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Discussion about american identity
Assessing cultural values
Concepts of american identity
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While there are many big ideas and issues presented to us in “Crying in H-Mart” by Michelle Zauner, one that seems very prevalent is the cultural disconnect Zauner feels between herself and her family's heritage. The text “In the Land of the Free” by Sui Sin Far also shares a similar idea of cultural disconnect due to immigration laws. Both of these texts show us that having an ethnic and social divide within family members can cause instability within the family itself. Zauner writes about not being able to understand Korean fully, which leads to a massive culture and social divide between herself and her family members. She writes “Growing up in America with a Caucasian father and a Korean mother, I relied on my mom for access to our Korean
English proficiency is something the authors place an emphasis on, for language is a great factor in terms of assimilating into a brand new culture. Elina will explain the concept of assimilation, which is “a multigenerational process by which the “characteristics of members of immigrant groups and host societies come to resemble one another”” (Fraga et al. 2016, p. 330). With the concept of assimilation tackled, Danny Barocio will explain the different types of assimilation – cultural, structural, and marital (10 minutes), which will help the class gain a better understanding of the question that is posed at hand: Is assimilation necessary in order to achieve the “Americano dream”? There is almost (arguably) a consensus that the American dream is becoming “harder to achieve” (Fraga et al. 2016, p. 331) with each passing day, however, there are people that believe assimilation is the key to achieving this dream.
In my novel, “ The Joy Luck Club” there was many times were a cultural collision was evident , since every chapter the narrator changed and so did the story - but the one that caught my eye was that of Waverly and Lindo Jong. Trying to blend in with a culture makes you lose part of your own culture, and that is exactly what happened. Other cultures may be way different than what you grew up with and being a foreigner makes that very easy to see. For starters, Lindo Jong came to America long before Waverly was born and wanted to assimilate.
Cultural assimilation is a complex process in which a minority culture begins to adopt the values, beliefs, and behaviors of the dominant culture. In Americanized Rebel Without a Green Card by Sara Saedi, the author portrays the process of cultural assimilation from the perspectives of two different characters: Sara and her father. Through their experiences, Saedi illustrates the challenges and impact of cultural assimilation on individuals in America. Sara, the novel's protagonist, is a first-generation Iranian immigrant who finds it difficult to fit in with her American peers because of her ethnicity.
Access to culture will always be possible regardless of those who try to take that
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.
The essay “The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl” by Elizabeth Wong was an intriguing story of how Wong was trapped in the middle of two cultures throughout her childhood. Wong longed to be fully submerged in one culture but her mother pushed her to learn about and embrace the culture she was born into. As an adult, Wong is reflecting on the experience she had at a Chinese school she attended, and she does not discuss it with the most fond memories, she makes it seem like a chore more than anything else. She even says, “Every day at 5 P.M., instead of playing with our fourth- and fifth- grade friends. . .
This is the reality of the American melting pot, which I have experienced with very positive results. Not only did my family teach me racial tolerance as an American, but many people have also treated me with respect from differing racial and ethnic backgrounds. This is the politicization of my identity as an American, which has taught me the social values of tolerance in American society. More so, New York City is a very diverse place in which the immigrant can blend with other people fare more easily than in rural areas. In my early thirties, I continue to experience a much better life in the U.S. than I would have experienced living in the Dominican Republic.
The Chinese in All of Us" by Richard Rodriguez is a well articulated text that seeks to unravel the misery of the American society in the sense that it is the melting pot of many cultures hence bringing the difficulties for one to maintain their mother culture when they reside in the country. According to the author of this text, multiculturalism does not exist anywhere in the world with the only thing being a melting pot where all the cultures mix and one distinct culture emerges after sometime. This theme is very much relevant to all of us given the fact that every single person under the sun has a particular cultural identity as well as race. If it is true that the only one thing that is constant is change then the question becomes as to
The Evolution of Asian American Culture The United States is not a “melting pot” of cultures but is more complex like a “salad bowl” where foreign and domestic influences combine to create a society where individual differences in gender, race religion, or ethnic background are valued. Immigrants strived to become the ideal “American” citizen, a more historically accurate metaphor is that the U.S. has had a cultural “cookie cutter” with a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, male mold; but the view of culture has changed. Today, with the increase of numerous subcultures, diversity is greater valued and accepted. The growing acknowledgment of Asian American subculture present is in social media as a result of the continuously growing Asian American population.
Multiculturalism is defined in our text as the coexistence of several cultures in the same geographic area, without one culture dominating another. This is shown when the teacher holds the international food fair and the students bring numerous dishes such as Nigerian nut soup, Caribbean coconut, enchiladas, and Yoko's sushi. This reflects the different nations that are present in the classroom and it really shows what a common American classroom would look like today. By definition the American culture is a mixture of a variety of cultures. This is best exemplified when Timothy and Yoko open a restaurant that has equal numbers of the dishes they both love from their individual
Equality: The Rebirth of America In Patrick Buchanan’s essay “Deconstructing America” he mentions in regards of the creation of America, “But that republic and that empire did not rise because the settlers and those who followed believed in diversity, equality, and democracy, but because they rejected diversity, equality, and democracy. (Buchanan 597) Mr. Patrick Buchanan clarifies what the founding fathers of this nation were based, shaped, and modeled by rejecting any close contact with today’s melting pot model, which it led to an era of chaos when this sense of thoughts were implemented. Even though the melting pot model shows how cultural pluralism might create cultural separatism due to America losing its fundamental traditions and
A melting pot implies that the cultural diversity of minorities “melts together” into the American culture. The melting pot is a symbol for the immigrants’ conformation to the society of the United States. It becomes obvious that Canada’s and America’s attitudes towards immigrants are the complete opposite. Canada does not expect immigrants to give up their cultural identity, and America expects them to assimilate, and become a part of their society. Multiculturalism states that people may live in a society without surrendering their culture or traditions.
Immigrants were coming into the country knowing nothing but their own culture and the idea of obtaining a
Immigrant lives in both Fruit of the Lemon and ‘reality’ hardships mostly share similar endurance. Many immigrants are stuck in two different cultures; their original culture and the new culture that they adopt in a new place. However, some immigrants only have a chance to adopt a new culture. Some immigrant family’s children were born in a country other than their native country. In Fruit of the Lemon, Faith is a person who lived her whole life without her native culture which was hard for her to understand her fellows race.