The First Generation Of The Children Of Immigrants

1109 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: First and second generation immigrants

I have to introduce you to three individuals, not random individuals, but siblings - two brothers and a sister. They may seem just like any other people, but they have a secret that isn’t easily realized unless you know them. They belong here in the sense that they were born here, but their hearts belong to another land. They are the children of immigrants; the first generation to be born in America. It is a unique experience that to others may seem odd or exotic, but for these three is just as normal as learning to ride a bike. At home life is normal, not too different from the lives of any of their friends. Their dad still goes to work during the week, and mom stays at home to take care of the three children. They have a house with a maple tree out front, and a dog who the girl wrestles with. It is odd though, having to open presents with my family on Christmas Eve after church and dinner, while my friends wake up early the next morning to have breakfast with all their relatives from out of town. I understand, but at the same time I do not. I’m not old enough to understand why telemarketers can’t pronounce my last name, or why we have to get on a plane every other year to go see our family. “It’s difficult to recall the first time I went to Switzerland. The actual experience of flying across the ocean at a young age felt like journeying to a different world. That eleven-hour flight was such a tedious part of the very exciting journey ahead. I remember once looking out the window of the plane as we touched down and feeling such a deep comfort and contentment. I felt as though I was home. What awaited me were days of family and friends, hiking and exploring, and delicious food. It was always such a beautiful experience being i... ... middle of paper ... ... based on Americanism. I have lost count of how many times I have told someone that I am Swiss, or that I speak Swiss German, and they quickly say, “Oh, you’re Swedish” or, “you’re from Sweden.” America has become its’ own world since the separation from Britain, and it shows in how so many Americans don’t see anything outside of this country, unless it is shown through media. Being the first generation born in this country, my siblings and I have the rare advantage of not only seeing life as it is here, the country we were born in, but also the broader spectrum of life and lifestyles. Growing up we had many experiences common to American people, but at the same time we had such a different and intimate view of life because the experiences we had being exposed to our Swiss heritage. The heritage we have because we are the children of immigrants.

Show More
Related

  • How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

    1624 Words  | 4 Pages

    Immigrants come to America, the revered City upon a Hill, with wide eyes and high hopes, eager to have their every dream and wild reverie fulfilled. Rarely, if ever, is this actually the case. A select few do achieve the stereotypical ‘rags to riches’ transformation – thus perpetuating the myth. The Garcia family from Julia Alvarez’s book How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, fall prey to this fairytale. They start off the tale well enough: the girls are treated like royalty, princesses of their Island home, but remained locked in their tower, also known as the walls of their family compound. The family is forced to flee their Dominican Republic paradise – which they affectionately refer to as simply, the Island – trading it instead for the cold, mean streets of American suburbs. After a brief acclimation period, during which the girls realize how much freedom is now available to them, they enthusiastically try to shed their Island roots and become true “American girls.” They throw themselves into the American lifestyle, but there is one slight snag in their plan: they, as a group, are unable to forget their Island heritage and upbringing, despite how hard they try to do so. The story of the Garcia girls is not a fairytale – not of the Disney variety anyway; it is the story of immigrants who do not make the miraculous transition from rags to riches, but from stifling social conventions to unabridged freedom too quickly, leaving them with nothing but confusion and unresolved questions of identity.

    Read More

  • Bread Givers By Anzia Yezierska

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    Moving from the unpleasant life in the old country to America is a glorious moment for an immigrant family that is highlighted and told by many personal accounts over the course of history. Many people write about the long boat ride, seeing The Statue of Liberty and the “golden” lined streets of New York City and how it brought them hope and comfort that they too could be successful in American and make it their home. Few authors tend to highlight the social and political developments that they encountered in the new world and how it affected people’s identity and the community that they lived in. Authors from the literature that we read in class highlight these developments in the world around them, more particularly the struggles of assimilating

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Book ' Of The Unknown Americans '

