Family Member Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Family Member Interview - Essay Example She went to the United States when she was twenty eight and grew up together with her siblings, which strengthened the family bond between them. They are so close that a day barely passes without the siblings meeting. My Aunts mother was born in Ouanaminthe which is a small town in the Northern part of Haiti, with an approximated population of Population while the father was born in Haà ¯tien  (Haitian Creole:  Okap or KapAyisyen, often referred to as  Le Cap. The town which is refferered to as Cape Haitian in English is a commune with a population of approximately 190,000 on the Northern Coast of Haiti. The maternal grandparents were born and raise din Quananminthe while the paternala grandparents were born and raised in Cap-Haà ¯tien. Dash, 2001) Being a Christian, my Aunt went to a private Christian school. Both my husband and children are also Christians with my husband who is also Haitian being very active in Church. Being a Sunday schoolteacher and a member of the choir, my Aunt attends church twice a week. She is strong in her religion that they have a daily bible study with the family. (Marcus, 2009) Just like other parts of Latin America, Haiti is predominantly inhabited by Christians with 16% members of Protestantism while approximately 80% are Roman Catholics. There are small group of the populace which are Hindus and Muslims mainly found in the Port-au-Prince. Another religion that is practice by Haitians is Vodou. The religion encompasses different unique traditions consisting of a mixture of Western and Central African, Native American and European. The practice has been embraced by the believers despite the associated negative stigma it’s associated with, both within and out of the country. Despite the fact that the exact number of practitioners of Vodou is not known, it is believed that a small group of people still practice the tradition besides their Christian faith. There are also few Christians who also

Mother daughter relationship in Mary Gordon's Cleaning Up (short Essay

Mother daughter relationship in Mary Gordon's Cleaning Up (short story) - Essay Example ut working for what you receive; therefore, Loretta never bathes for fear that she would be â€Å"putting herself in the camp of the Lavins’ children† (p. xx). Although she doesn’t like children, she makes an effort to engage herself in play with the oldest child, John Lavin, as her way of â€Å"pa[ying] her board† (p. xx). She knew her mother would have expected this of her. Although it is never written that the Lavin family is anything but accommodating during Loretta’s stay, Loretta constantly feels like an outsider. She is convinced that her mother’s actions caused Martine Lavin, the matriarch of the family, and other community members to see her as an inferior person. Later, when she becomes a well-educated woman, she still feels that her old community would condemn her because of her mother’s earlier behavior. â€Å"Cleaning Up† is, in parts, consistent with Gordon’s life. In the story, Loretta attains the same leve l of education that Gordon currently has. Loretta’s pre-college schooling is better than what Gordon was provided, but both earn a Master’s degree and use it to teach. Mother Perpetua is Loretta’s greatest influence. According to an Internet biography, Gordon received the same kind of influence from Elizabeth Hardwick and Janice Thaddeus. Gordon actually considered becoming a nun, a lifestyle that Loretta also briefly contemplates. Finally, Loretta’s work ethic is similar to Gordon’s. Gordon worked to support herself, just like Loretta. Against her mother’s advice, Gordon performed secretarial work and babysat for Thaddeus to put herself through school. Gordon’s own mother, though disfigured from and afflicted with polio, also worked as a secretary to support her family because her husband wouldn’t. The fact that Loretta strives as hard as her mother would have wanted her to, makes it clear that Loretta loved her mother despite the turmoil she’d created. Even though Loretta never saw her mother again, she thinks about