Elements of folklore in “House of Houses” by Pat Mora
type: CreativeWork
description: Growing up in an immigrant family in America is a challenge for individuals, for they face the dilemma of abandoning their cultural identity through assimilation into the mainstream Anglo-American culture. Pat Mora, a Mexican-American writer, in her memoir House of Houses develops the theme of the preservation of one's ethnic self through folk elements—storytelling, proverbs, sayings, recipes, home remedies, and beliefs—which serve as links among generations. The thesis examines how folk customs and traditions, passed down from generation to generation through storytelling, daily educating of the young by the elders, observing the family rituals, nurturing earth, and preserving the native language, help the characters of Houses of Houses withstand the cultural clashes in America, embrace the mainstream culture, and sustain their ancestral heritage as well.
abstract: Growing up in an immigrant family in America is a challenge for individuals, for they face the dilemma of abandoning their cultural identity through assimilation into the mainstream Anglo-American culture. Pat Mora, a Mexican-American writer, in her memoir House of Houses develops the theme of the preservation of one's ethnic self through folk elements—storytelling, proverbs, sayings, recipes, home remedies, and beliefs—which serve as links among generations. The thesis examines how folk customs and traditions, passed down from generation to generation through storytelling, daily educating of the young by the elders, observing the family rituals, nurturing earth, and preserving the native language, help the characters of Houses of Houses withstand the cultural clashes in America, embrace the mainstream culture, and sustain their ancestral heritage as well.
author: Seiler, Nadezhda
language: en_US
keywords: Social sciences, Immigrant Families, Language, literature, and linguistics, Cultural Identity, Mexican-American Literature
date published: 8/30/2002
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:05:15Z
provider: Texas Woman's University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Texas Woman's University

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11274/9132