After reading the introduction and asssigned short story, I did have a lot to agree with what was being said. In the intro, I really enjoyed the quote of a migrant leaving three mothers. The third mother being the mother language is, in my opinion, very true when looking at a language other than English. To make a long discussion short, it’s easily analyzed by how the expression of one’s self is articulated; in English there is three ways to say it; me, myself, and I. In other languages I’ve studied (Khmer, Japanese, Spanish, and Italian) there’s only one way to say “I.” I feel this is what makes learning English as a second language difficult. Although these short stories deal with immigrants in Italy and they are dealing with native tongue of Italy, not English, the connection is when one has to leave their mother tongue where it’s only a part of what they are leaving.
In the short story titled Salvation, I feel that the main character of this story had a reason to leave his “mother country.” He came to Italy for work and once home he was confronted with hosting distant relatives who were also seeking food, shelter, and work. With the incidents that happen as he helps out fellow migrants, he decides to stop helping them and lies to the next one saying that they must convert to Christianity if they wanted to come to Italy. After reading this some questions come up; who helped him when he got to Italy? Is it a cultural obligation to help distant family members? Who’s considered family members? All in all this story gives a point of view of a fight between sacrificing social status and order against an obligation to help fellow country folk.
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