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'Naturalization In Accents' By Denise Frohman

640 Words3 Pages

Adjusting to an unfamiliar environment can be quite scary and alarming. Especially when home is out of the country. But, no matter the distance or location, home and culture is within. It should be embraced in any setting. In “Accents” by Denise Frohman and “Naturalization” by Jenny Xie, the narrators talk about how their families adjusted to the American culture, coming from a foreign country. In both works, the narrator’s parents weren’t fluent in English and displayed how they made the best out of a new country that they had to call home. The setting In Accents is happy and vibrant. Though in naturalization, the setting is melancholy and shameful. Both works give an insight about how it’s not always easy adjusting to somewhere unfamiliar, and how to make a place that’s new feel like home. …show more content…

In Accents Denise explains how her mother’s accent was strong. “my mom holds her accent like a shotgun,” “her tongue, all brass knuckle slipping in between her lips” (Frohman). Like wise in naturalization, Jenny’s family was new to the American culture. Though her father’s first language wasn’t English, he tried to his best ability to speak it. “His tongue shorn, father confuses snacks for snakes, kitchen for chicken” (Xie). Also, in Accents, the mother of the narrator would also speak English to her best ability. “English sits in her mouth remixed so "strawberry" becomes "eh-strawbeddy" and "cookie" becomes "eh-cookie" (Frohman). The narrators gave clear visualization on how each character made out with speaking English even though it wasn’t their first

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