ipl-logo

Summary Of Born In Amrika By Mona Masami

496 Words2 Pages

“Born in Amrika” written by Mona M. Maisami (2000), is a personal essay that illustrate how she is struggling with her identity and cultural differences with her Iranian-born family. Maisami uses an anecdote to shows how her family treats her different due to her lack of enunciation of the Persian language and her choice in clothing. She confused by her her family members being judgmental of her for a deficiency of Persian culture that to find herself she feels she must make a choice for her family to accept her. Maisami relates to many who have cultural barriers in immigrant families due to western civilization being adapted by the younger generation that is born in America. I enjoyed Maisami’s essay because I often go thought the same issues …show more content…

For example, this is shown in the title of this essay with the word “Amrika”. This is commonly used by many that believes America is a repressive country. The family call her “de-hauty” and in this line the author suggests how her family feel she has an attitude of superiority over them due to her being Americanized. The author thinks she can bond with her cousin so that she can find out more about their culture. Unfortunately, Maisami offends her cousin by asking her “Don’t you ever get hot wearing a scarf and robe?” Her cousin Nina responds with “It’s not a robe, it’s called a chador. You should get your facts straight if you are going to make fun of other people lives.” This also implies how the family feels she is not connected with the culture and they even comment on her looks; “My overseas relatives say that I don’t even look Iranian anymore”. This is not the truth Maisami is out of touch with her Iranian culture due to her being born in America unlike Nina who only had been in America for three months. Maisami longs for her overseas family to have the freedom that she does in American. Fortunately, her mother assures her that she does not have to choose but embrace both cultures. Maisami essay resonates with many immigrants that family that have moved to America but they are the first to be born in America and lack a bond due to cultural

Show More
Related
569 Words | 3 Pages

Continental Comparison In the essay “Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa” David Sedaris uses irony to show his disgust in his partner Hugh’s childhood experiences. He uses comparison to Hugh’s to display the differences between their upbringings. These writing techniques are used to make the point that everyone should appreciate their childhood because someone might have had a worse childhood than they have.

Read More
684 Words | 3 Pages

Sara and her family are going through this assimilation process because they believe they will be welcomed by society and adopt American identities. For immigrants’ transitions, and Sara in particular, a reality of independence is strongly desired. She seeks to become independent of her family and her cultural background because she believes that independence is a sign of authenticity and originality. This process is a combination of self-creation and Americanization. English language skills and a method of education are also critical components of cultural assimilation.

Read More
243 Words | 1 Pages

According to Sumi’s answer on her culture background she displayed some deep culture value by maintain her own culture despite of the discrimination against her dressing code as a Muslim lady. She has been in the United States for seventeen years but her lifestyle is the same as she was in Kismayo. This concept apply to the “melting pot vs pluralism” because in American almost all the system try to Americanized the immigrate culture such as changing the name, changing the way they dress up, and the way they socialized themselves. It reminded me about “Facundo the Grate” story. Now the teachers don’t need to Americanize the students name because many parents give them American name.

Read More
1239 Words | 5 Pages

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’’.

Read More
1842 Words | 8 Pages

He calls for people to take pride in their heritage and not be ashamed of the culture they come from. Martí approaches this by calling out to people with jaded outside ideologies and makes an example of them, “these men born in America who are ashamed of the mother that raised them because she wears an Indian apron, “(Martí 283). Indian apron can be a reference to indigenous beliefs and traditions. How in order to be governed by the authentic legislation, there is need for no outside influence. One must turn to the origin of the history of a place before it was submitted under colonized authority.

Read More
833 Words | 4 Pages

Adapting, though it is one of most humans’ skills, is simple for some but problematic for others. Learning a new language, culture, or a social group can be challenging. In the stories “Greasy Lake” and “Mericans”, these main characters are facing just that in the themes. Whereas the characters come from different worlds than the settings of the stories, both authors show the struggle with the uncertainty of one's identity given that the ends of the stories show the one cannot judge a book by its cover.

Read More
1016 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout “Simple Recipes” by Madeline Thein, strong thematic elements of identity are present, as well as implications of what gives one identity, or causes loss of it. Identity is explored through an immigrant family facing the common challenge of parents’ desire to keep traditional values, and children facing acculturation. Furthermore, Identity is presented through the eyes of a naïve young girl, describing her memories with strong sensory imagery in all elements, as well as reflections through symbolism. The underlying question drawn from the story, is whether one should choose to live for what others wish for us, or if one should carve a future for them self, despite expectations.

