Culture

When I think of culture, I truly am not sure of what all the word can contain. It is such a broad term that is used for any number of reasons, and a word that I have heard used all my life. In my opinion, culture is what defines a person. It is certain descriptors that show the identification of a person. Culture is unique for each individual, yet we all share some of the same aspects of culture with others. There are certain groups of people that we put ourselves into a category with, yet we each have different cultural groups.

As for myself, I have a culture of my own. I am a female, daughter, sister, student, Ohioan, American, athlete, friend, girlfriend, volunteer, Christian, helper, future teacher, etc. All these things describe who I feel I am as a person and are an accurate way to define me. Another way to use culture to describe oneself is done physically. This can involve things such as one's ethnicity, heritage, and physical traits. For example, I am Czechoslovakian and Irish, white, with brown hair and blue eyes.

When I am reading, my culture truly impacts how I interpret something. When people come from different cultures, they understand certain knowledge better than others and make different associations with the text. Reading one text can give several people different meanings based on their culture and experiences. For example, if a book is mentioning how beautiful the snowfall was as a character went for a walk, I can clearly imagine what this feels like. Since I am from Ohio and snow has always been a part of my life, I can relate to the feelings of the character. Being from a specific culture, I know what snow looks and feels like in person. I can easily put myself in the character's shoes. But an individual who has lived in Hawaii their entire life might struggle with the concept of a walk in the middle of winter. Maybe they can picture in their mind what snow must look like from images or movies, but they cannot imagine what it feels like. Their culture and way of life does not involve snow, so it might be hard for them to have the same experience reading the text as an Ohioan does. Culture truly affects how one interprets and adds meaning to reading.