C. Comprehension: Understanding and Responding to Texts · Reading Like a Critic: Understanding and Responding to Texts

Analyzing Cultural Elements: Norms, Values, Social Hierarchy, Past Times, Language and Taboos

C3.4 A3.2About 65 minutes

Learning goals

I can identify cultural elements in texts: norms, values, social hierarchy, past times, language and taboos.
I can investigate the meanings of these elements, including in texts from other times, such as Shakespeare.
I can make connections to my own lived experience and culture.
I can explain how including cultural elements contributes to the meaning of a text.

Words to know

culture
The shared beliefs, values, practices, language and ways of life of a group.

norm
An unwritten rule about how people are expected to behave in a group.

value
A belief about what is important or right, such as respect for elders or independence.

social hierarchy
The ranking of people by power, status or authority in a group or society.

past times
Earlier historical periods, whose customs and beliefs can differ from today's.

taboo
Something that is forbidden or not spoken about in a culture.

honorific
A word or title that shows respect, like po, Tita, Sir or Elder.

feud
A long, bitter conflict between families or groups.

Remember from Grade 8

In Grade 8 you analyzed norms, values, social hierarchy, past times, language and taboos in texts. In Grade 9 you'll investigate what these elements mean (not just name them), compare a contemporary Canadian story with a play from four hundred years ago, and explain how cultural elements build a text's meaning.

Hook: the unwritten rules

Every family, team and school has rules nobody wrote down. Who sits where at dinner? Who gets served first? What topics do you never bring up at a family gathering? You know these rules so well you barely notice them, until a newcomer breaks one. Stories use those moments to show culture.

Past Midnight (a short story written for this website)

At 11:58 p.m. on Christmas Eve, the apartment in Winnipeg was louder than a playoff game. Lola sat in the good armchair, the one nobody else sat in, even when she went to the kitchen. Every cousin who came through the door went straight to her, took her hand and pressed the back of it to their forehead.

"Mano po, Lola."

"God bless you, anak."

Jun, fourteen, had done it a hundred times. Tonight he hesitated, because his friend Ethan from school had come along and was watching. Then Lola held out her hand to Ethan, too. Ethan glanced at Jun, bowed his head and touched her hand to his forehead. Tita Marites clapped from the couch.

Nobody asked Tito Ben about the job he had lost in the fall. Everybody made sure his plate was the fullest.

At midnight the Noche Buena began: ham, pancit, rice, and a cake that said MALIGAYANG PASKO in blue icing. Ethan ate three plates. Lola nodded at him as if he had passed a test.

Glossary: Lola: grandmother (Filipino). Tita / Tito: aunt / uncle, also used for respected older family friends. anak: child. po: a word added to show respect when speaking to elders. mano: a gesture of respect, pressing an elder's hand to your forehead. Noche Buena: the Christmas Eve feast, often starting around midnight, in many Filipino families. pancit: a noodle dish. Maligayang Pasko: Merry Christmas.

The iceberg model of culture. Food and celebrations are easy to see, but most of a culture, its values, norms, hierarchy and taboos, is below the surface. Good readers look below the waterline.

Worked example

Let's analyze the cultural elements in Past Midnight

Identify the cultural elements and investigate what they mean. How does including them contribute to the story's meaning?

Norm: every cousin goes straight to Lola and does the mano. It's an expected greeting, done a hundred times.
Value: respect for elders and family closeness. The mano and the word po show respect; Lola's blessing (God bless you, anak) shows love in return.
Social hierarchy: Lola has the good armchair, which nobody else uses even when she's away. Titles like Tita and Tito mark older relatives.
Language: Filipino words (Lola, anak, po, Maligayang Pasko) mixed with English show a family that lives in two languages, common for many Canadian families.
Taboo: Nobody asked Tito Ben about the job he had lost. Mentioning it would cause shame. Instead, they show care without words: the fullest plate.
Contribution to meaning: Ethan, an outsider, is invited in when Lola offers her hand. He follows the norm, and Lola nodded ... as if he had passed a test. The cultural elements turn a holiday scene into a story about belonging: culture is shared through respect and hospitality, not just food.

The norms (mano), values (respect, family), hierarchy (Lola's chair), language (Filipino words) and taboo (Tito Ben's job) build the theme of belonging. Without them, it's just a party; with them, it's about how a family welcomes someone in.

Past times: culture in a play from the 1590s

When you read a text from another time, its norms can seem strange or even shocking. Investigate them before judging.

In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1590s, set in Verona, Italy):

Norm: parents arranged marriages for noble daughters. Lord Capulet plans for Juliet to marry Count Paris. Juliet is not yet fourteen, which shocks modern readers.
Value: family honour and obedience to the father. When Juliet refuses Paris, her father threatens to disown her.
Social hierarchy: the Prince rules over the feuding families; nobles rule over servants like the Nurse.
Taboo: loving a member of the enemy family. Romeo is a Montague; Juliet is a Capulet.
Language: Early Modern English, where thou was used with family, close friends or people of lower status, and you was more formal.

Social hierarchy in Romeo and Juliet (simplified). Power flows downward: the Prince over the families, parents over children, nobles over servants. Juliet's choices are limited by her place near the bottom of her family's hierarchy.

