ipl-logo

Book Review Of Syrian Yankee By Samo Rizk

984 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Immigration of the 1920's

Reading and analyzing primary sources are one of the methods that provide a window into the past in order to determine the significant, reliability, and make a viable interpretation in the historical events. The book “Syrian Yankee” is considered one of the primary sources that provide a perspective to the story of an Arab immigrant from Syria at the beginning of 20th century. In this essay, a chapter from this book, “My Home My Native Land,” will be analyzed and critically put in its historical contexts. The author of this book is Salom Rizk. He was an Arab American, who immigrated to the United States of America. In the read chapter, there is no indication for his parents nor for siblings. From the other chapters of the book, it is been …show more content…

When he is on the train traveling to Sioux City, he sees “how health and big the [cows] looked”. Soon, he compares them to the terrible cows of Syria; however, as soon as he knows all these sleek and fat cows belong to one farmer, he imagines himself out of the poor and destitute life that he used to live, he states. “Now, now at last I shall be free from poverty forever, free from poverty in America.” (Rizk 121). For a moment, the struggle of the Syrian life is over for young Rizk. He thinks live will be simple and easy in America, happiness and money will be all around him. Yet, the shock is soon to come when he knows what his uncle works. At the beginning, Rizk thought his uncle owned a slaughterhouse; nevertheless, it turns to be that his uncle is skin cattle. Undeniably, the uncle has a normal life, and a livable wage, but Rizk never thought money in America is difficult to …show more content…

This source, “My Home My Native Land” chapter, belongs to the period when Rizk Immigrated to the United States at 1927. However, from the read chapter, there is no significant clue about the immigration date. I would have not expected the date 1927 of the author’s immigration because of varies reasons. First, Rizk was unaware of the technology around him in America. Although the Radio was created at the end of 19th century, he did not know anything about it; the same thing applies to his poor knowledge about the telephone (Rizk 125-126). In addition, late 1920’s was the start of the great depression in the United States. Hence, I wouldn’t expect his uncle, who is skin cattle, to own a big house with this job in the great depression period. Also, immigration was not the greatest experience in America during that

Show More
Related
591 Words | 3 Pages

What This Cruel War Was Over is a book written by historian Chandra Manning. The book takes the reader from the start of the Civil War, the Union surrendering Fort Sumter in chapter one, to the end of the Civil War, with General Lee’s surrender and the aftermath of the war, in chapter six and the conclusion chapter. Throughout the introduction, six chapters, and conclusion, Manning brings to life what is happening on the battlefields and in the political arena. She also brings to life what is going on in the minds of both the Union and Confederate men and slaves. Manning adds a depth to her book by including photos and drawings at the start of each chapter to foreshadow the upcoming chapter and give life to the events that are about to unfold.

Read More
486 Words | 2 Pages

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is the painfully true biography of Ishmael, his elder brother Junior, their friends and their journey to out run a war that is occurring in their hometown, Sierra Leone. The majority of the story takes place in Sierra Leon in between the years of 1993 and 1998. Ishmael’s journey begins the January of 1993 when he is the age of twelve. Individuals have begun to revolt which takes everything a turn for the worse. The rebels have struck the country with fear and caused complete chaos by killing families and destroying what they once called home.

Read More
1023 Words | 5 Pages

1. Hopeless is the word that best describes the situation of the working-class in America in the early twentieth century. In this time period, people’s lives were controlled by their work. Unfortunately, the workers were paid very poorly. They were paid small wages to do large amounts of work in twelve to fifteen hour shifts.

Read More
530 Words | 3 Pages

Comparing and Contrasting: Kek and Ganwar Home of the Brave is a book written by Katherine Applegate. It is about a boy named Kek, a refugee from Sudan, after he moves to Minnesota. Kek is eleven years old, and he lives with his aunt and his cousin, Ganwar, seventeen years old. The two are also Sudanese refugees who fled to America after their family members were killed.

Read More
642 Words | 3 Pages

Scott Russell Sanders uses the rhetorical strategies of parallelism and rhetorical questions in order to demonstrate his dislike for moving. Sanders uses parallel structure throughout his essay to demonstrate the current society’s value on expansion and movement. For instance, Sanders speaks of Americans who “have dug the most canals, laid the most rails, built the most roads” (Sanders 18-19) and because of this Americans have the most power. Sanders uses it to express the societal view that easy access to migration route makes one more important because movement is the key to life. Sanders develops a connection with the audience through the use of parallelism by demonstrating that he understands their interest in movement and the

Read More
517 Words | 3 Pages

On page 101 he mentions that he felt the emptiness of the house settling down around him. Where was his mother? Where had all the people who used to fill these rooms gone to? On page 101 he whispered “Daddy…”, “Mama…”. This is a reason that shows why his relationship with his parents is distant.

