Self identity essay

My self-identity which I predominantly have been more exposed to was my Mexican heritage. I was born in Durango, Mexico and moved to California at the age of 5. My parents, like most Mexican’s, migrant to the States for a better life for them and their families. My parents both come from a 5th grade education and they knew raising a family in Mexico would have been a struggle to keep my sister and I educated. My dad wanted to be able to provide much more than his parents ever could. I took the time to talk to my parents about our traditions and how they evolved in California. So I took a close look at what I consider the norms in my culture and analyzed several points; Mexican women are homemakers, our families celebrate holidays differently and how discrimination was a big part of my life as I was growing up. Traditionally, Mexicans are hardworking individuals with a goal in mind, which is to succeed and become better then when we first arrived. As I was growing up, I would always see my mom working hard to keep her house together, making sure my clothes where cleaned and ironed. She would wake up early every day to make my dad’s lunch for work, and make him breakfast before he leaves for the day and make sure dinner was ready by the time he would get home. Sundays would be her day off from her normal routine and this day my dad would take us out for lunch and hang out somewhere together. Every day was the same traditional routine and to this day nothing has changed for her. Now that I’ve grown to be my own person with a family of my own, I do not follow that exact same routine as my mom does. Somehow I was raised to be treated as equal partners in a relationship and to help each other out. Within my generation, our culture is different than what my parents are accustomed to. Our book defined culture as “Culture is a set of human-made objective elements that in the past have increased the probability of survival and resulted in satisfaction for the