What Makes You an American Resident?

999 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The causes of ethnic conflict

Subconsciously, she has always known what it’s like to be an American. Growing up in an immigrant, military family taught her that— having been swathed in its multi-colored blankets of diversity and opportunity since the day she was born. She remembers the chiding words of her mother as she taught her the Pledge of Allegiance for her second day of kindergarten. There were freedoms, she had reminded her, underlying those words— “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”— that we should never take for granted. It wasn’t until years later however, after a visit to the Philippines that she realized what her mother truly meant—as well as that something more, something deeper was a part of being American. It began with a simple question. “What are you?” her cousins asked. Their heavily-accented words, laden with curiosity, hung in the air. “Filipino? Or American?”

“Um, American?” No sooner had the answer left her lips, her cousins rebuked her— pointing out her disregard to the Filipino blood ran that through her veins. It had never occurred to her nine-year-old mind to take that into account; she had always thought that simply living under the Amendments that granted her the freedoms to live out her life defined her identity. However, a revelation struck her as their freely expressed their opinions loomed before her faltering conviction. For the first time she realized as she stared at her cousins that other countries shared those same freedoms as well. How come they were not considered an American? What made an American? That girl was me— Nicole Caiga— when I was nine years old.

Had my maternal grandfather— “Tatay” as we called him— not died five years before, he could have given me the answer I desperately sought. ...

... middle of paper ...

...f one’s birth alone doesn’t make a Korean, Filipino, American, or any other nationality for that matter. If that was the case, my parents wouldn’t be the Americans they are today. Instead it is the decision to identify oneself with whatever country one puts action behind their hopes, dreams, and future.

My ethnicity may be Filipino, but like my parents before me, I am an American.

Works Cited

Houston, Jeanne. "A Tapestry of Hope." Creating America. 4th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2005. 146-47. Print.

Kang, Younghill. "A Korean Discovers New York." Creating America. 4th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2005. 60-61. Print.

"Maryland – DP-1. Profile of General Demographics: 2000." The New York Times. 24 Aug. 2009. Web. 04 Oct. 2010. .

Show More
Related

  • Did the North Win the Civil War before it Began?

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    Boyer, Paul S. The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People. D.C. Heath and Company, Mass. © 1990

    Read More

  • The Story Of Do In Kwon And Hee Kyung Lee

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    Written by Margaret K. Pai, the Dreams of Two Yi-min narrates the story of her Korean American family with the main focus on the life journeys of her father and mother, Do In Kwon and Hee Kyung Lee. Much like the majority of the pre-World War II immigrants, the author’s family is marked and characterized by the common perception of the “typical” Asian immigrant status in the early 20th century: low class, lack of English speaking ability, lack of transferable education and skills, and lack of knowledge on the host society’s mainstream networks and institutions (Zhou and Gatewood 120, Zhou 224). Despite living in a foreign land with countless barriers and lack of capital, Kwon lead his wife and children to assimilate culturally, economically, and structurally through his growing entrepreneurship. Lee, on the other hand, devoted herself not only to her husband’s business but also to the Korean American society. By investing her time in the Korean Methodist Church and the efforts of its associated societies, such as the Methodist Ladies Aid Society and the Youngnam Puin Hoe, Lee made a worthy contribution to the emergence and existence of Hawaii’s Korean American community.

    Read More

  • Summary Of 'The Princess Of Nebraska And' A Thousand Years Of Good Prayers?

    1729 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many immigrating to the United States develop ideas of themselves and their own identity in order to fit the form of America they have been coaxed into believing. In “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers”, Mr.Shi displays these expectations and false prophecies of character when he naively concludes, “America is worth taking a look at; more than that, America makes him a new person, a rocket scientist, a good conversationalist, a loving father, a happy man”(189). Mr.Shi not only perceives America as a place of pure prosperity and freedom, but also anticipates a society where he can recreate himself. Arguably, these limited ideas of America can foster one 's desire to improve as an individual, however this often results in a further loss of identity because they are unwilling to accept their true self. He longs to exist within the form of American society he fantasizes because he envisions himself as a more developed and well rounded person that he feels communist China has kept him from

    Read More

  • Stripped of Personal Freedom: Native Americans in the West

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    Roark, James L., Michael P. Johnson, Patricia C. Cohen, Sarah Stage, and Susan M. Hartmann. The American Promise: A History of the United States. 5th ed. Vol. 2. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. Print.

