ipl-logo

Americanized Rebel Without A Green Card Essay

579 Words3 Pages

Cultural assimilation is a complex process in which a minority culture begins to adopt the values, beliefs, and behaviors of the dominant culture. In Americanized Rebel Without a Green Card by Sara Saedi, the author portrays the process of cultural assimilation from the perspectives of two different characters: Sara and her father. Through their experiences, Saedi illustrates the challenges and impact of cultural assimilation on individuals in America. Sara, the novel's protagonist, is a first-generation Iranian immigrant who finds it difficult to fit in with her American peers because of her ethnicity. She is under pressure to conform to American beauty standards while rejecting her Iranian ancestry. For instance, she says, "My whole life, my mom and aunts had praised me for how American I looked. It was a virtue to have paler skin than most Iranians…” (Saedi 43). This shows the transformed pressure of cultural assimilation and how it can cause people to reject their cultural identity. Sara's desire to assimilate is reinforced further by her peers' discrimination and exclusion, as she states: "I couldn't help but wonder if my race automatically put me at a disadvantage" (Saedi 51). This demonstrates how marginalization and …show more content…

Sara says, "I remember once asking my dad if he felt like he belonged in America. He said he didn't know. He said he always felt like an outsider, like he was always observing but never really participating" (Saedi 4). This demonstrates how difficult cultural assimilation can be for some people, particularly those who have strong ties to their cultural heritage. Sara's father's experience demonstrates how cultural assimilation is a difficult process, with individuals facing unique challenges based on their cultural background and personal

Show More
Related
303 Words | 2 Pages

In Julia Alvarez’s bildungsroman novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, the concept of American assimilation is vigorously examined. The story highlights the experiences of an immigrant family, who move to the United States. Sofia, the youngest of four daughters finds it extremely challenging to balance out “fitting in” in an american setting, and meeting the expectations of her strict dominican parents. Sofia consistently finds herself struggling to not stick out of a crowd, while still upholding the virtues her parents have instilled her. The difficulties encountered by Sofia are due to her parents putting tremendous amounts of pressure onto her shoulders.

Read More
684 Words | 3 Pages

Assimilation: the process of taking in and fully understanding information or ideas. This is a common topic throughout both "Response to Executive Order 9066" and "Mericans", two stories about other cultures blending into American culture. Both stories focus on the toxicity of American culture and the racial divide between people. Even though the main characters in both texts have completely assimilated into American culture, they are still treated like outsiders and considered foreign, whether they grew up in the US or not. Although the stories diverge in terms of circumstances, tone, and mood, both generally reflect on the negative impact of American culture and how it has affected the lives of immigrants.

Read More
1703 Words | 7 Pages

After immigrating many assimilate into their new environments. In Julia Alvarez’s How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent, it exemplifies the struggle of Yolanda, the third oldest Garcia sister, as she searches for a personal identity while feeling trapped between her cultural identity and her new Americanized self. Yolanda strived to fit into American culture, she was able to find a way to fit in, through the English language, writing poems. In her continued desire to fit in, Yolanda became stuck between her cultural identity and her new assimilated self. Failing to find a sense of belonging in the United States as Yolanda is unable to let go of her past.

Read More
654 Words | 3 Pages

English proficiency is something the authors place an emphasis on, for language is a great factor in terms of assimilating into a brand new culture. Elina will explain the concept of assimilation, which is “a multigenerational process by which the “characteristics of members of immigrant groups and host societies come to resemble one another”” (Fraga et al. 2016, p. 330). With the concept of assimilation tackled, Danny Barocio will explain the different types of assimilation – cultural, structural, and marital (10 minutes), which will help the class gain a better understanding of the question that is posed at hand: Is assimilation necessary in order to achieve the “Americano dream”? There is almost (arguably) a consensus that the American dream is becoming “harder to achieve” (Fraga et al. 2016, p. 331) with each passing day, however, there are people that believe assimilation is the key to achieving this dream.

Read More
696 Words | 3 Pages

Assimilation is different for everyone. Whether it is going to a new school, joining a club, or even moving to another state or country, most people experience assimilation at least once in their lives. The book, Breadgivers, by Anzia Yezierska, is a good example on the assimilation process and how different it can be for people. Sara is a young girl who moved to The New World, otherwise known as New York City, with her parents and sisters from a small village in Poland. From the start, she knows she must assimilate to this new country that she now lives in.

Read More
1141 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout Sara Saedi’s life, she demonstrated the enervating struggles of growing up in America as an immigrant in her work and writing. Saedi immigrated to the U.S at an early stage of life and grew up in the California Bay Area with her family. She emerged into the world inside the capital of Iran, Tehran, in the

Read More
891 Words | 4 Pages

The need to conform is a vital part in an individual 's behavior. The communities in which surround everyone’s lives has a funny way of making individuals give up crucial parts of themselves to “fit in with the crowd.” Funny in Farsi is a memoir written by Firoozeh Dumas in which she talks about the experiences and challenges she faced as an Iranian American. Dumas, the author of Funny in Farsi, states that in order to fully assimilate into an unfamiliar community, sometimes one may have to give up parts of their own identity to fully achieve full integration into their newfound community. Firoozeh emigrated to America with many cultural difficulties, but one of the most inconvenient (according to Dumas) was her name.

