ipl-logo

Personal Narrative: My Stereotypes

656 Words3 Pages

“So, if you just came from Pakistan, how can you speak English?” My friend asked me, with her eyebrows raised. It’s a question I get asked every time I shyly introduce myself to someone. A surprised look that I have seen far too many times. Yet, I feel unable to give an answer to those who automatically stereotype me as an ignorant, solely based on my heritage. I am a recent immigrant from Pakistan. I have been raised by a very supportive family who has always taught me to stay confident and true to myself. Nonetheless, coming to America and adjusting in a whole new environment has been challenging socially and culturally. I have grown up in my own small world far away from the United States. A small world that was male dominated, …show more content…

Labelling individuals, like myself, only creates hurdles in the path of success. Putting a tag on someone invokes the idea that the person can only act a certain way which is a huge impediment in the way of attaining a goal. The dawning of this realization upon me has induced me to progress even further. My family has shown me how overcoming negativity in life is the greatest strength one can possess. Being defied by others is a part of life but the most valuable result of it is what we learn from it, and I have learned to become courageous and …show more content…

Moving to the United States at the age of fourteen and leaving behind my small world exposed me to the difficulties in life, but those challenges changed me for the best. It showed me how people view me in a different way than I view myself and that was okay. There will always be those around me who will only see me as a girl who came from a developing country like so many others, but I will continue to prove them wrong by staying determined to achieve what I want despite their views based on my background. Life is what you make of it and I chose to make it

Show More
Related
196 Words | 1 Pages

Once, I had to move from a very diverse neighborhood in Chicago to a much less diverse suburban neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Although it had only been six months since I arrived to Chicago, the diverse makeup of the community prevented me from feeling like I was a minority. However my new neighborhood, and thus my new school, was not as diverse. In fact, I was one of the handful foreign students of the school. Moreover, due to the fact that the students did not have a chance to interact with other cultures, I was able to feel the xenophobic attitudes that others had against me.

Read More
402 Words | 2 Pages

I had the typical summer, nothing boring but nothing was really interesting. Feeling pity for me that I sat at my keyboard all day playing sad songs my aunt ventured out to find me something to do. Luckily for me all of the parents from my cousin's friend group were going out on their monthly dinner and one of the moms needed a babysitter. Her oldest son was away at camp and apparently I was easier than paying for some random person to watch her daughter. This took a while to register in my brain

Read More
614 Words | 3 Pages

I was born with a label that I did not want to accept. At a young age negative names would be thrown my way and I would constantly be embarrassed as each one hit me. Growing up I constantly wished I was someone else. I am a Nigerian student who formely believed that things would never change. I never felt upset about who I was until I attended elementary school.

Read More
604 Words | 3 Pages

As a child of immigrant parents, my formative years in elementary and middle school were shaped by two important factors: the environment in which I lived and my background. My parents worked hard to settle into a new life in a foreign country to provide better opportunities for our family. This meant that we had to be flexible about where we lived due to relocating for jobs, and fluid about our ideas of culture. I recall the daunting nature of moving to a new city, twice, as a child. The prospect of leaving everything that was familiar to me and forming new friendships in an unfamiliar environment was a challenge.

Read More
504 Words | 3 Pages

I have blond hair and pale skin. On the color wheel, my father is a rich mocha, my sister is a warm copper, and my mother is a perfectly tanned caramel; I am somewhere between cream and eggshell on the opposite end of the spectrum. Being stereotypically white can be difficult when you’re African American. The beginning of high school was when I first began to feel that my fair complexion hid my true identity.

Read More
721 Words | 3 Pages

I had grown up in all-white areas all my life, causing me to be ashamed of my background. When my family moved, I became exposed to people of all different backgrounds. When moving, I found people of the same culture as me, which resulted in learning about it and feeling comfortable expressing it. In brief, after

Read More
1557 Words | 7 Pages

As an Indian-Americans, I grew up with two very different cultures influencing me in to distinct worlds: my home life and my school life. It wasn’t until I became a freshman a few years ago that these two cultures fused into one. I used to think using my mother tongue in public was weird, and that I had to be just like my Caucasian friends to be “cool”. As an early teen, I never acknowledged my own religion, culture, and ethnicity; sometimes I disgraced them. But, as I matured, I realized that my religion, culture, and ethnicity is a gift.

