Schwatz "My father always said."

I think that the overall focus of this essay is understanding. First, understand ones culture, or heritage; one thing that I really took away from this story is that it is important to know where you come from. For example her father would always say things like "back in Rindheim we didnt do such things" and in the beginning of the story she didnt really understand what that meant at all, until they went and visited that place and I thought it was significant that she said after the trip her father stopped saying that phrase. I think it is because her father knows that she really understands now after having experienced it and he feels he doesnt have to say it anymore. The story is broken down into specific sections. It starts in Queens, New York and we get a taste of what culture was like there for jewish people at that time. For example wearing lipstick at 12, hanging out in front of Penn after basketball games and smoking at 15. Which is where we get the point of the story when her father says that famous line "In Rindheim, you didnt do such things." Then in the next section they are in Rindheim visiting her parents old home and she gets a sense of how her father grew up, compared her being raised in queens. Then they move to the old synagogue which is now a church and she gets a sense of a her jewish heritage and what happened to the jews during the kritallnacht. Then lastly a cemetery where she witnesses the graves if those who were not as lucky as her father to get out during the holocaust. Which brings us to the reflection and understanding of her roots and thats what the story is really all about.