Generations
Most people wonder where they came from and why they were brought up the way they were; and in most cases the way we are raised is a representation of how our parents were raised. In Margaret Mead’s essay “We are all Third Generation” she discusses how she believes all Americans live as if they are third generation. She also examines but does not directly state, that all generations seem to rebel from their predecessors. Another take on generations and how they relate is seen in David Sedaris’ short story “Giant Dreams, Midget Abilities” a story about his relationship with his father when he was just a child. These two essays share the similarity that they both talk about generations. Mead’s is more direct in the intentions to talk about third generation tendencies, while Sedaris tells a story that incorporates how generations relate to each other. Yet, both works note that all generations seem to rebel from their previous generation.
Margaret Mead’s essay “We are all Third Generation” is specifically about American generations. Her main point in her essay is that every American acts as if they are a third generation, her sub-point goes more into the idea of rebellion and surpassing the previous generation. She goes into detail about the first two generations, stating that the first generation (the immigrant) rebels from their family and leaves their home country by moving to America, in most cases to find a better life for their children and future family. Mead states in her description of second-generation people, “…they set part of the tone of the American eagerness for their children to go onward”(98). She goes on to describe the difference between first generation leaving their parents and second generation leaving theirs; the main difference is the way the second generation “pities and rejects [them] who have failed to become – an American”(99). In this case the second generation is not only rebelling from their...