Sample Essay On Autobiography

I know that the person I am becoming is influenced by my life experiences, as a 24 year old mother, I can see how certain significant moments, as they relate to how society has treated me, and to my relationship with other people, have heavily influenced the things that I think, feel, and believe today. IT is clear, in reviewing my personality, my goals, and other elements of my identity, that my story has created the person who I am, and has driven forward the image of the woman I hope to become.
I was born in India, and moved to America when I was only three years old. There, my family wer members of the upper middle class. We had a comfortable and sure life. However, we came to America in search of the American Dream. In keeping with the social conflict theory, as members of the upper middle class we had ready access to resources that protected us, but we also had a natural desire to have more. My parents believed that by coming to America we would have a better life. Unfortunately, my father died when I was only ten years old, forcing us into abject poverty.
His death, and according to Marx, maybe more significantly the loss of social collateral that w suffered as a result of his death had a significant impact on my childhood. We suffered from social conflict, or the breech in understanding between the haves a, and the have nots, however that conflict was internal. We were, as a family, accustomed to having access to certain resources that were no longer available to us. We barely had anything, and I remember looking at what other kids in our middle class neighborhood still had, and feeling sorry for myself.
Social conflict theory also states that more powerful groups ultimately use their power to exploit groups with lesser power. This was certainly true of the social arena in public school. I always got made fun of when I was young just because I was an "outsider." Not only was I poorer than my peers, but I was also from India, making me social different than my peers, which separated us by status. This meant that I did not have the social power that they did. This hurt because I wanted to fit in so badly, but I could not overcome the way in which they viewed me as a distinct other status of person.
I equally struggled with the culture which I was actively a part of. Part of this is because of the interaction, or conflict between the culture which my family was a part of as it related to the culture which my peers were a part of. Social interaction occurs when two social groups interact with one another, or when a single person is member of more than one system. I was in part a member of the traditional Indian system, but I was also a member of a new and more outgoing generation of women. My father wanted to control me in a manner that is consistent with the belief of the Indian people.
According to cultural tradition, women are to serve their families, and to be good wives, but are not to participate in society in some ways. I wanted to be independent and pursue the educational pursuits I had selected after I graduated high school, but every time I tried to make decision for myself, my parts got upset. They wanted me to be a more traditional Indian woman. As a result, after I finished high school, I studied how to cook traditional and authentic Punjabi foods for two years, I engaged in this study not because I had a passion for cooking, but rather because society demanded that women in the Indian culture know how to cook well, and it was not a skill which I possessed. However, eventually I did pursue college, much to my parent’s disinterest, and got by degree in respiratory therapy.
During this period of my life, I wanted more than anything to rebel against my parent and make a decision for myself. This was part of the process of learning to navigate the social interaction between my Indian family, and my modern vision of who I was. As a result, I engaged in a long term relationship with a man who would ultimately betray me. I wanted him, as much because I wanted to prove that I could make decisions for myself as because I was passionate about him.
Ultimately, he not only altered the way I viewed him, but more significantly the way I viewed the world and the Indian culture and traditions of my parents. After he cheated on my multiple times, I started to change the way I saw and interacted with people, finding it difficult to trust those around me. As a result I submitted to my parents’ wishes and their judgement and allowed them to arrange a marriage for me, to a man of their choosing, rather than continuing to engage in the natural conflict between my Indian parents, and my American Peers.
Ultimately, resolving this conflict has been for the best. I am stronger and more focused as a result. I know that dealing with this conflict has made me a better students, as stronger individual, and more focused than I once thought I was. I will never let anyone walk over me again, giving greater trust to my heart, and placing more belief into my opinions than I did before. I will also remember that my parents and their beliefs are there to protect me, and not for me to defend them. As a result of allowing my parents to select my partner, and investing in the process at hand, I have an excellent marriage to very sweet and loving man, who appreciates me and my strengths and wants to see me succeed. Further, I am happy, and have a son. Marrying this man has given me new assurance, and helped me to see the way into the future with my husband and son at my side. I know now that I do not have to be caught in the conflict between the pursuit of the American dream, and my middle and upper class roots, and between my Indian culture and my history with poverty. Instead I can move ahead embracing my own unique definition of what is right for me socially. Though social conflict theory states that there will be tension between these two sides of myself. I know that I can resolve them completely into the person that I hope to become.
It is with this strength in mind that I look forward to raising my son, who is the most beautiful person that I have ever met, and pursuing my passions by furthering my education. In my marriage with my husband, who is also resolving these same pieces of himself, I have found both amazing strength, and ultimately, freedom. Freedom from both my parent’s rules and expectations, and my own self-doubts. This will allow me to be exactly the person I want to be, and build a life I can be proud of, moving into my future.
.