Comparing We Need New Names, How They Lived, And The Good Lie

NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names, “How They Lived”, and Phillippe Falardeau’s The Good Lie both follow the stories of real people and their lives as immigrants in America. Coming to America was a dream come true for all of them, but it didn’t turn out as they thought it would. They struggled to maintain their culture in a new place because everyone around them already had a preconceived idea of who they were and what they had been through. Their culture in Africa is so much different than that of American culture. Their names were changed because it was too difficult to pronounce, their way of showing kindness and gratitude was unfamiliar, and their vulnerability made it easier for them to be victims of manipulation. Through these endeavors, immigrants, not just from Africa, gained a sense of

As NoViolet Bulawayo and Phillippe Falardeau both demonstrate in their novel and movie, maintaining one’s culture is difficult when everyone around has a single story of them.
In “How They Lived”, a chapter in We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo, she talked about the differences in African culture compared to American culture and how it is difficult to maintain your culture in a new place. Traditions were forgotten because the children of these immigrants grew up in America, not knowing how their parents were raised. In Africa, children were given names that have meaning; like Perseverance, which means to work hard and never give up. In America, children were given names that didn’t mean anything, names that made them belong. It is like Bulawayo said, “There is no journey without a price, and this is the price of the long journey we