Graduation Speech: Cultural Object

Words: 548
Pages: 3

CMST&220 Speech 1: Cultural Object A few weeks ago my grandfather’s cousin Roy came to visit my family with a truck of family heir looms he wanted us to have. We all sat down and looked through stacks of old pictures and sorted through silver, china, and books. When I looked into the truck one thing caught my eye, it was a gold pocket watch. I picked it up and examined it. It was small for a pocket watch, the whole thing fit in the palm of my hand. The edge of the case was framed with tiny gold beads and the outside was lightly worn but the only noticeable damage was a tiny indent at the top right corner. On the front of the case, inscribed in looping cursive letters were the initials C. L. I carefully opened the case to find two delicate hands and a face keeping time with …show more content…
The hands were stopped at 9:02pm. I asked my grandfather if he knew who the pocket watch had belonged to, he took one look at it, smiled, and told me that it had belonged to his grandmother, Clara Andersdotter. He proceeded to tell me how Clara had owned a flower shop in Skane Sweden during WWI. One day a man walked into her shop and introduced himself as Charles Emil Lindquist, the man who would become my great-great-great grandfather. Over the next few months he continued to come into her shop and over time they fell in love and were married. On their wedding day, her gave her a gold pocket watch with the initials C. L. inscribes in looping cursive letters on the front. About six months in their marriage, on a cold fall evening in October the drunk chief of police staggered into Clara’s shop and began smashing displays and ripping up flowers. Clara, fearing for her life, smashed a crystal vase over the back of his head. She quickly assessed the situation and realized that if she didn’t act fast she would be arrested and likely never be released. With that in mind, she tied up the unconscious police chief and locked him in her back closet. When Charles came home, she