More handpicked essays just for you.
Similarities and differences to Hmong culture
Review of literature on impact of migration
Similarities and differences to Hmong culture
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Similarities and differences to Hmong culture
In Kao Kalia Yang’s memoir, The Latehomecomer, moving to America from a war torn country is not as easy, shown by the transition Yang’s family had to make. Racism, no money, and barely being able to survive doesn’t help the families cause. To make matters worse, Grandma, who has been with the family since the beginning, is now not with them, but hundreds of miles away in California, the opposite side of America where Yang’s family is staying. The separation of the family brings sense into the title, Latehomecomer, as well as the Hmong belief that the soul always finds its way back home. With Grandma hundreds of miles away, she is the only member of the family who is not staying in St. Paul MN. Grandma is left out of the family “get-together”
At the end of The Latehomecomer, Yang concludes with the promise she had made to her grandmother: “I told her we will not become the birds or the bees. We will become Hmong, and we will build a strong home that we will never leave and can always return to. We will not be lost and looking our whole lives through.” (Yang, 263) Throughout this story, her grandmother was the bond that held the whole family together through all the ordeals. She was the source of pride of being a Hmong, and the courage to find her
Some were as young as fourteen while some were mothers who were forced to leave their child behind in Japan, but for these women the sacrifice will be worth it once they get to San Francisco. Yet, the women desired a better life separate from their past, but brought things that represent their culture desiring to continue the Buddha traditions in America; such as, their kimonos, calligraphy brushes, rice paper, tiny brass Buddha, fox god, dolls from their childhood, paper fans, and etc. (Otsuka, 2011, p. 9) A part of them wanted a better life full of respect, not only toward males but also toward them, and away from the fields, but wanted to continue the old traditions from their home land. These hopes of a grand new life was shattered when the boat arrived to America for none of the husbands were recognizable to any of the women. The pictures were false personas of a life that didn’t really exist for these men, and the men were twenty years older than their picture. All their hopes were destroyed that some wanted to go home even before getting off the boat, while others kept their chins up holding onto their hope that maybe something good will come from this marriage and walked off the boat (Otsuka, 2011, p.
I chose to analyze the The Family, 1941 portray and The Family, 1975 portray, both from Romare Bearden, for this essay because they are very similar paintings but at the same time very different. To write a critical analyzes it was necessary to choose two different paintings that had similar characteristics. The text about critical comparison said that to compare things they have to be similar, yet different, and that’s what these paintings look to me. As I had already written an analysis of The Family, 1941 portray I chose to analyze and compare The Family, 1975 this time. Both works have a lot of color in it and through the people’s faces in the pictures we can feel the different emotions that the paintings are conveying.
Leslie Marmon Silko is a Native American from New Mexico and is part of the Laguna tribe. She received a MacArthur "genius" award and was considered one of the 135 most significant women writers ever. Her home state has named her a living cultural treasure. (Jaskoski, 1) Her well-known novel Ceremony follows a half-breed named Tayo through his realization and healing process that he desperately needs when he returns from the horrors of World War II. This is a process that takes him back to the history of his culture.
In Amy Tan's novel, The Kitchen God's Wife, the author weaves Chinese mythology and beliefs through a woman's struggle to explain and come to terms with her harrowing past, to her American daughter, Pearl. Aside from the horror invoked by Winnie's tale of her life in Pre-Communist/Feudal China, the thing that struck me the most about this book was how often the themes of luck and fate crop up in the story. I often found that Winnie reminded me of the character Lipsha from Louise Erdrich's novel, The Bingo Palace in that both characters seemed to believe that their lives were controlled more by luck/fate than by their own will. While the similarities between the two books do exist, they are very different stories dealing with two cultures far removed from each other in location, beliefs and ways of life. I decided that for this paper, it would be interesting to look at how the ideas of mythology, luck and fate pertain to the culture of the Chinese and Native Americans in these two books. I would also like to look at how Asian Americans and Native Americans assimilate and change their cultural beliefs and practices into the larger "culture" of the United States.
Morishima, James, K. "The Evacuation: Impact on the Family." Asian- Americans Psychological Perspectives. Ed. Stanley Sue, Ph.D., Nathaniel N. Wagner, Ph.D. California: Science and Behavior Books, Inc., 1973. 13- 19.
