Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Literature and gender stereotypes
Psychological effects of discrimination
Gender stereotypes in literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
There are a lot of differences shown throughout the world, from the way people look to what type of home environment they’re brought up in, to the traditions and cultures they follow. No two people are built and function the exact same way. Too often people are made to feel bad about the body, culture or life they are born in to. In life, as in literature, we find ourselves unable to fit into the box society has defined for us and see it as a negative. The things that make us different from the majority should be seen as advantages and not downfalls. “Half breed caught in the crossfire between camps while carrying all five races on your back not knowing which side to turn to, run from.” (Anzaldua 118) Anzaldua used this line in “To Live in …show more content…
People from all over the world migrate to the United States in an attempt to live the American dream and have a prosperous, happy life. Jimmy Santiago Baca captures this in “Immigrants in Our Own Land” where he compares the dreams and realities of immigrants to what it’s like in a prison, segregated, unpromising and disillusioned. “We came here to get away from false promises, from dictators in our neighborhoods.”(Baca) “We are born with dreams in our hearts, looking for better days ahead.” (Baca) Instead of being honored for the hard work and dedication it takes to relocate in a foreign place, immigrants are met with criticism and disrespect. “Right away we are sent to work as dishwashers, to work in fields for three cents an hour.” (Baca) Immigrants are tasked with not having the opportunity to use the skills they have or may be able to pick up; instead they are forced to work janitorial jobs and those not lucrative at all. There are so many differences amongst the human race. With the changing politics, views and issues, certain groups begin to take on negative stereotypes. The effects these negative stereotypes have on people are monumental. If more of the differences we have amongst everyone were shown in a positive light, it could help promote having positive self-image. The characteristics that are specific to difference sexes, races and ethnicities should show why the human race is awesome and not why certain groups are better than any
America is a land filled with immigrants coming from different corners of the worlds, all in hopes of finding a better life in the country. However, No one had an easy transition from his or her home country to this foreign land. Not every race thrived the same way—some were luckier than others, while some have faced enormous obstacles in settling down and being part of the American society. Many people have suffered
American was a prosperous country with incredible economic growth between the end of Reconstruction and the Great Depression. It was during this time that "industrial expansion went into high gear because increasing manufacturing efficiencies enabled American firms to cut prices and yet earn profits for financing still better equipment (Henretta 488)." During this era, the manufacturing of steel, the construction of railroads, factories, and warehouses, and the growing demand for technological advancements, increased greatly. Philanthropists, such as Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, and John D. Rockefeller, took advantage of the situation they were in by investing large sums of capital into the growing economy. Carnegie constructed an enormous steel mill outside of Pittsburgh that became one of the worlds' largest. Mellon started the Union Trust Fund in Pittsburgh, which developed in its later years to one of the largest financial institutions in the country. Rockefeller, who was involved in the petroleum industry, built the Standard Oil Company. Philanthropists were not the only group of people funding the growth of Corporate America. "The federal government, mainly interested in encouraging interregional development, provided financial credit and land grants (Henretta 490)." As a whole, the American economy was growing at an incredible rate. It was due to this growth that countless immigrants from Europe made their way over the Atlantic, as well as African Americans migrating from the South, both with hopes of improving their own standards of life.
Since a long time ago immigrant families have been coming to the U.S. to seek a better life. The idea of the American Dream becomes shattered once they start dealing with all the obstacles to get to the United States from South or Central America. People start facing discrimination and are taken advantage of. Since their journey starts, immigrants face discrimination from everywhere they go; the people who help them cross over to the U.S. charge high amounts of money to help them come over. Once they get to the United States immigrants continue in the same pattern of being abused, and taken advantage of. It is important to mention that if people are moving from their own country of origin it must be because the conditions they are living in are worse than the ones they are willing to live in, by moving. People that decide to make the move and explore new ways of living are often faced with discrimination, wage-theft and poor health conditions. “Wage theft is particularly prevalent among immigrant workers, and ―work-related exploitation appears to be growing along with the country’s immigrant population.” (James Pinkerton,
As an attempt to escape the possible tragic proceedings following cultural conflicts, Latin American immigrants seek refuge in America. Once in America, immigrants seek to gain new opportunities that can enable them to essentially achieve a better quality of life. Additionally, Henderson argues that immigrants from Latin America migrate to the United States for roughly the same reasons as other immigrants: “they might wish to join family members, have a lust for adventure, or need to escape something in their home country; but mostly they need jobs, which are scarce back home”
Immigration has changed majorly over the years. The system that the immigrants go through has evolved into a simpler system over the decades. Also the family life of the immigrants has become much more supported, as opposed to back when it brutal and children were sent to work right beside the adults. The living conditions and job opportunities of the immigrants have transformed into a healthier environment, and the challenges they faced have become easier to handle. Immigration has been the key to success in some cases, but in others their stories are harsh and hard to hear. The transformation that immigration has gone through over the past century is tremendous and should be recognized by all.
Most immigrants usually fill essential service jobs in the economy, which are vacant. Unfortunately, like new immigrants throughout U.S. history, “they experience conditions that are commonly deprived, oppressive, and exploitive” (Conover, 2000). They are paid low wages with little potential for advancement, are subjected to hazardous working conditions, and are threatened with losing their jobs and even deportation if they voice dissatisfaction with the way they are treated. Many work several jobs to make ends meet. Many also live in substandard housing with abusive landlords, have few health cares options, and are victims of fraud and other crimes.
