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Immigration stories narrative essays
Immigration stories narrative essays
Immigration stories narrative essays
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Immigrants have been looked at as a nuisance and a hindrance to the overall success of populations. Cornejo Villavicencio expresses the feelings of being an immigrant when she writes “There’s a pain to being an undocumented person in American that is constant and dull, like a headache.” This pain that she is referring to, stems from the origins of immigrants always feeling stressed and strained into an identity different from who they really are. Not speaking in their native tongue, living in the shadows, and shying away from higher levels of education, “being undocumented means living in a state of constant fear, always on the brink of discovery and deportation.” Cornejo Villavicencio really brings the attention onto the obvious mistreatment forced on the lives of immigrants, opposing what the majority of politicians and governments
The author presented detailed examination of illegal immigration and clarified most frequently misunderstood aspects of illegal immigration. For instance, the genuine reasons for Enrique’s journey melted the hearts of many motherly readers; it represented an expedition for love, unity and family. Enrique, a little boy scarred from the separation of his mother portrays the urgency of immigration reforms in the nation. Most people tend to label illegal immigrants as rapists, robbers and murders, but in fact, majority of them are innocent kids waiting to meet their mothers. American society was established by immigrants and yet people are ignorant towards immigrants in the nation; they say, immigrants bring crime, but people are blind to the domestic injustices caused by the citizens.
Los Angeles, California is home to nearly ten percent of the United States immigrant population. After Donald Trump became the president of the United States many immigrant communities in Los Angeles became more concerned about their future. On may 8th 2017 in the local education section of the Los Angeles times the article “What it’s like to be a teen in L.A. with a parent in the U.S. Illegally” by Sonali Kohli was presented. In this article, she elaborates how the immigrant communities in Los Angeles are continuing to be marginalized, but this misfortune has expanded to the sons and daughters of immigrant parents (Kohli, 2017). Kohli focuses her article in three different High School students from near neighborhoods of inner LA: Maria Garcia, Lupe, and Daniel Garcia.
This girl and I were the same. I had new thoughts, willful thoughts, or rather thoughts filled with lots of won’ts. I won’t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’t be what I’m not” (Tan 223). This quote relates back to the theme because it manifests how Jing-mei will not let the pressure her mother is putting on her shoulders get the best of her.
“And then you’ll always be nothing”” (4). With her desire to meet her parent’s requests, she felt she must be quick and prove to her parents she is a prodigy. However, with the stress of changing, she can’t be who she wants to be. Wang-li had to live a life that had already been decided by her parents. For her parents, she felt like she must become who they want her to be so they don’t disown her.
As the child of Mexican immigrants, I have always felt the pressure and responsibility of making my parents’ sacrifices worthwhile. Growing up, I understood that my childhood was significantly different from that of my parents. My parents parted from their families, lost touch with friends, and surrendered careers in order to give my brothers and me the opportunity of an education without barriers. The sacrifices my parents made changed every aspect of their lives and shaped the direction of mine. The memory of my oldest brother’s graduation and the overjoyed tears welled up in my parents’ eyes motivates me to fulfill my parents’ American dream, the reason they abandoned their aspirations in order for me to achieve mine.
Throughout the story, Jing-mei’s feeling toward her mother change in critical ways. As a young child, Jing-mei wants constant attention from her mother, going so far as agreeing to become a child prodigy. In the story, Jing-mei commented, “In fact, in the beginning, I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so” (Tan 221). This was before her mother becomes highly adamant about wanting her child to become a prodigy. As time went on, she wanted Jing-mei to become the epitome of a child star.
Communities talk about the American Dream, the dream that offers individuals a democracy, rights, opportunity, the pursuit of happiness, equality, prosperity, and success. Often time’s parents want this dream for their families and their children, especially when the conditions of their current lifestyles’ are significantly insufficient. Repeatedly people apply to become an American citizen for endless reasons, however, the steps, patience, and test requirements can take years to complete if not longer. In the mean time people from around the world travel extensive distances threating their lives and breaking laws in order to make it to America, to live the “American dream” simply because the process takes so long. Unfortunately this dream is often shattered by the deportation of the illegal immigrants and their families.
“Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.)” - Langston Hughes
She then uses these “new thoughts” and ideas to state that she “won’t let her [mother] change” her into the person she seeks her daughter to be. When Jing-Mei experiences a realization that she is her own person and not simply another part of her mother, she can embrace the comfort of knowing that she will not change for anyone, and is simply extraordinary for having her own thoughts and feelings. This reflects how Amy Tan can understand her thoughts and feelings about the hardships in her relationship with her mother as a way to connect more closely to her characters and make them more realistic in her writing (“How Amy Tan’s family stories made her a
However, this determination sometimes appears to be obsessive to the point of running her daughter’s life for her. Regardless, she is only trying to help, as she encourages Jing Mei by asserting “‘You can be best anything.’” (1). Because of this, it suggests that although she is very harsh on her daughter at times, it is only to make sure that Jing Mei can use her full potential and not end up losing everything like her
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..
RACISM: A Misidentification of Ignorance? This is the story of an 18-year old boy who encountered love, hatred, betrayal, loyalty, happiness, and misery in his short life. When this boy was 15, he moved from India to the United States to pursue better higher education. He stepped in to the country with full of hope and excitement even though he didn’t know what comes next.
The experiences people go through impact the way the see world and those around them. Children are raised by their parents and witnesses to the triumphs and failures. When the age comes many often question their parent’s decisions. Some may feel bitterness and contempt while others may feel admiration and motivation. The “Sign in My Father’s Hands” by Martin Espada conveys the feeling of being treated as a criminal for doing the right thing.
At her first glance at them, she knew exactly who they were because of their resemblance to their mother. However, as she approached them, she realized that there were no evident similarities in features between them and her mother, but that the similarities she noticed at first ran deep in their blood: they were family. And at this brief moment of realization, the most perceptible change in Jing-Mei took place. She said, “Now I also see what part of me is Chinese. It is so obvious.
