BES Assignment Three - Interview

I stayed with a host family this past weekend, and they were nice enough to let me interview one of them. I interviewed Kitter, age 50, who has lived his whole life in a small village outside of Norwich. He owns and runs a duck farm, and he sells the ducks to Waitrose. He has two sons, ages 11 and 9, and one daughter, age 5. He and his wife, Jane, have been married for 12 years. Kitter also has a couple of brothers who live in house owned by the farm. His brothers are divorced, which is fine with him. He doesn't have a strong opinion on divorce.

When asked about the pressures that are placed on parents and children, he said there is pressure on the parents to raise their kids right and keep a steady income for the family. At times, he is kept awake by worries of money, and when to buy and sell land in order to keep the farm profitable. For the kids, he tries to keep their lives as stress free as possible. They have to do their school work and go to their various activities, but when they are at home, he doesn't have them do many chores. He wants them to enjoy their childhood because it goes quickly. This was really different from how I was raised. My parents tried to instill a good work ethic in me so I had chores and had to maintain a job once old enough. I don’t know which way is better or if there is a better way; both seem to be working well. I turned out pretty good, and his kids are very well behaved.

We got onto the topic of identity, and what it means to be British. I brought up the U.S. and how patriotism is a large part of being American, and that the UK doesn't seem to show a lot of patriotism. He said that with the U.S. flag being a large symbol of being American, he can see why we have so much patriotism. For Britain, he said, we don’t associate as much with symbols of our country. I asked if he had any input on the big debate of what makes someone British.

Kitter was quick on this one; he said that with the amount of people immigrating to the England, he can understand why it is a debate. However, for him and anyone else who has lived in England their whole lives, we know what it means to be British. I wanted to ask him what he knew that so many people didn't  but he seemed defensive about the previous question; it would have been rude for me to pry any more. I think this question is one of those that may not have an answer. People know they are British; they may not know what specifically it means to be British, but don’t ever tell them they aren't British!