The United States currently has 42.1 million immigrants residing in America. Most immigrants traveled to the U.S for a more satisfying life for themselves and their families than the ones that they had had in the past. People from other countries view America as the “Land of Opportunities” but it is hard for the immigrants to adapt to the new culture of America. Culture is a shared set of values, customs, traditions, beliefs, and art that are passed down from generation to generation within an ethnic group. Culture partly has an impact on a person’s perspective on the world, but not as much as how parents and personal experiences influence a person’s view on achievements/attitude, values, and beliefs. Culture partially influences a person’s …show more content…
Bharati Mukherjee shows this in her personal essay, Two Ways to Belong in America, “...I married a fellow student, an American of Canadian parentage… I was prepared for the emotional strain that came with marrying outside my ethnic community.” This quote presents the idea of merging two cultures together. Bharati Mukherjee had gone against her ethnic tradition of marrying the groom her father had chose for her and decided to marry an American of Canadian descent. Her beliefs and values had changed. Bharati decided to marry for love over tradition. Jing-Mei, a character in the novel, Two Kinds, has very strong opinions about the achievements in her life. In the beginning of the story, Jing-Mei and her family had recently moved to America. Her mother had wanted her to become a child prodigy and she completely agreed with her mother’s decision. But her attitude changed when Jing-mei had realized that her mother would never be satisfied with her efforts and began to rebel. Jing-mei was satisfied by her achievements when she tried her best, but her mother was not satisfied until she became a child prodigy. The Chinese
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
They both think they deserve the blanket because Maggie wants the quilt to use everyday as a blanket and Dee wants the blanket to have up. Maggie has a bigger culture than Dee because Maggie will use it everyday and she will have it when her and her man get married. Wangero said, laughing that “Maggie’s brain is like an elephant’s” , well they mean she has a memory as and elephant. Dee said “Maggie can't appreciate these quilts.” Their mom thinks maggie deserves it. My mom would have said Maggie deserves it too because my mom would want to to use it everyday. Their culture and my culture sees the same. It’s the same and a lot of ways. Maggies mom made a promised and she kept it , exactly like my family would have. (Maggie 64) by now was standing in the door. I could almost hear the sound her feet made as they scraped over each other. As I see it is that we all see culture in the same way but just by different
Immigration has existed around the world for centuries, decades, and included hundreds of cultures. Tired of poverty, a lack of opportunities, unequal treatment, political corruption, and lacking any choice, many decided to emigrate from their country of birth to seek new opportunities and a new and better life in another country, to settle a future for their families, to work hard and earn a place in life. As the nation of the opportunities, land of the dreams, and because of its foundation of a better, more equal world for all, the United States of America has been a point of hope for many of those people. A lot of nationals around the world have ended their research for a place to call home in the United States of America. By analyzing primary sources and the secondary sources to back up the information, one could find out about what Chinese, Italians, Swedish, and Vietnamese immigrants have experienced in the United States in different time periods from 1865 to 1990.
It is true that the more people from different cultures that are in a given area, the more the cultures are diversified. However, with all realities, some claim that immigrants dilute the American culture. Indeed, they cause some changes to the culture. Nevertheless, these changes can bring a wealth of attraction and a source of beauty for the country that everyone should be proud of. It is obvious that every single immigrant in the US has his own culture and way of life. When all these are added together, they form a very rich culture. In addition, they bring various interesting aspects such as food, music, literature, etc. That makes the Americans rich in cultural knowledge. The importance of cultural diversity is that it teaches the people to understand each other’s views, interests, and ideas and helps people view the world in different ways. This would finally lead the society to work towards each other’s interest, mutual goals, and objectives. Tamar Jacoby in his article “Are Today’s Immigrants Assimilating in U.S Society, Yes,” he said that, “Those who are coming now are people who understand cultural fluidity, understand intermarriage and find that a natural, easy thing. This maintains unity and balances in the society” (411). Once this stage is reached, all the problems would be solved. Then it can be said that America has reached a true democracy, echoed by
Jing-mei finds her cultural identity when she becomes and adult. One half of her wants to be that perfect, obedient child that her mother wants. The other half wants to have attention from her mother. She is that “Pleading Child” and “Perfectly Contented” daughter. Although Jing-mei and her mother’s culture clashed, she was able to find who she really
The United States of America has the largest foreign-born population in the world. With nearly thirteen percent of the total population being foreign-born, one may find it hard to imagine an immigrant-free country (U.S. Bureau of the Census). Immigration has been an integral part of the United States’ overall success and the country’s economy since it was established and without it, would have never been founded at all. Although there are some negative issues associated with immigration and many native-born Americans believe to be more of a problem than a solution, overall it actually has a positive effect. Immigrants in America, among other things, fill jobs where native-born Americans may not want to work or cannot work, they contribute to Social Services and Medicaid through taxes and they help provide the backbone of America, especially by working jobs that natives may have not even considered.
