glucose were separately mixed with a yeast solution to produce fermentation, a process cells undergo. Fermentation is a major way by which a living cell can obtain energy. By measuring the carbon dioxide released by the test solutions, it could be determined which food source allows a living cell to obtain energy. The focus of the research was to determine which test solution would release the Carbon Dioxide by-product the quickest, by the addition of the yeast solution. The best results came from galactose, which produced .170 ml/minute of carbon dioxide. Followed by glucose, this produced .014 ml/minute; finally, sucrose which produced .012ml/minute of Carbon Dioxide. The test solutions water and glycine did not release Carbon Dioxide because they were not a food source for yeast. The results suggest that sugars are very good energy sources for a cell where amino acid, Glycine, is not.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is one of the most widely recognized and acclaimed novellas written. But with fame and recognition comes controversy, which is clearly demonstrated by the broad interpretations of the book. Many people believe Heart of Darkness is racist, while others believe the book is perfectly civil. Chinua Achebe, one of Africa's most renowned novelists, strongly believes that the book is dehumanizing and racist; I agree with him, to a certain extent. Three of the most prominent ways that Achebe discusses Conrad’s racism is by the way the African people are portrayed, the African culture, and the comparison of Europe to Africa.
A nation of tortured slaves with bodies so emaciated one could count the ribs, death lingering in every corner as overworked natives line the ground with their lifeless forms, a people so scarred that evil men are allowed to rule as gods. Unfortunately, the gruesome description reigns true for African tribes that fell victim to the cruelty of colonialism. Pointing out the abhorrent evils of the imperial tradition, Joseph Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness to expose the possibility of malevolence in a human being. Throughout the novella, Conrad illustrates sickening images of the horrendous effects of colonizing African tribes while incorporating themes such as a reversal of black and white imagery, the “fascination of the abomination”, and the inherent evil within humanity. Uniquely, Conrad often describes good and virtuous situations or people using the commonly negative description black. Likewise, Conrad also uses the word “white” to describe negative, evil, or unfortunate events and people. Another use of theme arises as Conrad’s main narrator, Marlow, becomes fascinated with the savage people and the cruelty under which they live. Although the situations and people are described as wild, Marlow pays special attention to the details of these people because they are all human, like him. Lastly, the protagonist, Kurtz, falls into deep evils as his soul is consumed by power-hungry and greedy ambitions. Conrad often discusses the possibility of evil within every man if the environment is unrestrained and open to a dictatorship-like control. Despite the main idea of the novel being the evil within man, a native Nigerian professor, Chinua Achebe, greatly criticizes what he believes to be both obvious and subtle racist undertones through...
In the article "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness," Chinua Achebe criticizes Joseph Conrad for his racist stereotypes towards the people of Africa. He claims that Conrad broadcasted the "dominant image of Africa in the Western imagination" rather than portraying the continent in its true form (Achebe 13). Africans were portrayed in Conrad's novel as inhuman savages with no language other than sound and with no "other occupations besides merging into the evil forest or materializing out of it simply to plague Marlow" (Achebe 7). To Joseph Conrad, the Africans were not just characters in his story, but rather props. After reading Achebe’s famous essay and Conrad’s novella I’ve come to side with Achebe. Conrad “was a thoroughgoing racist”; Heart of Darkness platforms this clearly. Throughout the novella Conrad describes and represents the Africans and Africa itself in a patronizing and racist way.
The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara. At the time the area was Greek and is now on the southern coast of Turkey. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to the those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.
Heart of Darkness is a story in which racism presents itself so deliberately that, for many, the dilemma of race must be tackled before anything else in the book may be dealt with. Conrad used derogatory, outdated and offensive terminology for devaluation of people’s color as savages. This use of language disturbs many readers who read this book.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad has been depicted as “among the half-dozen greatest short novels in the English language.” [pg.1] Chinua Achebe believes otherwise. In Chinua Achebe’s An Image of Africa: Racism is Conrad’s Heart of Darkness he simply states that, “Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist” [pg.5]
Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness portrays an image of Africa that is dark and inhuman. Not only does he describe the actual, physical continent of Africa as "so hopeless and so dark, so impenetrable to human thought, so pitiless to human weakness" (Conrad 94), as though the continent could neither breed nor support any true human life, but he also manages to depict Africans as though they are not worthy of the respect commonly due to the white man. At one point the main character, Marlow, describes one of the paths he follows: "Can't say I saw any road or any upkeep, unless the body of a middle-aged negro, with a bullet-hole in the forehead, upon which I absolutely stumbled three miles farther on, may be considered as a permanent improvement" (48). Conrad's description of Africa and Africans served to misinform the Western world, and went uncontested for many years.
Culture, according to Webster’s is, “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization” defines culture. The world has many diverse cultures spread out through many different countries. The country of Italy has had an impact on the world through its unique geography, culture and history. Italian culture and influences on world economies can be seen everywhere from food to cars and clothes. The impact that Italy has had on the rest of the world is profound than you may think.
Italian immigrants had a very hard time coping with the U.S because they weren’t settled in with the rest of the people. They weren’t clear on how to understand how the people in the U.S lived and worked and understood meanings. Immigration in the United States is extremely important. Many of the immigrants came from many different countries; Italy was one of those countries. Italy has helped the United States throughout the years, without them we wouldn’t have the items that we have now. Some of these items are some fashion, toys, religion, and many types of foods for example spaghetti, pizza, and bread. These are some of the foods that they sold in stores and restauran...