Diversity is a singularity. People are different. Diversity isn’t something we have, it’s something we are. But we can’t judge others because they’re different from us. We can’t judge until we know what’s inside them. We’re different and that’s what makes us special and unique. We need to judge people by their personality and not by their looks. Even know the look might say a lot about the personality, still we can’t say that they are bad or nice just because of the way they look. We can’t all be rich, well-dressed or perfect all the time, because we are imperfect and that’s what makes who we are. We can’t win a fight with imperfection, but the best way to deal with it is to accept that we will never be perfect. And that isn’t a bad thing.
Although today’s America in many ways has changed into a new society. Immigrants desire to move to America because they have freedom of religion, a chance to rise from poverty, and a new beginning. According to Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur in from Letters from an American Farmer, ‘’ A country that had no bread for him, whose fields produced him no harvest, who met with nothing but the frowns of the rich, the severity of the laws, with jails and punishments; who owned not a single foot of the extensive surface of this planet? No! Urged by a variety of motives, here they came (148). Immigrants have a need to move to America to have a better future. As immigrants look on America they see that it’s a way out of getting a new life.
If we aren’t understanding of the variances between cultures and the way they communicate verbally, emotionally, and nonverbally this can create considerable issues. The three primary problems that could arise if we don’t have an understanding of cultural differences are the ways we interpret others comments and actions, how we predict future behaviors, and conflicting behaviors of others (“Differences in Culture,” n.d). Culture plays a significant part in peoples lives because it shapes our personal values and views on the world. Having a perspective and understanding a persons culture is important because each culture is different in respect to personal views and behaviors, but it is key to respect their culture because just like us it shaped who they are. The reason we have stereotypes of other cultures is because of this particular reason, we assume that our culture is superior and the correct way to do things. For example, I have heard the stereotype that French people are impolite, offensive, and they hate Americans, but was this stereotype created because of a misunderstanding between cultures? Cultural differences can be educational because it allows us to understand the uniqueness of a culture and allows us to learn new things. Cultural differences allow people to feel a sense of belonging, which can be empowering knowing
Throughout life, I have always been told to put in 110% in whatever you do. Being in a family that is a first generation immigrant, I have observed the hard work and effort my parents to this day put in. Their main motivating factor is to provide me and my family the best life and to have as much opportunities as possible. Personally, if it was not for my faith, it would be difficult to put in a one hundred percent effort in everything because there are just simply some curriculum, homework, and work, we as humans find boring. However, Jesus Christ teaches something else. Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:7 writes, “Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men.” This verse really pushes to me reevaluate how I approach
America is often known as the land of opportunity, a place where you can be free. Many Immigrants came to America so that they could have a greater possibility at succeeding in life. Immigrants took a leap of faith when coming to America, for some it worked out well but for others they had a difficult time here. Despite the struggles that the immigrants encountered such as; standing out from others, being separated from their families, and breaking their culture, the immigrants are still grateful to be in America because they were in better conditions than they were in their home land. When viewing interviews or looking at an immigrant’s perspective you get many responses to being in America, some major things that stood out were the amount of freedom the immigrant had, and the age of the immigrant. These two things had a huge impact on the opinion of America from an Immigrants point of view.
Immigrants have healthy, intact families, commitment at work, and aspirations, a stronger support from families migrated from the same country, enabling easier transition (The Future of Children, 2004, p.1). These strengths would serve as protective layer for the immigrant children to keep them tolerant on negative influences in society (The Future of Children, 2004, p.1). Many challenges are faced by immigrants, and their children need to navigate the process of acculturation, making it difficult for children from socially disadvantaged background and those with limited English language skills (The Future of Children, 2004, p.1). Interviewee A has migrated to Australia from India. Her daughter has experienced bullying, especially when she
Challenges Faced by Immigrants The changing environments throughout the ages have caused the movement of thousands of families out of their homelands. Whether forced to make such decisions or doing so by their own desires, all immigrants have had to survive the physical and psychological challenges encountered along the way. To speak about the experiences of all these different people using the same ideas and examples would be quite inaccurate. They all, however, had to live through similar situations and deal with similar problems.
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Every immigrant who comes here should be required within 5 years to learn English or leave the country.” However, for today’s immigrants, this is not an easy task, especially mixed with the other challenges they face. When immigrants travel to, “The Land of the Free,” it is in no way an easy transition. These immigrants leave their homeland for a number of reasons. These reasons can be separated into two groups which are called push and pull factors. Some reasons include war, crime, and financial hardship. These would be push factors, pushing them away from their home. Or, perhaps they just simply want to be closer to friends and family. This would be considered a pull factor, pulling them towards a new country..
Participation has always been an issue for me. I mean, speaking up in class, giving my opinion or comments, but as I came to this country, these issues worsen. As a non-English native, I have an accent and sometimes I think that if I say something in public people are going to look at me and judge me. It might not be true, but these ideas prevent me from talking most of the time. The past few semesters I barely spoke a word in class, only if needed or was imperative for me to talk. But as this semester started, I said to myself that I have a voice which deserves to be heard and that all opinions or thoughts should be respected even if it comes from an immigrant with a huge accent. It surprised me how well I participated in this class during