Read More
1021 Words | 5 Pages

When Upton Sinclair, a progressive era muckraker, wrote The Jungle in 1906, he was attempting to bring knowledge of the horrific conditions in Packingtown to the average citizen. His revelations on the terrors of Packingtown helped to slowly improve the lives of the immigrants. Sinclair’s pursuit of knowledge relates to the slowly growing knowledge of the characters in The Jungle. Throughout the story the characters find themselves in many tragic circumstances that could have been more easily avoided if they had been more aware of their surroundings. The immigrants are full of a false hope for success that disillusions the reality of their life.

Read More
1899 Words | 8 Pages

Upton Sinclair portrays the economic tension in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries through his novel “The Jungle”. He used the story of a Lithuanian immigrant, Jurgis Rudkus, to show the harsh situation that immigrants had to face in the United States, the unsanitary and unsafe working conditions in the meatpacking plants, as well as the tension between the capitalism and socialism in the United States during the early 1900s. In the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, there were massive immigrants move into the United States, and most of them were from Europe. The protagonist, Jurgis Rudkus, like many other immigrants, have the “America Dream” which they believe America is heaven to them, where they can

Read More
744 Words | 3 Pages

His parents were rarely mentioned. Their names, personalities, and many more important factors are left unknown to the reader or analyzer. If he were truly responsible or caring, he would be thankful for his

Read More
855 Words | 4 Pages

Challenges of Immigration: The Shimerda’s Struggle Willa Cather’s novel, My Ántonia sheds light on the topic of immigration. Immigrants have many different reasons for why they might migrate to the United States. Some were trying to escape something from their old country such as avoiding a war, trouble with the law, or shame as is the case of the Russians Pavel and Peter. Reasons for immigrating could also relate to chasing the American dream as is the case with the Shimerdas.

Read More
357 Words | 2 Pages

When America was built, its character and identity was established by The Declaration of Independence, providing its citizens equality, liberty, and equal opportunity. The premise of the composition of USA became known as the American Dream, with the aspiration that one’s achievement is not constrained by his/her social class or fortune but is determined by endeavor. This delusion of harmony was greatly contradicted by two novels: The Crucible and The Grapes of Wrath. In The Crucible, under constant hallucination of evil and corruptness, people for their own greediness began making false accusations on each other.

Read More
820 Words | 4 Pages

It portrays the 1917 Russian Revolution atmosphere with the replacement of Russia into Animal Farm. The characters also did not fail to resemble the real people involved in the revolution. Power leads to greed, used to take advantage and manipulate. A person with absolute power tends to choose greediness after a certain time period, despite having followed a wise person’s vision and

Read More
823 Words | 4 Pages

Kite Runner Being an immigrant is about leaving one’s native country; but it is also, more importantly, about adapting and assimilating to a new culture. Relocating to a new country could sometimes cause a life-transforming moment. In 2003, when Khaled Hosseini published the mainstream fiction story, “The Kite Runner,” he was an extremely successful M.D. (Medical Doctor) who was practicing internal medicine. Throughout his novel, he describes different characters which possess different characteristics and personalities. As illustrated in the book, Baba and his family moved to the United States to get a better life, and they quickly started to assimilate the American culture.

Read More
963 Words | 4 Pages

The Lebanese Civil War lasted 15 years, starting in 1975 and ending in 1990, involving mostly the Lebanese army, the Phalangists and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Still today, there are political complications and tension in Lebanon therefore it has never really recovered from the major war that harmed the country significantly. Most of the conflict was located in Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon however there were frequent attacks in various other villages and towns throughout the war. The essay will focus on the causes and the effects of the civil war, varying from political tensions to cultural differences. The years 1975 and 1990 are especially useful for the investigation as they will display the main causes and the main effects that are related to the war.

Read More
1072 Words | 5 Pages

Ironically, the displacement of Palestinians, from the late 19th century forwards, is in turn removing the scattering of Jews with the State of Israel. Thus, Palestinians have to turn elsewhere, to become refugees and immigrants in other countries. Susan Abulhawa’s first novel Mornings In Jenin explores the 4 generations of a single Palestinian family, the Abulhejas, who existed before Israel was established in Palestine in the 1960s. In the small village of Ein Hod, Susan starts with a prominent farm and house owner, Yehja and Basima Abulheja, with their two sons – Hasan and Darweesh. Hasan weds a Bedouin girl, Dalia.

Read More

More about Book Review Of Syrian Yankee By Samo Rizk

Related Topics

Open Document