ENG 122: 5-2 First Draft of the Critical Analysis Essay In the article “Eat Turkey, Become American,” Marie Myung-Ok Lee uses her family memories of Thanksgiving to share with her readers, with personal details and historical data, her family's migratory trajectory to the United States, and their experience living in a small town in Minnesota. The author also discusses the country's immigration system and how their Korean background affected her parents' process of obtaining citizenship. And how, despite a part of the city's population being racist and xenophobic, a group of people from the community where they lived joined forces to save a doctor from being deported. The article's main claim to illustrate the difficulties of immigration in a family is persuasive because it explores how children perceive a foreign culture, highlights the problems with the immigration system and xenophobia in the nation, and suggests ways the community can work together to help other immigrants who are experiencing a similar situation.
1)The first article is called Portuguese Immigrant Families: The Impact of Acculturation this was written by MARIE MORRISON, M.A. and SUSAN JAMES, PH.D.. This article helps us understand what happens when some Portuguese families move to the United States and how they are able to be able to change adapt to the change in cultures. It also looks at how it affects their thinking. Morrison and James describes acculturations as “when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous, first-hand contact, with subsequent changes in the original culture pat- terns of either or both groups’’.
Migration makes it difficult for individuals to adjust to their new American home, but this initial disadvantage is a blessing in disguise because it provides
Firoozeh writes about her life as an Iranian immigrant to America. Her family is treated with kindness by neighbors when they come to live in America and get lost on their way home from school: “…the woman and her daughter walked us all the way to our front porch and even helped my mother unlock the unfamiliar door,” (Dumas, 7). Firoozeh and her mother are not discriminated against because they are immigrants who don’t speak English, the Americans help them despite their differences. Had the neighbors not been helpful and patient, Firoozeh’s journey home would have been somewhat traumatic and daunting. While this a rather specific isolated example, it can serve as an analogy for all immigrants’ experience.
Lessons from the Culture Every year we see family emigrate to other countries, and they face many challenges. The stories “Sweet, Sour, and Resentful”, by Firoozeh Dumas, and from “Fish Cheeks”, by Amy Tan, share similar cultures and really interesting stories. Also, both families from the essay share several challenges that they are face when they move to the United States of America. The two families share many similarities; however, they differ in to keeping their culture, showing openness, and teaching a lesson from their culture to others.
In the novel, “Lucy”, by Jamaica Kincaid, the main character Lucy Potter goes against many common challenges that immigrants coming into the United States typically face. On the contrary to these “normal” immigration challenges, Lucy also comes across numerous situations of her own within her new lifestyle overseas that she wasn’t expecting. Of these challenges she faces, one of her biggest and ongoing problems, which is her connection to her life back home. She has a constant struggle dealing with her family troubles and leaving behind the life she considered to, “drown her soul”(3).
Immigration is deeply rooted in the American culture, yet it is still an issue that has the country divided. Marcelo and Carola Suarez-Orozco, in their essay, “How Immigrants Became ‘Other’” explore the topic of immigration. They argue that Americans view many immigrants as criminals entering America with the hopes of stealing jobs and taking over, but that this viewpoint is not true. They claim that immigrants give up a lot to even have a chance to come into America and will take whatever they can get when they come. The Suarez-Orozco’s support their argument using authority figures to gain credibility as well as exemplification through immigrant stories.
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.
Numerous stories are heart retching and devastating. Trying to imagine being in the shoes of those immigrants is almost impossible, as I have been blessed with a wonderful problem-free life. Unfortunately, I am unable to even relate to any of the several issues immigrants encountered daily, as I have never experienced anything they have suffered through. Although, I personally cannot attest to such horrible experiences, I can promote acceptance and equality among immigrants in America. Similarly, a quote by Carlos Ramirez suggests the same.
Many immigrants leave behind family and friends in their home countries, and may struggle with feelings of loneliness and isolation in their new communities. Learning a new language can be a significant challenge for immigrants, and may limit their ability to fully participate in society and engage with their new communities. Immigrants often face economic insecurity, and may struggle to provide for themselves and their families due to limited job opportunities and low wages. The stress and trauma of leaving behind one's home country and
The story “Snow” by Julia Alvarez tells us how difficult it is to be an immigrant in many ways. Moving to a place and being an immigrant creates hardships such as learning everything about a new language, to the change of the area you are used to living in. Another big hardship is a conflict created between different countries such as how Yolanda during the time was living in New York during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Going somewhere new where you know nothing about is challenging to those who decide to move.
For a nine-year-old who wants nothing more than to make her mother proud this was exciting. In the beginning, we can see her excitement and desire, “in the beginning I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so.” (Tan). However, as we follow the story we see her excitement quickly fade to sorrow and anger. The high expectations immigrant families place on their children is still a very relevant social issue and can be witnessed throughout the United States.
An immigrant family wants the best for everyone lives, however moving to a new country brings struggles. There struggles include finding a home, a good paying job, avoiding to be deported, being separated ,and continuing their education. Immigrants expect a better life because their old home and country did have much benefits as the new country gives them. The advantage of an immigrant family is family values which tends them to be closer. Disadvantages of an immigrant family are the struggles that were first mentioned and including that they face other people calling them a threat.
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..
Specifically, it focuses on the household composition in two countries each of which offers a different context of reception. Adding immigrants’ family patterns to the study of their self-selection and the effect of host countries’ characteristics enables us to examine the immigrants’ assimilation process in a broader way and to better understand their economic success at their destination. My research questions therefore are: (1) How do the assimilation patterns of immigrants’ families differ from those of individuals? (2) To what extent can the composition of household heads (spouse’s country of birth) explain the assimilation patterns of families? (3) To what extent do household assimilation processes differ by the context of
