"On my parents' scale of values, the more Western something was, the more cultured it was considered"

Amos Oz’s observation about his parents’ scale of values reveals the internalized hierarchy that shaped his upbringing, where Western culture stood as the pinnacle of refinement and sophistication. This approach reflects a broader phenomenon experienced by many individuals and communities living on the cultural margins of Europe or in non-Western societies, especially during the twentieth century. For many immigrant Jewish families in places like Israel, adopting Western customs, speech, and manners was equated with self-improvement, status, and even moral or intellectual superiority.

Oz’s parents, like many others from Central and Eastern Europe, likely saw Western civilization, embodied in language, literature, art, and etiquette, as representing modernity, progress, and enlightenment values. The farther one moved away from these touchstones, the more “backward” or “provincial” one risked appearing, both to oneself and to others. Emulating Western models was a way to transcend the stigmas and prejudices attached to their origins, to integrate, and perhaps to be accepted by societies that frequently excluded or marginalized them.

However, this valuation goes beyond taste or fashion; it shapes identity, aspiration, and self-worth. Children growing up under such standards might feel compelled to distance themselves from their own native or familial traditions if those are seen as less “cultured.” Thus, the embrace of Westernness can imply a rejection, subtle or overt, of the languages, foods, stories, and habits of one’s heritage. Ironically, the pursuit of “cultured” status by Westernizing often leads to complicated feelings about one’s true roots and belonging. Oz’s remark encapsulates both admiration for the achievements of Western civilization and a subtle critique of the loss or devaluation of one’s own origins that such a binary value system engenders, pointing to the complex negotiations of identity that often accompany the legacy of colonialism, migration, and diaspora.