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    After reading The Book of the Unknown Americans, I realized how difficult immigrating to the United States can be. I am an immigrant also, so just reading the story makes me relate to many problems immigrants experience relocating to a different country. Immigrants often face many issues and difficulties, but for some it is all worth it, but for others there comes a point in time where they have to go back to their hometown. Alma and Arturo Rivera came to the United States to better their life, but also so that Maribel could attend a special education school. While Arturo had a job things had gone well for the family, but once Arturo lost the job and passed away the two of them had to go back because they felt that that was the best option for them. Reading this book made me realize how strong an individual has to be to leave their own country and relocate somewhere else not knowing if this will better your life or cause one to suffer.

    Read More

  • The Life of Immigrant Children In New York

    1357 Words  | 3 Pages

    By the late nineteenth century the economic lines in America between the upper and lower class were quickly widening because of the boom of urban industrial expansion. Moreover, during the 1800s, America witnessed an influx of immigrants coming from many parts of the world, they made tenement houses in New York’s lower East Side a common destination. One person witnessing the living conditions of these tenements was journalist Jacob A. Riis. For several years, Riis, with camera in hand, tooked a multitude of photographs that depicted the atrocious working and living conditions in the New York slums. Riss reported that the tenements were severely overcrowded, unsanitary, and a breeding ground for crime and disease. Riss also claimed that the “slum” landlords of these tenements exploited immigrants by charging them more rent than they could afford. As a result, every member of the family had to work—even young children. Subsequently, in 1890, Riis wrote a book entitled: How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York, which included his horrifying photographs and sketches, as means to expose to the middle class the chaotic environment of tenement living. Although Riss’s book exposes a myriad of social and economic problems regarding tenement housing, one of the more prominent ills his photographs and prose reveal is the harsh and distressing reality that immigrant families from the lower class must treat their children as a form of labor in order to survive. With this in mind, by describing and analyzing three of Riis’s photographs, I will demonstrate the validity of my argument which portrays the exploitation of child labor.

    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

  • Immigrant Parent Families

    991 Words  | 2 Pages

    Family dynamics present interesting revelations, especially regarding the relationship between parents and children. While most families undoubtedly encounter dysfunction at some point throughout life, immigrant families seemingly experience such stress continually. A handful of short stories, including “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, “Who’s irish” by Gish Jen, and “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers” by Yiyun Li, demonstrate how strained relations erupt in immigrant families. Familial tension noticeably arises because of the immigrant parents’ inability to fully adjust to the American way of life. Further, immigrant parents adhere to strict expectations in an attempt to uphold the family’s conservative heritage. Finally, immigrant parents typically

    Read More

  • Trip To Blackpool

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    When the day came to leave I was woken at the crack of dawn. I was keen to get to Blackpool as swiftly as possible, not only for the football that was ahead of us but also for the famous Pleasure Beach. The coach picked us up at around 8 am and in we crammed into an already full coach. The journey down was full of laughter and friendly joking from the parents. That day, it was particularly hot and inside the coach a number of people were becoming uncomfortable. I was unaffected by the warmth inside the coach, with my earphones in I relaxed and paid more attention to the vast countryside we were passing through. The vivid scenery blew me away, with colossal hills to calm rivers that we met on the journey.

    Read More

  • First Generation Immigrants and Education

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    Immigration has a great impact on first generation immigrants. Studies show that acculturation and assimilation have wide-ranging effects on the groups involved, but mostly on the immigrants' lives. There are positive and negative attributes. Attributes that are due to the issues associated with integrating cultures, and broadly related to the greater issue of immigration. The issues and discrimination towards first generation immigrants cause them to have limitations throughout their lifetime, in the country that they have moved to. Furthermore, the Hispanic and Latino community have lived through this problem for so long. They are always the group to be affected by it because they lose a sense of self and are never really accepted by the dominant or other group involved. This is a big issue that requires more attention and efforts to come up with a solution.

