marriage in Japan, Mazie's mother brought her and her older brother to Hawaii in 1955,
traveling steerage on the President Cleveland. They arrived safely, but hard times
continued for the family. They shared a single room in a Makiki boarding house, and her
mother worked two jobs to support them. Mazie's mother risked everything for a goal she
fervently believed in—a better life for her children in Hawaii. When Mazie started
school, she had no shoes, hand-me-down clothes, and no command of the English
language. But she was an intelligent, motivated student with a love of learning. In the
fifth grade, Mazie delivered newspapers, learning the value of working and the
satisfaction of making a contribution to the family finances.
Mazie Hirono, D Hawaii, candidate for Governor
I quote Hirono at length because of the complete tale of the American dream which she weaves.
A child immigrant whose mother came to this country seeking a better life for her children,
Mazie and her family of origin struggled to make it in the U.S. They are dirt poor and Mazie is
English-illiterate at the beginning of their American journey, but with self-sacrifice, hard work,
and perseverance, they triumphed. The successful end implicit in her story, while not part of her
own text, is evidenced by her own status and stature as a political elite woman, running for the
top executive seat in the state of Hawaii.
While it may be implicit in the ideas conveyed by candidates who invoke stories about
their families of origin to emphasize their belief in the importance of hard work, only one
candidate made an explicit connection back to the demographics of the district she was
representing, suggesting that the importance of work is part of what makes her descriptively
representative of the constituents in her district:
Representative Kaptur, of Polish-American heritage with humble, working class roots,
mirrors the bootstrap nature of her district. Her family operated a small grocery where her
mother worked after serving on the original organizing committee of an auto trade union
at Champion Spark Plug Company in Toledo.
Marcy Kaptur, D Ohio, candidate for House District 9
By reading the texts of candidate mentions of their families of origin, there are other messages
about work that are left implicit as well. Many times, even when a candidate did not go into
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Convention