Worked example

Let's compare cultural elements across time

Compare how family hierarchy and taboo work in Past Midnight and Romeo and Juliet. Connect to your own experience.

Hierarchy, Past Midnight: elders are respected (Lola's chair, the mano), but the hierarchy is warm: Lola blesses and welcomes. Respect flows both ways.
Hierarchy, Romeo and Juliet: the father has legal and social power over his daughter's future. When she disobeys, love turns to threats. The hierarchy drives the tragedy.
Taboo, Past Midnight: a protective taboo (don't mention the job loss) that preserves dignity.
Taboo, Romeo and Juliet: a destructive taboo (don't love the enemy) that the lovers break, with fatal results.
Connection: In my family, we don't talk about money at dinner, and we always greet grandparents first. Like Past Midnight, our unwritten rules show care. But I can also see how rules that can't be questioned, like the feud, can hurt people.

Both texts use hierarchy and taboo, but to opposite effect: in Past Midnight they create belonging and dignity; in Romeo and Juliet they create conflict and tragedy. Investigating past times helps us understand Juliet's choices instead of just judging them.

Respect when you analyze culture

Describe cultural practices accurately and from the inside where possible: what do they mean to the people who practise them? Avoid treating one family's story as true of every member of a culture. Filipino-Canadian families, like all families, are diverse. And notice when your own norms make something seem "normal" or "strange."

Just for fun

Funny-but-true: in Shakespeare's time, calling someone thou instead of you could be an insult if you weren't close. In Twelfth Night, one character even advises insulting a rival by calling him thou a few times. Pronouns: the original trash talk.

Hands-on activity

Map your family's iceberg

You need: paper, coloured pencils, and a conversation with someone at home (a parent, grandparent, guardian or older sibling).

Draw an iceberg with a waterline.
Above the waterline, write visible parts of your family's or community's culture: foods, celebrations, languages, clothing.
Interview your family member: What unwritten rules did you grow up with? What did they mean? Have any changed? Write their answers below the waterline as norms, values, hierarchy and taboos.
Write a short paragraph connecting one of your family's cultural elements to Past Midnight or Romeo and Juliet: is it similar, different, or both?
Only share what your family is comfortable sharing.

What to look for: at least three hidden elements, each explained (not just named), and a connection that compares meaning, not just activities.

Your turn

What norm does every cousin follow when arriving?

What does Lola's armchair show about social hierarchy?

Explain the taboo in the story and how the family shows care without breaking it.

Why is it significant that Lola holds out her hand to Ethan?

Name two cultural elements of Romeo and Juliet's past times that differ from many Canadian norms today.

What could using thou instead of you show in Shakespeare's time?

Make a connection between a cultural element in Past Midnight and your own life or community.

More practice: warm-up

What is a norm?

What is a taboo?

What does Maligayang Pasko mean?

Name the two feuding families in Romeo and Juliet.

Give one example of an honorific.

More practice: on your own

Why might the writer include Filipino words without stopping to explain them in the story itself (only in a glossary)?

How does the iceberg model help explain why Ethan watches Jun before doing the mano?

Explain how the value of family honour drives the conflict in Romeo and Juliet.

Why is it important to investigate past times before judging characters in an old text?

Write one sentence explaining how cultural elements contribute to the theme of Past Midnight.

Challenge

A reader says Past Midnight is "just about food." Use the iceberg model to argue that it's about much more.

Choose a cultural element in your own life and write a 6 to 8 sentence scene that shows it without explaining it. Then name the element.

Compare how Romeo and Juliet and Past Midnight treat an outsider entering a family's space.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Nobody asked Tito Ben about the job he had lost shows a...

Lola's armchair that no one else uses is evidence of...

In Romeo and Juliet, who arranges Juliet's marriage to Paris?

In the iceberg model, which is below the waterline?

Why investigate past times when reading Shakespeare?

The mano gesture in Past Midnight mainly expresses...

For parents and teachers

What this lesson teaches: Grade 9 students analyze cultural elements in texts (norms, values, social hierarchy, past times, language and taboos), investigate their meanings, make connections to their own lived experience and culture, and explain how these elements contribute to meaning (C3.4). Exploring culture and belonging in diverse texts connects to identity (A3.2).

How to help at home:

Share one unwritten rule from your own childhood and what it meant.
If your teen reads Romeo and Juliet in class, ask what a character's choices would look like today.
Help with the iceberg activity; share only what your family is comfortable sharing.

Common difficulties:

Seeing culture as only food and festivals. Use the iceberg.
Over-generalizing one character's family to a whole culture.
Judging past times by today's norms without first understanding them (and also noticing what has rightly changed).

Facts used: The mano (pressing an elder's hand to one's forehead), po, Lola, Tita/Tito, anak, pancit, Noche Buena (a Christmas Eve feast) and Maligayang Pasko (Merry Christmas) are Filipino terms and customs. In Romeo and Juliet (1590s), Juliet is not yet fourteen; Lord Capulet arranges her marriage to Count Paris and threatens to disown her when she refuses; Prince Escalus rules Verona; Tybalt wants to fight Romeo at the Capulet feast. In Early Modern English, thou was used with intimates or social inferiors, and in Twelfth Night a character advises insulting a rival by "thou-ing" him. Past Midnight was written for this website.