    Read More

  • Quilt Of A Country Essay

    442 Words  | 1 Pages

    Anna Quindlen focuses on how different our nation is. She talks about how big issues the United States used to face such as when the Irish and Italians of Boston feuded years ago. She also writes about current issues and groups that still don’t get along with each other, such as the “Cambodians and the Mexicans in California.”(Quilt pg.4) Anna Quindlen also focused on our Country’s diversity, and argues that our diversity is what

    Read More

  • Second-Generation Immigration: Finding a Balance between Two Cultures

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    The immigrant’s journey to America, as depicted throughout history, transports culture, language, beliefs and unique lifestyles from one land to the other, but also requires one to undergo an adaptation process. The children of these immigrants, who are usually American-born, experience the complexity of a bicultural life, even without completely connecting to the two worlds to which they belong. Potentially resulting is the internal desire to claim a singular rather than dual identity, for simplicity, pride and a sense of acceptance. Jhumpa Lahiri, an Indian-American author and writer of “My Two Lives” could never classify herself as.

    Read More

  • The Audacity of Hope: A Rhetorical Analysis

    2124 Words  | 5 Pages

    Obama, Barack. The Audacity of Hope: Thought on Reclaiming the American Dream. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2006. Print.

    Read More

  • Manifest Destiny

    1323 Words  | 3 Pages

    Appleby, Joyce, Alan Brinkley, James M. McPherson. The American Journey: Building a Nation. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2000

    Read More

  • What Is A True American?

    961 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nationalism is extreme loyalty and devotion to one particular nation, and many Americans are nationalistic about their country. But even though they are loyal to America, defining what it means to be a true American is tricky. Being American is one complex thing, but the concept of being American can not be fully grasped. What it means to be American may in fact be one of the biggest mysteries of all time. Indeed, discovering what it means to be a true American could possibly take an entire lifetime. One thing, however about all true Americans is certain: we are all alike in that each one of us is different from the Americans in important ways. We are diverse in our backgrounds, races, and religions. Nevertheless, we are exactly identical in the we feel toward our country, even though we express our pride in a million different ways.

    Read More

  • Civil War: Inevitable or Avoidable

    1841 Words  | 4 Pages

    Roark, James, et al. The American Promise: A History of the United States, 4th ed. Boston:

    Read More

  • Influences Of Asian American Literature

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    These are the two questions that I get asked regularly by non-Asians. I always reply “Well I was born and raised in America but my family comes from Hong Kong.” I grew up constantly being told to take pride in being Chinese, however, I was also consistently told by my family to be proud that I even have the opportunity to grow up in America. There was never a definite answer as to what I was, so I learned to accept both. I am Asian American. Many people have questions about what “Asian American” really means and their questions brought on questions of my own. It was not until recently that Asian American influences became more prominent in my life. I was able to find books,

    Read More

  • Fitting In in the book I Want to Be Miss America

    628 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “I Want to Be Miss America,” Julia Alvarez examines her adolescent struggle to be “American.” For Alvarez, her Hispanic culture becomes a burden to her inclusion in American society. So, Alvarez and her sisters, struggle to become what they are not, Americans. Alvarez uses a somewhat biased stereotype to identify the model of an ideal American, but she does make clear. The struggle of all American teenagers to fit into or molded by a standard which for many of them is impossible to achieve.

    Read More

  • Native American Reservation Life and History

    1235 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nash, G. B., Jeffery, J., Howe, J., Winkler, A., Davis, A., Mires, C., et al. (2010). The American people: creating a nation and a society. (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education

    Read More

  • My Two Lives by Jhumpa Lahiri

    1620 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...me Americans has been realized. Wong is multicultural and not Chinese. However, when she examines back to her childhood, she feels miserable. Her unhappiness is significant because this feeling shows us her present concept on her initial heritage. She can understand why her mother took them to the Chinese school at this issue. She could be an American and still having Chinese heritage. There are many All-Americans but she likes to be someone who is multicultural, and she had numerous possibilities to hold her Chinese culture. The reason for her unhappiness is that she missed these possibilities. She thought that maintaining more than one backgrounds is interesting. Through being an All-American Girl and departing her Chinese culture, she came to realise the importance of her original heritage and the factual significance of being multicultural.

    Read More

  • The American Dream Expressed Through The Pursuit of Happiness

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    Evensvold, Marty D. "The American Dream: Stories from the Heart of Our Nation." Library Journal Dec. 2001: 200. General OneFile. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

More about What Makes You an American Resident?

Open Document