In the United States, the cliché of a nation of immigrants is often invoked. Indeed, very few Americans can trace their ancestry to what is now the United States, and the origins of its immigrants have changed many times in American history. Despite the identity of an immigrant nation, changes in the origins of immigrants have often been met with resistance. What began with white, western European settlers fleeing religious persecution morphed into a multicultural nation as immigrants from countries across the globe came to the U.S. in increasing numbers. Like the colonial immigrants before them, these new immigrants sailed to the Americas to gain freedom, flee poverty and famine, and make a better life for themselves. Forgetting their origins as persecuted and excluded people, the older and more established immigrants became possessive about their country and tried to exclude and persecute the immigrant groups from non-western European backgrounds arriving in the U.S. This hostile, defensive, and xenophobic reaction to influxes of “new” immigrants known as Nativism was not far out of the mainstream. Nativism became a part of the American cultural and political landscape and helped to shape, through exclusion, the face of the United States for years to come.
Mukherjee begins her essay with an exposition of her and her sister’s story. She uses repetition in order to emphasize the main differences between the two. For example, she states, “I am an American citizen and she is not. I am moved that thousands of residents are finally taking the oath of citizenship. She is not.” This line is used to set up her subject. She is stating that she is an immigrant whose dream was to envelop the American culture, while her sister does not believe that she should be assimilated into it. The use of repetition also appeals to her audience, Americans, by capturing their attention. Many Americans are nationalistic, if not jingoistic, and believe that America is the greatest country in the world. The notion that others do not feel this way may intrigue them, or potentially offend them, causing them to read on in attempt to find flaws within her argument.
Immigration came primarily from continental Western and Southern Europe a decidedly left of center mentality. This mixing of cultures in the American melting pot has produced a uniquely American culture. A culture which is steeped in tradition and has accepted the old world cultures of the immigration influx of the early 20th century. A culture which has been embraced, feared, and chastise by virtually every nation on the planet at one time or another. It is part of the foundation of study in understanding twentieth century American society.
When she arrives, she feels somehow proud to be Chinese. But her main reason why she went back home is to reflect her mother past life on her present life. Through the setting and her relatives, Jing Mei learns the nature of Chinese American culture. The main setting takes place in China, effects of the main character’s point of view through changing her sense of culture and identity. The time period plays a large role on the story, there is disconnect between the mother and daughter who came from different culture. In “A Pair of Tickets”, we learn it’s a first person narrator, we also learn detail of what the narrator is thinking about, detail of her past and how life compared to China and the US are very different. The theme is associated with the motherland and also has to deal with her mother’s death and half sisters. Her imagination of her sister transforming into adult, she also expected them to dresses and talk different. She also saw herself transforming, the DNA of Chinese running through her blood. In her own mind, from a distance she thinks Shanghai, the city of China looks like a major American city. Amy Tan used positive imagery of consumerism to drive home her themes of culture and identity, discovering her ancestral
In “Two Kinds”, Jing-mei’s mother wants Jing-mei to become an musical prodigy by playing the piano. To some extent, Jing-mei’s mother adopts a scant amount of American values. She constantly tells Jing-mei a typical American belief, that one can be “… anything you wanted to be in America.” However, to an even towering extent, Jing-mei’s mother’s values and ways of doing things areentirely Chinese. Just like the majority of Chinese mothers, she tries to form Jing-mei into a “proper Chinese girl”, who obeys whatever the mother says.
"Immigrants and the American Dream." Society 33.n1 (Nov-Dec 1995):3(3). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale University. 26 Sep. 2006.
Often America is referred to as “The large melting pot.” The idea that the United States is a land of opportunity, where anyone can come and blend into a new breed that is uniquely American. However, the cultural diversity in America is clearly evident, from physical characteristics to different religious beliefs and customs. As minorities immigrate to America and attempt to assimilate in society, they are forced to live a pluralistic lifestyle of blending with the current society, while struggling to maintain their heritage and identity “Minority individuals must learn to function in two environments: their own culture and that of the mainstream society” (de Anda, 1984: p101). There are some who successfully leave their
The story "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan is about a mother and daughter who have strong conflicting ideas about what it means to have a sense of self. This may be partly due to the mother growing up in China, which is a very different culture than the American culture where endless opportunities are available to anyone who wants to pursue them. Jing-mei's mother wants her daughter to be the best, a prodigy of sorts, and to have the kind of life, full of hopes and dreams that she did not have. In the beginning of the story Jing-mei liked the idea of becoming a prodigy however, the prodigy in her became impatient. "If you don't hurry up and get me out of here, I'm disappearing for good." It warned. "And then you'll always be nothing" (500). After disappointing her mother several times Jing-mei started to detest the idea of becoming a prodigy. The idea Jing-mei's mother had for her to become a prodigy was too much pressure for a small child and was something that Jing-mei was clearly not ready to be. As a result the pressure that her mother laid upon her only made Jing-mei rebel against her mother and she resisted in giving her best. Jing-mei did this because she only wanted her mother's love and acceptance for who she was not only what she could become. Furthermore, Jing-mei's point of view of being the kind of person that one can be proud of was very different from her mother's point of view.
...which has caused the changes in American culture in two centuries. It can be approached from many different views. Instead of America being a nation, we can redefine it as a multicultural society; or the lasting establishment of positive action for immigrants based on their race; or immigrant are seen as the big promoter of the America culture because they get into intermarriage relationship that expand their culture mix with American culture as the population increase. The Immigrant has been blamed of decline in educational and environmental standards in areas dominated by Hispanics. At the turn of the century a wave of new immigrants Jews and Italians were believed to be too different to assimilate into American cultural life. Today the same fears are raised about immigrants’ from Asia and Latin America, as their counterparts were in previous historical time.