The St. Mary’s River drains Lake Superior in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada and this picture symbolizes the need for reflection as one reads The Inheritance and thinks about how we define the word.
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Have you already inherited or expect to inherit any of the following:
- Money
- Investments
- A Life Insurance Policy
- Your childhood home
- The family’s summer cottage
- Property/Real Estate
- Something that had belonged to either your mother or father
- Something that had belonged to either your grandmother or grandfather
- Something that had belonged to another relative or a close family friend
- A family heirloom passed down for successive generations
Did you check “YES” to anything on this list?
These are the usual items identified in response to this question but my novel, The Inheritance, will make you re-examine your definition of this word.
Answer The Following
- Did your family expect you to live according to specific social norms?
- Were you raised to respect certain cultural values and religious beliefs as well as conform to defined gender roles?
- Was it anticipated that you’d attend prescribed schools, embark on a predetermined career path, honour existing loyalties and continue the family business?
- Were you directed to marry an appropriate spouse and have children to perpetuate the family name?
Did you answer “YES” to any of the above?
If so, can it not be deemed that children also inherit family expectations such as those outlined above?
What If?
What would happen if a son or daughter spurned this type of inheritance? What conflicts would such a rejection ignite? How would family dynamics change? What would be the larger social impact?
The Inheritance explores these issues from various perspectives and, by the story’s end, clearly proves that the word “inheritance” is a multi-layered complex term.
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What have you inherited? We are all connected and though there will be tremendous variance, we all inherit something. I’d welcome your comments.
I hope you enjoy the photographs I’ve posted. Let me know what you think!
Is artistic talent inherited or a learned skill? I asked myself this question as I watched this woman do needlework in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Varanasi is one of India’s holiest Hindu cities and bathing in the Ganges River is a three-thousand year old sacred ritual. Are religious beliefs inherited?
Calabrian society in The Inheritance believed that Lavender could protect a person from the dark forces. Does your family have any superstitions and do you honour them?
