7/27/2019 Broken April
1/2
Gabriela M. ClarkeSeptember 09, 2014Period 7B
During the interactive oral for Broken April , our class
discussed many unique aspects of different
cultures and compared them to our own. I was surprised to
realize that the majority of my classmates
do not share a similar culture as I do and dont quite understand
how a persons culture, though weird
to them, is normal for all those who share it. As a whole,
though, we began to understand the
perspective on the Kanun.
A major idea behind the blood feuds of the Kanun is honor. The
word was repeated throughout
the oral discussion, mainly the reason for why someone would
participate in such barbarity. Honor is
what drives a persons actions. In American culture the word
doesnt have a s much significance as in
other countries such as Albania. People have a natural tendency
to receive approval from family and
friends through things like grades, appearances, actions, and
professions. I learn that the Kanun was
what Albanians believed to be their honor code. If they did not
follow it at that time they would have
been somewhat shunned from. They are not participating because
they dont want to necessarily, but
because they need to. This led the discussion to conclude that
they did not resent the blood feuds but
their position in the blood feuds.
The oral assessment began to roam through many other cultures
practices that seem weird
from an Americans perspective. Arranged marriages was brought up
a lot and was criticized. This
seemed weird to me because I come from a culture that had
practiced arrange marriages. My
grandparents had arrange marriages in fact. I felt they brought
up good points on how it seemed
unnatural but were too quick to judge. Another topic we stemmed
to was the role a parent plays in
their childs life, dictating their clothes, activities, and a
lot of times their future profession. I think this is
and will always be important to all and every culture.
