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Second Major Paper- Language and Culture- Sample Second Draft with
Sources

Young lady, there is only one secret weapon in this life: W. O. R. K.
Work.
Its such a loaded term, one that has taken many forms throughout my life.
But the model of hard work, my 90-year-old grandfather, or King as we
grandkids nicknamed him, believes that the term work needs no
explanation. You see, its pretty simple, he would narrate. No one, and I
mean no one, is better than you if you work harder than them. No son or
daughter or grandchild of mine is less than any other person on this earth;
what differentiates you is how hard you work.
His mother, Sarah, was an Italian immigrant, a first generation monolingual
learning some English but speaking *her+ native language at home (Boyer).
Sarahs husband, Sam, believed in the opportunities available in the United
States, or the Great Melting Potrenowned for its ability to soak up people
from countries all around the world and still remain distinctly American
(Boyer). Sarah and Sam married when they were 18 and immigrated to
Omaha, Nebraska, finally settling in a small part of town known as Little
Italy. King was the second of 7 siblings. Soon after the last child was born,
Sam died of illness and left Sarah with a small 2-bedroom house.
Mathematically, this living situation was not ideal: all of Kings siblings were
raised in one bedroom. Fortunately, they had the support of their Italian
neighbors, sharing food from their gardens and bowls from their kitchens,
but it was not enough. Sarah worked, selling linens door to door and using
broken English to compel her neighbors to furnish their beds and living
rooms. Per favore she would beg, E' per la mia famiglia. Sarah knew the
difference between yes and no and she came to understand English, but it
didnt mean that *she+ could suddenly speak the language (Sedaris). She
would scrape together profits and feed her kids. When her children became
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of age, they worked. King learned early on that he was born into a situation
and if he wanted to get out of that situation, he had to work, and so did his
siblings.
Years later, King made a conscious decision to not raise his own children as
Italian speakers. King was a second generation bilingual, growing up
speaking [his] native language at home but speaking in English only when
*he+ moved out (Boyer). If you were an American and English speaking, he
believed, you would garner more respect. King never taught my aunts and
uncles how to speak Italian. He wanted them to be English monolingual,
growing up speaking English and continuing for the rest of their lives
(Boyer). He grappled with this clash in identity, embracing the pride in his
heritage but realizing that the English language was a necessity, a part of
this new culture that he was born into. King knew that English became the
main determinant of a childs progress up the ladder of formal education
(Thiongo, 549). He didnt want his kids to be viewed as second class citizens
who couldnt take advantage of the opportunities that the English language
afforded. Worse, he feared that his children would not have the chance to
succeed in the first place, simply because of their home language.
While King and Sarah spoke Italian to each other, they would never address
their children in Italian. Italian was isolating and interesting at the same
time, a curious string of words and accented syllables that seemed to rise
and fall in regular intervals. The language was animated, alive and intense
and nearly impossible to speak at a normal volume. As a young girl, my
mother thought that King and Sarah were yelling at each other, their hands
flying through the air as they spoke rapidly; it was not until they burst into
laughter that she realized it was nothing more than a creative story. This
language was as bustling as Sarahs home, chaotic and masterful and
overwhelming. Italian was a language associated with that 2-bedroom home
on 9
th
and Pierce Street, a unique attribute of my mothers upbringing.
Italian was the collective memory bank of a peoples experience in history
and revealed that culture *was+ almost indistinguishable from the language
that makes possible its genesis, growth, banking, articulation, and indeed its
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transmission from one generation to the next (Thiongo, 552). It was by
listening, but not participating, that my aunts and uncles observed a
language that could be so inviting and alienating at the same time. My
mother realized that as she and her siblings learned more and more
English, *they+ shared fewer and fewer words with *their+ parents
(Rodriguez, 516). The language associated with struggle, hard work, and
oppression was so beautiful, a living oxymoron of the life King led, but one
that his children would never know.
Years later, the lesson of hard work was told in a new way. My mother used
to tell me stories about her brothers. She has 6 brothers, and all of them
managed to become extraordinarily successful professionals. Four are
doctorsa cardiologist, podiatrist, vascular surgeon, and orthopedic
surgeonand two are lawyers. But the road to professionalism was not
always pretty. Uncle Pete worked as a janitor, scrubbing toilets at the office
building after the employees had left for the day. Uncle Ray worked at a
Kodak film store, printing photographs in a dark room; initially, this seemed
like a cool, artsy job until he learned that the hours were from midnight to
7:00 am. Uncle John worked at Broncos Burgers, cleaning filthy grills and
grease-filled drainsto this day, he still cannot eat a hamburger. Uncle Bob
worked construction during the early summer mornings, digging trenches
before roads could be paved. My mother worked in a factory, standing in an
assembly line tagging clothing with price tags; she had to gross 365 items for
each shipment and if she lost count, shed have to go back and start over. All
of this transpired during high school. King wanted his children to be taken
seriously, given good service, and understood by their character, not limited
(Tan, 544). When it came time to attend college, the boys followed each
other to the University of Notre Dame, and each paid his college tuition by
his own earnings. The boys scraped and saved and savored every penny of
what led to their college degrees. The lesson of hard work did not fall on
deaf ears.
Kings philosophy while raising his children was this: you will work an
excruciating job with little pay in order to realize the value of your
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education. If you think for a second of dropping out of school, or not giving
110% every day, this is the fate you are resigned to. Your hard work will lead
to a profession, not a job.
Truly, Kings one secret weapon has led to more success than an arsenal of
connections. His family had to W.O.R.K. to overcome adversity, make
something of themselves, and be proud of who they are.

Works Cited
Boyer, Geneva. English Should Not Be the US Official Language.
Workpress. 1 May 2009.
Rodriguez, Richard. Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood. Shea, Renee,
Scanlon, Lawrence, Dissin Aufses, Robin. The Language of Composition.
Beford St. Marten: Boston, 2008.
Sedaris, David. Me Talk Pretty One Day. Me Talk Pretty One Day. Little,
Brown and Company: Boston, 2000.
Tan, Amy. Mother Tongue. Shea, Renee, Scanlon, Lawrence, Dissin Aufses,
Robin. The Language of Composition. Beford St. Marten: Boston, 2008.
Thiong/o, Ngugi Wa. From Decolonising the Mind. Shea, Renee, Scanlon,
Lawrence, Dissin Aufses, Robin. The Language of Composition. Beford St.
Marten: Boston, 2008.
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