The Affect of Americanization
Migration affected one of the characters in “Caroline’s Wedding”. Ma, Caroline’s mother, was impacted by the changes that America made to her daughter. Caroline was born as an American child, and being American was the only lifestyle that she knew. Ma felt as if her daughter was slipping away from her, since she was marrying an American man and having a non-traditional wedding. Caroline was even trying to change her appearance by dying her hair to look the American part. Ma felt so strongly against this, so one day she said, “You think you are so American (page 141)” to Caroline. These six words may seem very meaningless, but Ma implied that Caroline was drifting farther and farther away from her Haitian roots
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Ma believed that Caroline was still born a Haitian, even though she was technically born in America; therefore, according to Ma, she must still be a Haitian. There is something more to this situation than Ma just feeling heart-wrenched about Caroline moving on; it has something to do with culture. Ma was so enriched in being Haitian, and of course she wanted her own children to follow her footsteps and continue the traditions. It is hard for anyone to let go of their loved ones and watch them move on to something new, especially when the parent or guardian feels betrayed because their family member does not feel that it is important to be connected to their culture or traditions. It is true indeed that America is the land of the free, and it is clear that Caroline is fully embracing this concept without her mother’s opinion fully in her mind. Migration means something different to everybody because it brings all sorts of new opportunities; to Caroline, it meant moving on to a new era of her life (but not physically moving to a new land) in order to start over. So, Caroline’s actions and choices for her future in America greatly impacted her mother, and there was nothing that