Family Rootedness and Racial Dynamics

Living in contemporary America is coupled with several(predicate) challenges. The fast-paced industry, the cultural diversity, the financial crises, and the indifference among neighbors all cause to build up some form of alienation in most people. The Virginia Tech murder and other cases of mad shooting illustrate the struggles of some people of different cultures to assimilate in the Ameri back society. In Barack Obamas Dreams from My Father, the author provides some insights on the importance of rootedness to ones family and culture in order to survive and attain success in Contemporary America.The experiences of the characters lead readers to derive that one undersurface easily undertake struggles in life upon acceptance of family and racial origins. The author attempts to delineate a number of issues, among which is the problem caused by dysfunctional families, a putting green scenario in the contemporary American society. Children like Obama manage to survive despite the a bsence of their parents, in some cases both parents are absent, in others like Obamas, the scram figure is vague.Until after his death, Obamas father remained a myth (8) to him. He left when Barack was barely two years old, to go back to Kenya, his homeland. The last beat he and his son saw each other was when Obama was ten. Due to this, Obama grew up quiet, with some coldness in the panache he deals with people, although he always bears wish for others. His acquaintance with an old man who lived in the same building he occupied near Harlem demonstrates this attitude. Never, the absence of Obamas father make him what he is ripe now.Although not clearly emphasized, the role of the grandfather in Obamas life, along with his grandmother Toot, compensated for the loss of his father. In a way, Obama lived in the comfort and carry on of his mothers family. Basically, the importance of family is demonstrated in the way his grandfather compensated the absence of his father. The family dynamics that he grew up with, was basically composed of lovable and caring grandparents who usually told him stories of the past in order for him to know his father well, and a mother who served as inspiration and guide through the social expediency she rendered.However, the importance of family is later more emphasized with the connectedness of his fathers familythe extended family apprisalships that exist among his relatives in Kenya. Obama witnessed this when he met and visited his cousins. Even though he did not know them as a child, he easily got along with them, owing to belongingness to one family. Aside from the importance of family connectedness, rootedness to ones race and culture is likewise emphasized. When his father died, Obama had a chance to establish connection with his origins.Prior to this, he felt he felt some void within him, and enmity towards his father. He wished to understand a lot of things, and saw it timely to go back to his roots. Unexpectedly, he found the answers in Kenya as he listened to stories about his fatherhis childhood, his struggles to ground himself, the reason why he went to America, and why he went back to Kenya. In the end, he found himself crying over the struggles his father fought, and for losing the man who remained in his shadow. determination the answers to his questions about origins made Obama whole.For a long time, he did not realize that his father shared the struggles he fought. Although they had different situations, he understood that what his father dolt was a lot heavier than his. Specifically, his fathers struggle to prove himself to the grandfather and to the rest of the world was double that of Obama when he was younger. For his father, going back to Kenya was the only way to regain himself though it was also a way to face his childhood fears. Despite the pains he tried to leave behind in relation to his past, the older Barack still went back to his people and chose to serve them.Such roote dness to race and culture taught the son the importance of knowing ones origins. Clearly, the efforts Obama made to snuff it to know his origins led him to what he is now. As he suggests, survival in contemporary American society is difficult. Racial discrimination, although it did not totally affect him, was rampant. Nevertheless, it made him long for his past. The presence of his mother was definitely not enough to fill in the father figure he missed, not to mention his mothers difficulty to raise him and his sister apart from Obamas grandparents.At the end, he still needed to know both his father and the race that brought his father up in order to be whole. Knowing ones past is further emphasized as Barack struggles to build his own family. Lacking the father figure, he himself found it difficult to be an ideal father and husband that he wanted to be. His struggles can be rooted from his own experience, mainly due to the dysfunctional family that he came from. Nevertheless, when he finally gained the opportunity to know his roots, he found the courage to continue and reunite with his family.Based on this, the author makes us realize the importance of rootedness to ones past and race relations. The familiarity of his aunt Nairobi as she calls her nephew Barry to inform him of his fathers death demonstrates the connectedness of the Kenyans, which other cultures can learn from. For them, distance and unfamiliarity are not barriers to achieving unity and love. Rather, racial dynamics are too strong, enough to conquer physical and cultural boundaries.