Read More
972 Words | 4 Pages

I find it enigmatic hearing the stereotype that teenagers are lazy and not hard working and the topic has become ubiquitous in the past few years. Mostly adults view teenagers as lackadaisical, emotional, and lacking work ethic, which is not plausible. This generation of teenagers will need to work harder and deal with more stress than any previous generation to get a decent job, own a house, and have a family without being severely in debt most of their life, and yet they’re considered lazy. Studies show that today’s teenagers may be the hardest working individuals the United States has seen. Adults consider teenagers lazy and spoiled, but consider these figures: in the year 1976 the cost of one year of tuition at the University of California

Read More
1000 Words | 4 Pages

Whatever the educated and often professionally successful person previously thought her position in society was, now she is challenged, as random white persons casually but powerfully degrade her. This moment is always insulting and even a relatively minor incident can have a significant impact. (Anderson 253) Anderson is simply restating, how a competent and successful individual will face discrimination if their race is different from the white-ruling class. He describes how anyone from a different race will be forced to self-evaluate their social status as an individual. His description of self-evaluation is similar to the time when I was in high school, every time that I felt I had finally, become equal to my peers and enjoyed the same

Read More
673 Words | 3 Pages

For me, my racial and cultural identity has always been at the forefront of my life experience. I grew up in an Iowan rural small town that was founded on Swedish heritage. My home town of Albert City, Iowa was founded by my Swedish ancestors, many of which still have family there today. Therefore, I have always known that my Swedish blood was an important aspect of my life. However, I am also of German, Norwegian, and Danish heritage which has conflicted my views of my identity.

Read More
607 Words | 3 Pages

Hailing from a modest family, I knew that the opportunity to receive an education in the United States was more than a dream come true. As an immigrant, however, adjusting to life in the United States was far more difficult than I envisioned. I had an accent. I dressed differently than most people. But, I knew from competing in track and field events as a child that I would, at a point in time, face real life hurdles.

Read More
627 Words | 3 Pages

We moved to the United States to seek for a better living conditions and for opportunities to have a better education. Money was limited and there wasn’t much income because my parents struggled to get into jobs, but they did their best to provide us a better life. When I came to America, I was really excited to learn the English language and the culture because learning different cultures and new languages has always interested me. Immersing into a new culture, where I looked different from my classmates and did not share the same language as a form of communication was very stressful for me. It was difficult for me to communicate in English with my teachers and classmates due to it was new to me, and I did not begin to feel comfortable in the U.S until I moved to Seattle from Vermont because Seattle is a welcoming place with diverse

Read More
662 Words | 3 Pages

I was floating in a place which I can only describe as the abyss. It was an endless void which engulfed all life and turned them into nothigness yet here I was. I didn'i know how I died but the last thing I remember was my computer screen. I had several tabs opened about the mythological. I was a fanatic when it came to myth.

Read More
837 Words | 4 Pages

Their name was Logan. Their hair fell down past their chest and their head was covered with a baseball cap placed backwards slightly to the left. They wore a striped pink and blue button up with black slacks that loosely fell to the floor. To some, they was just another pretty girl who looks like she raided her father’s closet but they changed the way I look at myself and the world around me. I use the pronoun “they” because Logan is agender and they/them/theirs are their preferred pronouns.

Read More
557 Words | 3 Pages

The dragon I would like to defeat during senior year is my insecurity. The reason for my insecurity stems from my childhood when my mother abandoned me. My parents had met at an AA meeting, and after they finished attending, my father had recovered from the disease, but my mother had not. They had joint custody up until the age of six; however, it became apparent that my mother’s conditioned worsened, so the court granted my father full custody. I felt as though my mother purposely deteriorated because she did not want me.

Read More

More about Personal Narrative: My Stereotypes

Related Topics

Open Document