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Exile By Laila Lalami

501 Words3 Pages

Imagine wanting a better life and wanting to immigrate, but being unwanted and feeling out of place in a different country. This is what many immigrants experience and convey in many different forms of writing. “The Trip” by Laila Lalami is a short story exploring the way immigrants feel while immigrating illegally. “Exile” is a poem written by Julia Alvarez that uncovers how even legal immigrants feel out of place in a different country and society. “Outlaw” is an autobiography in which the author, Jose Antonio Vargas, writes about the struggles of not being considered an American but feeling like one. All of these writers form a theme of immigrants feeling out of place and unwanted in a different country. A very prominent issue in “The …show more content…

One way she shows this is through the way many advertisements and societies views as a whole, make immigrants feel disconnected and divergent. “...the handsome ____________” (lines 53-54). The author reveals how she felt out of place because of the way her family looks different from the “perfect” american family. When she sees an advertisement and compares that to her family she feels unincluded in society. The narrator acknowledges how she looks different from citizens point of views as an immigrant in a new country. “...and when we backed away, we saw our reflections, superimposed, big-eyed, dressed too formally with all due respect as visitors to this country” (lines 62-64). When comparing herself to many people in America she feels unwelcome and like a visitor. She uses this observation to show the reader what many immigrants are faced with. The theme is affected because of how many immigrants are faced with expectations that they cannot control. Moreover, these expectations are producing negative feelings. “Outlaw”, written by Jose Antonio Vargas, explores the theme of not being a citizen, however feeling like one; when not treated as such, many immigrants start to feel unwanted and out of

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The differences between "Dreamers" and "Enrique's Journey" when discussing family shows that relationships between family members aren't perfect and not always beneficial. Pretending that they are discredits the experiences and struggles that some immigrants face because of their family. Despite their differences, both books emphasize how family plays a huge role in immigrants'

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Humans rarely change their ways; they stay in their own worlds and always interact with the same types of people. Unfortunately, this habit often creates unseen barriers that divide and alienate human beings from one another. In Luis Alberto Urrea’s book The Devil’s Highway, Urrea provides a personal perspective to immigration by telling the story of 26 illegal immigrants, known as the Wellton 26, who are abandoned as they cross the Mexico-U.S. border. Through their story, Urrea proves there are invisible borders among people that create prejudice, such as language, ethnicity, and economic status. By reading The Devil’s Highway, it is clear that these barriers must be broken down to ensure harmony within society.

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Introduction Informative, contemplative, and different are three words to describe “How Immigrants Become ‘Other’” by Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco and Carola Suárez-Orozco from Rereading America. “How Immigrants Become ‘Other’” talks about unauthorized immigration. More specifically, this source talks about the other side of the issue of unauthorized immigrants; the human face of it all. “How Immigrants Become ‘Other’” depicts the monster from one of Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s thesis in the article, “Monster Culture (7 Theses).” The monster seen in the source “How Immigrants Become ‘Other’” is the one that Cohen talks about in his fourth thesis, “The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference.”

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Confident Relationships Built on Language Wouldn’t it be exciting to grow up learning more than one language? Imagine being in Japan for a week on vacation with a group of friends, and one day decided to go to the oldest zoo in Japan, Ueno Zoo. To get to Ueno Zoo, riding the bullet train was a necessity, except knowing which line was the correct line, when to get off the bullet train, or even which ticket to buy was a daunting task. Nobody in your group has the confidence to ask the workers for help since they don’t have the knowledge of Japanese to help them.

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They have impacted most aspects of life for American society more than one can imagine. In The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, she depicts the immense injustice that immigrants have to endure when they migrate somewhere, particularly the United States. Kingsolver sends the message that immigrants are oppressed and taken advantage of by society which she illustrates through her use of dialogue, diction, and rising action. The theme of this novel proposes that immigrants face much adversity because they feel constantly ostracized by society because of misconceptions that society has about them. This suggests that for society to progress, it not only needs to change the way that they treat immigrants, but their entire way of thinking towards

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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.

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Disappointment. Betrayal. Deceived. All these terms are common themes in the writing of several immigrants during their journey to America. After reading many personal accounts of immigrants and learning about their expeditions to America, it became evident it is not as joyous a ride as many make it seem.

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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.

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Similarly, “Naturalization” by Jenny Xie is the story of a family who recently immigrated to America going through gauntlet of assimilation. In this paper I am going to analyze, discuss, compare and contrast the authors attitudes towards their parents according to perseverance paternalism and passivity with society. In Martin Espada’s “The Sign in My Father’s Hands” the central theme to the poem is social justice. His father is fighting for equal employment opportunities.

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