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Essay / what makes you you - 1891
For this article, I decided to interview Jonathan Delgado, who I met in my writing class last semester. During our conversation, the three main themes we discussed were family, education, and identity, so I'm going to talk about those things. The first thing we started talking about during the interview was about college and how he got here. This led him to talk about his supportive family. Finally, we talked about his identity and why he doesn't consider himself a "Chicano." These three themes are ones that I noticed Jonathan really enjoyed talking about and had great stories to tell.Literature ReviewAs seen in the film "The Mission" (Peter Bratt, 2009), family and family expectations are very important among Chicanos. Certain things are expected of every member of the family and expectations often depend on gender. In the film, Che's son Jesse was supposed to be macho, religious and live his father's lifestyle. Whether it was dressing like a “cholo” or a “pachuco,” driving the low-riders, or giving Catholic blessings, Che assumed Jesse was like him and wanted him to be and act in a certain way. This shows the strong importance of family in Chicano life. “Machismo” and “Marianismo” are also key points in this regard, determining the roles of different sexes, which is very common in Chicano families. Additionally, as noted in the presentation on “Family Matters” (02/28/2014), Catholicism in the Chicano community is huge. Religion plays an important role in the daily lives of Chicanos, from blessing each other to kneeling to pray in their homemade “altarcitos.” Of course, not all Chicanos are Catholic, and some are considered "bad Catholics"....... middle of paper ...... how to have a more accurate and deeper understanding of what he means not to be Chicano, but Mexican. What matters isn't really the word itself, it's the satisfaction one feels personally knowing that no one else chooses what and who one is. You decide who you want to be, whatever the politically correct term is. I learned that you should be proud of who you choose to be. Take Jonathan for example. People made fun of him for speaking Spanish and having an accent. They make fun of the things he can't control, the things he didn't choose to have or know. The sad thing is that even when you are with your "own people", someone wants to be better than others, instead of supporting each other. However, it is you who makes the decision to either ignore pessimism or indulge in what makes you your being..