Read More
1211 Words | 5 Pages

Immigration has always been a part of American culture, in fact, it is the basis of how our country was formed. Immigration, both legal and illegal, has become a key focal point in today’s society. In a collection of essays titled “Reinventing the Melting Pot: The New Immigrant and What It Means to Be American,” Jamar Jacoby has a piece titled “The New Immigrants and the Issue of Assimilation” originally published in 2004. Jacoby creates an argument that although beneficial to our country, many immigrants are entering the United States where they are forced to spend their lives at the bottom of the economy, and where their assimilation feels forced. Jacoby’s purpose for writing this piece is to encourage readers that Americans are the problem

Read More
1400 Words | 6 Pages

Richard Rodriguez’s memoir Hunger of Memory’s illustrates the identity dilemma that many minorities have to endure when they come to the United States of America and how them being a minority affects their chances of success. There are numerous ways that people for a person to lose his or her identity; the main one is when they immigrate to a new nation. Most immigrants suffer from personal disorientation which is common when one is unfamiliar with the environment that surrounds them and how to adapt to this new social atmosphere. Many minorities feel discriminated towards because they are being labeled their race, gender, cultural background, and religion. Most people when they view these traditions that the minorities practice comes to them

Read More
1215 Words | 5 Pages

Immigrants usually go through phases when it comes to migrating to a new country and this essay was an attempt to outline those phases with an emphasis on the negative effects of assimilation. Firstly, isolation. Nearly every immigrant finds themselves isolated at first, but this tends to go away as they become assimilated with the new culture. As this happens, they start to lose touch with their cultural identity and start to change in order to fit in with the new culture. Sometimes this is forced, other times the immigrant knowingly assimilates.

Read More
518 Words | 3 Pages

The author, Rodriguez, introduces his audience to the reality of the process of Americanization: regardless of origin, one cannot inhibit the power of indoctrination of the American culture. One may derive from a primarily Mexican, Middle Eastern, or say, Pacific Islander heritage, however, the “majority culture” in the region of residence is what will soon come to define an individual. Hence why Rodriguez propagates that we all have a little Chinese within us. Rodriguez establishes his ethos as a renowned expert and speaker in the process of Americanization. He then introduces the fear that is often exhibited by the older generations – the loss of distinct heritage among our youth.

Read More
637 Words | 3 Pages

My mother, my father, my sister and my brothers, all our foci was to integrate our culture with the American way of life- immersion was never our desire- none of us wanting to lose our heritage. Our focus was to understand and incorporate the American culture so that we were not so isolated, not so different. When I was younger, I would attempt to understand the way of the “Americans”- did what they did- a lot of it I never understood. I did not understand the music, I did not understand the food, and I did not even understand the school system, granted, I was merely a child trying to unlock the secrets of a 238- years- old nation, a nursing compared to Burundi and Rwanda.

Read More
1779 Words | 8 Pages

After describing what qualities she shares with other immigrants, she asserts how she is different by contrasting herself with her sister. Her sister is “happier to live in America as expatriate Indian that as an immigrant American,” whereas she “need[s] to feel like a part of the community [she has] adopted… [She] needs to put roots down” (13). She describes the challenges that many immigrants encounter of maintaining their original culture and identity while still embracing their adopted country. Often, like her and her sister, they end up choosing one lifestyle over

Read More
624 Words | 3 Pages

Immigrants that are new to the American society are often so used to their own culture that it is difficult for them to accept and adapt to the American culture. The language that is spoken, as well as the various holidays and traditions that Americans entertain themselves with, aren’t what most immigrants would deem a neccessity for their life to move on. Nonetheless, they still have to be accustomed to these things if they have any chance of suceeding in a land where knowledge is key. The story “My Favorite Chaperone” written by Jean Davies Okimoto, follows the life of a young girl who along with her brother Nurzhan, her mother known as mama, and her father whom she refers to as Papi have immigrated to the United States from Kazakhstan, through a dating magazine. Throughout the story each family member faces problems that causes them to realize just how different their life is know that they’ve immigrated..

Read More
465 Words | 2 Pages

Bharati was settling for “fluidity, self-invention, blue jeans, and T-shirts”(268). Bharati decided to be a part of a new community by marrying someone of a different community and living an American lifestyle. Unlike Mira, Bharati has adapted to the American community and has become a part of it. However, like Mira, she too has not felt welcomed in a community. Bharati compares Mira’s situation in America to one that she faced in Canada, where the government turned against the immigrants.

Read More

More about Americanized Rebel Without A Green Card Essay

Open Document