In the Hawaiian culture, “Ohana” is a significant phrase referring to the bondage of family. There are many heritages across the world that have their own way of communicating that affection and showing their love to their own heritage. Hispanic heritage, for example, have the delicious food while other cultures have different focuses. Through heritage, communities find their niches in society to form an American Heritage. Though heritage exists through communities sharing a common culture, heritage definitely coincides with family and reigning stability within their niche. In the poem “Heritage” by Linda Hogan and the image “Mother Daughter Posing as Ourselves” by Elaine O’Neil, showing affection is one of the most prominent ways to communicate
“Dousika was a nobleman…the father of ten legitimate sons, ruling as patriarch over five families, his own and those of his younger brothers. His compound reflected his standing in Segu society” (Conde 42). In Maryse Conde’s, Segu, it is apparent that family is one of the most significant and outstanding themes in the tale. Through main characters like, Nya and Dousika, Conde does a great job of depicting the entirety of the family matters. Without establishing the implication of family there would not have been an authentic foundation to institute the latter controversies. The next theme of no lesser importance would have to be religion. “This new god, this Allah…was invincible. He would be like a sword. In his name the earth would run with blood, fire would crackle through the fields. Peaceful nations would take up arms” (42). In this tale religion also brings about one of the biggest issues. With both themes of family and the takes on religion represented by Dousika’s sons; one understands the obstruction and hardships that came about the Bambara capital of the Segu Kingdom.
Xu, Ben. "Memory And The Ethnic Self: Reading Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club." Melus 19.1 (1994): 3. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 July 2014.
Charles Chesnutt was an African American author who was born on June 20, 1850. Chesnutt was well known for his short stories about the issues of social and racial identity in post- reconstruction south. Chesnutt’s well-known example of his collection of short stories “The Wife of his Youth: And other Stories of the Color Line” examines issues of discrimination that permeate within the African American community. His most anthologized short story “The Wife of his Youth” explores the issue racial passing. The character Mr. Ryder attempts to assimilate into the white majority in a post- reconstruction American society. Mr. Ryder’s hopes to assimilate becomes an obsession. His opportunity for assimilation arrives through a widow name of Mrs. Molly Dixon,
Oftentimes the children of immigrants to the United States lose the sense of cultural background in which their parents had tried so desperately to instill within them. According to Walter Shear, “It is an unseen terror that runs through both the distinct social spectrum experienced by the mothers in China and the lack of such social definition in the daughters’ lives.” This “unseen terror” is portrayed in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club as four Chinese women and their American-born daughters struggle to understand one another’s culture and values. The second-generation women in The Joy Luck Club prove to lose their sense of Chinese values, becoming Americanized.
Change is one of the tallest hurdles we all must face growing up. We all must watch our relatives die or grow old, our pets do the same, change school or employment, and take responsibility for our own lives one way or another. Change is what shapes our personalities, it molds us as we journey through life, for some people, change is what breaks us. Watching everything you once knew as your reality wither away into nothing but memory and photographs is tough, and the most difficult part is continuing on with your life. In the novel Ceremony, author Leslie Silko explores how change impacted the entirety of Native American people, and the continual battle to keep up with an evolving world while still holding onto their past. Through Silko’s
THOSE OF US WHO grew up in the 1950s got an image of the American family that was not, shall we say, accurate. We were told, Father Knows Best, Leave It to Beaver, and Ozzie and Harriet were not just the way things were supposed to be—but the way things were
Throughout the year, many members of the family get caught up in the everyday routine of life, whether it is school, work or personal issues. It is as if nobody takes a minute to breathe and reflect on their lives. Luckily, this once-a-year family gathering is nice event to humble all who come and bring everyone back together, not only physically but emotionally as well. Being the second youngest in the family, it has been difficult to see all of my older relatives branch off from the family for inescapable reasons such as: going off to college or getting a job in another city or state. Although this is hard to see, it is refreshing to be able to have a period of time where we can all catch up and talk to one another before the responsibilities of real life catch up with us again. For example, every year I talk to Ryan, one of my many cousins, and discuss school and life. Ryan is a year younger than me, which makes him the youngest in the family, and we used to be extremely close when we were younger. Nothing drastic happened for us to step being so close as people may think, but the responsibility of school became more prominent as we had gotten older. This instance of Ryan and I growing apart because of inevitable reasons is a prime example of why having such a tradition is necessary and somewhat
The union of my parents stands at 37 years. My parents migrated to The United States to better themselves and their families. Their struggle to obtain the “American Dream” instilled family values, and showed my siblings and myself a direct link to education and work. During my childhood, my mother was the first woman to show me what tenacious means. She stood front and center to save her family from becoming victims of society. In order to move her family out of the ghetto, she worked three ...