Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
The purpose of this interview was to gain insight to the perspective of someone from
another generation on history, morals, and life, and compare that to those of today.
I interviewed my grandmother, Adeline Dillon. My mother grew up in her house with six
siblings and moved down the street from her later in life with her husband. Because of the close
proximity, I have a strong relationship with my grandmother. I visit her frequently and often ask
her questions about the past and hers in particular. This enabled me to easily hold the interview.
We talked face-to-face as I asked her questions concerning the past, her life, and todays world.
The interview included queries of early life, adulthood, and comparison to now. When
asked about her childhood, it was gathered that she grew up in Detroit in the 50s with a
moderately poor family. Her brother Jerome acquired two paper routes and gave all his money to
the family. Although tight on money, she was happy with her life. Growing up without todays
modern technology, which is everyones connection to the world, she was rather nave, and
didnt have much to worry about outside of her life which was enveloped in the small area she
lived in.
As a student, she attended catholic school up to the eighth grade, after which time she had
to stay home for a year to take care of her family member (which was much more common event
then, as where now it does not seem as a viable option for modern students). In returning to
school, she attended a public high school. Exposed to two near-extremes of education, she
observed that it was much easier to go to public school opposed to a private or catholic one. The
Barrick - 2
teachers cared less about the students effort, which unsurprisingly lead to students doing less
work.
In a time where the Civil Rights Act was rapidly gaining ground, Adeline was
uncommonly unexposed to racism in her life. When she was fifteen, she heard on the news of a
controversial story regarding a colored man not being allowed to drink from a certain public
water fountain. She was taken aback at this, not being able to believe such a conflict could arise
from such a seemingly unimportant topic. As she saw no reason for discrimination, the struggle
continued on around her into adulthood. When she worked in a retail store, a black worker she
was friends with pulled her aside the end of a workday and warned her to not stop anywhere on
her route home. Although confused, she listened and went directly home. That night one of the
When asked to compare and contrast then to now, the responses were mostly negative.
Family, what was once the center of everyones life, is now unimportant to many people.
Technology has left people today overexposed and desensitized to the evil of todays world and
has left patience a rare virtue because of at the speed things can now be done. Also said about
technology was that being a student is ever-becoming more difficult due to the near-necessity of
computer knowledge as well as a college degree, as opposed to her experience of most men in
family getting jobs at factories directly out of high school. The government no longer provides
hope but instead provides humor, drama, and fear. She also said that less people respect God.
This interview relates in many ways to the themes shown in the famous work A Raisin in
the Sun. In the play, a black family living in Chicago during the time of the Civil Rights
Movement struggles with their living situation, money, family, generational gaps, and racism. As
Barrick - 3
the family had problems with money, my grandmother grew up somewhat poor. With family and
generational gaps, the Younger family in the play deals with argument of values between
siblings, spouses, and different generations. Adeline observed that her values differ from those of
todays people, especially in regards to money. Walter Younger from the play valued money as
the source of life and happiness, which conflicted with his mothers views on the importance of
family. The interviewee is akin to that viewpoint, focusing not on money but on family and
interpersonal relationships. Both also lived during the Civil Rights Act of the 1960s and
Conclusion Interview:
The interview was aimed at gaining information about history and individual opinions for
comparison between generations. I interviewed my grandmother, who I know well and often
discuss the past with. She grew up poor in Detroit, valued family over money. She went to
catholic and then public school later and observed how simple public school was. She grew up
without racial prejudice and was surprised at racism when she witnessed it. She views the world
as having less moral sensitivity now, and although large struggles have been overcome, regular
life has become more difficult. It relates to the themes of money, morals, racism, and
generational opinion gaps in A Raisin in the Sun. This interview has been a learning experience
for myself, and helped me to connect to the past through people with direct exposure to events I
Considering my own views on the matter, I realize the themes in the play are broad and
widespread. They affect almost everyones lives, be it the Youngers of the 60s or me, growing
up in the 2010s. I witness how money drives the world. The goal of life, it seems, for many
Barrick - 4
people as well as the educational system supposedly preparing us for life is to get a well-paying
job and make money to be happy and live a successful life. I witness racism in todays world
with potentially biased police action and the Black Lives Mater movement is a current event
related to that. I believe this conflict has arose from ignorance and racial tension lingering from
the Civil Rights Movement, which was addressed in the play as well as the interview, rather than
more recent events. Also, being a high school student exposed to a diverse class group, I do
recognize stereotypes attributed to race (mostly in the form of insensitive tasteless jokes). I
witness intergenerational gaps of opinion. Todays adults are generally more conservative as
I agree with most of my grandmothers comparisons of then and now. I experience the
rate at which information is accessible. I often use Google to quickly learn (or use only once and
immediately forget) many things. The news, which was once aired for only one hour nightly, is
now streamed constantly from many different sources, whether it be television, the internet, or
otherwise. I turn my attention away from news stations because I see far too much negativity. I
can see how most forms of entertainment desensitize people, from violent videogames, to
nonstop news of murders and crime, to oversexualized, overly humorous, overly stimulating
media. Popular music is produced not for feeling, narrative, or connection, as was intended, but
STEM program. I use a computer at least an hour every day, and have been trained in many
computer skills such as CAD design, programming, typing, and presentation building.
Essentially being trained for an engineers position, the statement made by my grandmother that
Barrick - 5
students I know (including myself) are regularly stressed concerning schoolwork, where a while
ago one could graduate from high school and find a job in which they could earn a living for
their entire life. This also encompasses the value put on money today.
I also agree with her statement on the American government. Just take this years
political debate as an example. Candidates unfit for office are being heavily supported due to
their popularity, not validity. Politicians are better known for being parts of internet memes or
As to how people have changed, I also agree with my grandmother. Because almost
anything can be accessed in a matter of minutes now, showing patience for moderately time-
consuming processes has become an anomaly. Interpersonal relationships are becoming more
strained due to the constant envelopment people have in technology (mostly cell phones for high
schoolers). Both she and I believe God is now less respected. God, and spirituality in general, has
become a taboo of todays society. By many it is found offensive or insensitive of one to speak
of their spiritual belief. In a world characterized by inclusion and oneness, individuality has
become linked to a negative connotation. With an accepting world comes one of numbness. I
look around, and I see shells of people, filled only with the stimulating effect of the now. I
agree that the world has become easier for everyone by the elimination of huge problems, but
This interview has showed me how things used to be, and how they have changed (or
not). I feel the experience has left me more in touch with what the world is and how people see
it.