Read More
1223 Words | 5 Pages

The father tried to teach his daughter the culture through rice cooking, but she fails to replicate the method; whereas the brother avoids the cultural lessons by integrating himself into the local culture. This heavily suggests the brother rejects speaking the language and the culture, compared to the daily exposure of the Canadian culture and speaking English. The story “Simple Recipes” masks itself as a family having internal conflicts on the dinner table. While analyzing the story, it suggests the difficulty of integrating the local and origin culture in multicultural immigrant families.

Read More
1108 Words | 5 Pages

A poem based on the poet’s experiences wherein the persona - a multiracial teenager - struggles to reconnect with her birthplace, is ‘Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan’ by Moniza Alvi. The persona’s unresolved conflict of her identity, being Pakistani and British, arises when she is given cultural gifts from her aunts in Pakistan whilst living an English lifestyle. Thus, this inner conflict evokes a sense of confusion within the persona, causing her to feel disconnected from both cultures. This essay focuses on the structure and meaning of the poem, understanding the context, and how the persona’s confused perception is conveyed - firstly, through the spiral form of the poem, and by Alvi’s uses of poetic techniques such as: colour imagery, irony, metaphors, effective word choice, and key phrases. To begin with, Alvi narrates the persona’s initial thoughts on the ‘salwar kameez’ with the

Read More
311 Words | 2 Pages

A tension between Indian parent and their children is how close of a family they are as opposed to American Families. In American society it’s not rare for teenagers to be autonomous, but children from different backgrounds (immigrant families) face a problem when they try to be autonomous. “Young Indian- Americans of high school and college are comparing themselves with their non-Indian classmates, and repeatedly express frustration at their own parents efforts to restrict their movements, monitor their behavior and make decisions for them”( Lessinger, 109). Indian immigrant children are more exposed to the cultural and agree that the cultural of growing up early is unknown to their parents. This sheltered, nurturing life cause problem for

Read More
1311 Words | 6 Pages

Similarly Mohan has come to America for better prospects but does not get the job as he expects. He is reduced to the state of desperation since he can’t go back to his motherland loosing face, so he turns to be a street vendor and his wife’s culinary skills come to his rescue. He begins selling Indian food on a moving cart near government offices, till he is attacked by the racist mob which does not tolerate his progress. As he is being beaten, Mohan experiences such excruciating pain that Divakaruni describes it “like hammers breaking” (181). The Americans attitude reveals their contempt for Mohan in the following emotional outburst.

Read More
461 Words | 2 Pages

Born in Amrika by Mona Maisami was written when she was a junior at Franklin and Marshall College in 2002. It is a short story written about the internal struggle Maisami has with her Iranian heritage. She is seeking a way to connect with her ancestral background and tries to build that connection with her cousin, Nina who moved to the United States only 3 months prior. Maisami takes her cousin to the park to “learn how to be more Iranian” but the entire event turns into Maisami criticizing the very traditions she is trying to learn. From there, the potential bond Maisami could have had with Nina was damaged and in turn, her ability to gain greater cultural insight.

Read More
465 Words | 2 Pages

Bharati was settling for “fluidity, self-invention, blue jeans, and T-shirts”(268). Bharati decided to be a part of a new community by marrying someone of a different community and living an American lifestyle. Unlike Mira, Bharati has adapted to the American community and has become a part of it. However, like Mira, she too has not felt welcomed in a community. Bharati compares Mira’s situation in America to one that she faced in Canada, where the government turned against the immigrants.

Read More
885 Words | 4 Pages

Everyone has an origins that has impacted them in either a positive or negative way or sometimes even both. The 2009 film Amreeka is directed by Cherien Dabis, and tells us about a remarkable journey between a mother and son in order to find a better life. The film begins with the mother Muna (Nisreen Faour) and son Fadi (Melkar Muallem) living in Pakistan under the harsh rules and regulations of Israeli’s checkpoints to go about their daily routines. When one day Muna goes to open her mail, and stumbles upon a letter which read she now able to obtain her green card. In an effort to give her son a better life Muna and fudi travel to America to stay with Muna’s sister Raghda (Hiam Abbass).

Read More
1834 Words | 8 Pages

At the heart of a person‘s life lies the struggle to define his self, to make sense of who he is? Diaspora represents the settling as well as unsettling process. While redesigning the geopolitical boundaries, cultural patterns, it has also reshaped the identities of the immigrants with new challenges confronting the immigrant in negotiating his identity. Diaspora becomes a site where past is given a new meaning and is preserved out of intense nostalgia and longing. The novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid is significant in its treatment of the issues faced by immigrants in the diaspora.

Read More

More about Summary Of Born In Amrika By Mona Masami

Open Document