I noticed that the prevalent word in the first part of our reading was the word rispetto. A word many of us know, but take for granted. I love this word. As stated in The Madonna of 115th street by Robert Orsi it is a word that “means both love and fear, intimacy and distance” (93).
There is no doubt that European cultures tend to be similar so it wasn’t surprising to find myself relating to a lot of the events in the book. Growing up I was taught to always respect my elders and to look and act presentable at all times. If I didn’t I would bring shame (or vergogna) to my parents because then people would think that they didn’t raise me properly. The same does not apply to my younger brother who was born in Greece but grew up here. Just like the older Italian immigrants in the book, I feel that somewhere along the way this particular culture and ideals get “lost in translation.” I notice these differences in my friends as well. My foreign born friends have a different mindset than some of my native born friends.
As we discussed in class, there has to be an American culture because it is that culture that strips away the old culture. How is it that Asia and Europe manage to hold on tight to their culture but once you come to America it all lets loose? Granted there are families that work hard to preserve it, but it is a difficult task when all the younger generations want to do is stray away from the old.
We come across this in the second part of our reading where conflicts started to arise between generations. After reading this part, I came to the conclusion that it is inevitable for the young generations to lose some of their culture and assimilate into the American one. Things are constantly changing around us and as much as people don’t like change, eventually they come to accept it. Its sad to think that such a beautiful culture gets left behind but hopefully the new culture that emerges will hold to some strong ideals like R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
