Ortilla 1

Zayra Ortilla
English 115
Professor Lawson
26 September 2016
Identity Essay Revised Rough Draft
Word Count: 744 (as of now)
The Stone Of Dreams
INTRO AND THESIS
My future was written in stone until my parents decided to go to America. I planned on
becoming a doctor, being a workaholic, having two babies of my own, and marry a man.
Granted, I was only 11 years old when we decided to emigrate from the Philippines, but I know
for sure how my life was going to turn out if we stayed in the Philippines. My plan now is to be a
homicide detective, work hard while still getting to spend lots of time with my family, and not
have a nanny for my children. I want two adopted babies because I realized that giving birth is
way too much for me to handle. Lastly, I now want to have a wife. That plane ticket ripped my
future away; one by one, it is shredding my traditions up; day-by-day, I am forgetting words of
my own language (Tagalog) in replacement of new words of English. The stone was thrown in
the ocean like it was nothing. You might think that this is all because I grew up, that I changed
my mind because my brain was literally growing, and while that might be true, it is not the whole
truth. Leaving the Philippines caused me to lose my traditions, religion, and change my culture
more rapidly than I had expected.
BACKGROUND INFO / COMPARING THE TWO COUNTRIES

Ortilla 2
I learned in my Sociology class that a persons thinking and motivation is shaped because
of his or her environment (physical surroundings). In the Philippines, I would grow up having
conservative views, a strong drive to work all day and night, a mental note that I should marry by
30 so that I still have time to make babies, and strong faith in God. On the other hand, in
California, I am growing up to be the exact opposite; I now identify as a liberal, I still want to
work a lot but also have a life, I plan to marry my best friend at the age of 25, and I dont really
believe in God anymore.
RELIGION/BELIEFS CHANGE
My physical environment in the Philippines consisted of my house, school, and most
importantly, church. My family always had time for church. My whole family (this includes my
moms and dads family) believed that God should be first, family second. I was surrounded by
people who believed in God, and as a result of that, I believed in Him. I had faith in Him for as
long as I can remember. It all started to fall apart not too long ago. My family rarely went to
church when we immigrated here due to our busy schedule. We would try to go to church, but
something always came up that would make us cancel on God. We would then pray before every
meal just so God would know that hes still in our minds. Then it all stopped. For some reason,
we didnt bother anymore. My family and I didnt try to go to church or pray. We didnt do
anything. For years it all stopped. About six months ago, my parents had this great idea that we
should try to connect with God again; get our religion back. I dont want to speak more of this
because whenever I do, I feel like Im sinning and betraying God; I may not believe in Him
anymore, but there is still a sense of respect when it comes to talking about Him. I am just going
to say that every time we went back to His house, I doubted more and more. My religion was
shredded from me day-by-day, and I wasnt even aware of it.

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TRADITION CHANGE
Its not just the physical attributes that eventually changed my life; it is also the tradition
shift that I have been through. It was always weird to me when my friends called their older
sister or brother by their first name. In the Philippines, calling someone older than you by their
first name is considered rude; there should be a prefix for each name. For example, my older
cousins name is King, but I would never call him that; instead, I would call him Kuya King.
Kuya is for guys, and Ate is for ladies. These prefixes are a sign of respect, but immigrating to
America has made me want to fit in with society. I do not show that sign of respect (to other
nationalities) anymore, not because I do not respect my elders, but because it is just weird.
DEFINITION OF HOME CHANGE
CONCLUSION