Comparing Belonging In Welcome To America And Braving The Wilderness

Both texts have the common theme of craving a sense of belonging in this world. The authors talk about how, no matter how much they try, they do not feel like they belong anywhere because of who they are, what they do, and how they look. “Everyone looks so bright and shiny. I look like a sad girl whose parents fight a lot.” (pg2) This quote from "Braving the Wilderness" helps to highlight the author's sense of isolation from everyone around her, making her feel that she does not belong. While in “Welcome to America,” Sara Abou Rashed feels the need to “fit in” with everyone else. She struggles to find connections with people around her in the world. “Please don’t stop me on the streets to ask what Jihad is; don’t mistake me for one of them;

Both texts show the universal desire of humans to belong and feel accepted, helping readers relate to themselves as they find themselves in their struggles and find ways to try and solve their problems dealing with social expectations. The different word choice and tone choices in "Braving the Wilderness" and "Welcome to America" help shape the tone and emotional concepts of the texts. The words in these texts help readers empathize with the authors and the scenes described. For instance, Brown says, “The perfection, precision, and beauty of it would not only offset the growing turmoil at home but also deliver the holy grail of belonging.” (pg1) The specific word choices used in this quote from “Braving the Wilderness" affect the tone and feel of her

In addition to some clue words in the text, we can see that most of the main points are figurative language because they may not be correct in real life, but that's what she feels. The figurative language used in this text is very effective in conveying a message. This quote is a good example. She felt she didn't belong, but she would always be related to her family, so technically, she would always belong. In the car, her family ignored her instead of consoling her, and she felt the tension of having all of them disappointed in her, maybe even disgusted that she was their daughter. Because of this, she felt separated from her family. In "Braving the Wilderness," I think there are repetitions, analogies, symbolism, similes, and metaphors in this text. I think all of these kinds of symbolism are important in their unique ways. All of them brought different feelings to the plate. For example, in the text, I found, "No bow, no shine." No group. No friends. Nowhere to belong(p. 3) hit me personally because of all of the no’s used. I know that when I write some of my poems, I use repetition a lot because it gets the point across very