    Read More

  • Intercultural Interview Paper

    2171 Words  | 5 Pages

    The subject of this paper is Liz, a 52-year old, 1.5 generation female immigrant from Hong Kong. What this means is that she immigrated to the United States when she was a child, around 7-years old (Feliciano Lec. 1/4/2016). As a child of a family that consists of five siblings and two parents that did not speak any English prior to immigrating, the focus of this paper will be on the legal processes that the family went through to become legal immigrants and the various factors that aided in her path towards assimilation.

    Read More

  • Immigrants and The American Dream

    2129 Words  | 5 Pages

    The "American dream" is different for every person. To some it means financial success, to others it means freedom of expression, while others dream to practice their religion without fear. The "American dream" is a complex concept providing immigrants with the hope of better life. The U.S. government provides the environment and resources for everyone to pursue their dreams. Each year millions of people around the world apply for the Diversity Visa lottery program provided by the U.S. government, however only a few thousand people are lucky enough to come here. America is the place where people are judged by their achievements instead of having references or connections. Even though the American economy is in recession and the achieving of the American Dream is harder, many immigrants still achieve religious, political, financial, and sports dreams here in the U.S.

    Read More

  • Coming To America

    579 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stepping out of my first plane ride, I experience an epiphany of new culture, which seems to me as a whole new world. Buzzing around my ears are conversations in an unfamiliar language that intrigues me. It then struck me that after twenty hours of a seemingly perpetual plane ride that I finally arrived in The United States of America, a country full of new opportunities. It was this moment that I realized how diverse and big this world is. This is the story of my new life in America.

    Read More

  • Pressure On Children Of Immigrants Essay

    492 Words  | 1 Pages

    The American Dream, is what every immigrant looks for when coming to the United States. But it's not all it seems to be. There are consequences, stereotypes and pressure put on the children of these immigrants. 40% of children in immigrant families have at least one parent who is mexican born. As stated by Childtrends.org. This means 40 out of 100 children have pressure on them whether it's by their parents (because they are immigrants) or by society by placing stereotypes.

    Read More

  • Immigrant Parents Essay

    1049 Words  | 3 Pages

    We don’t realize how hard it is for immigrant parents to get their children education, and we judge and hate on something we have never been through. I guess it’s true you never know someone’s pain unless you go through it. Not everyone has the same privileges as others, some have to work twice as hard to try to give their children an opportunity towards an education on the contrary some American families have it simpler. I not blaming people who have families who were born here or say it’s wrong, but many people tend to affront children of immigrant parents and feel like they have the equitableness to say they aren’t suitable to receive public education.

    Read More

  • Immigrants and the American Dream

    1633 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since the start of the twentieth century America has attracted people all over the world to relocate and start a new life. For many coming to America was a chance for a better life and new things. They all had something in common, they all had a dream, that dream was the "American Dream". In the present day the desire to achieve the dream hasn't changed. However, the idea of the American Dream, brings up a lot of questions. What is the American Dream? Who defines it? Can it be achieved? Lastly, should everyone have a chance to achieve it?

    Read More

  • Immigrants and the American Dream

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ronald Regan describes America as, “…a place in the divine scheme that was set aside as a promised land” (“Loosing the American Dream”). Do Regan’s words have any truth to them? How can America be a promised land when immigrants are still fighting for the chance to pursue the American Dream and social acceptance? Immigrants have different motives for coming to America some may seek citizenship for political freedoms that they once did not have due to uprising civil wars in their native country. Others may come for social freedoms that they were not awarded in their home country due to sexual orientation. Others may come for economic freedoms that allows them to go from rags to riches. No matter the reason, immigrants risk everything for a chance to pursue the American dream. So why is it so hard for immigrants to earn a spot as a citizen of the United States of America? Why are immigrants still facing narrow-mindedness criticism for being foreign? It is time for Americans to change their prejudice views of immigrants.

    Read More

More about The First Generation Of The Children Of Immigrants

Open Document