“Once you are an immigrant, you never forget you are one,” by Jorge Ramos. In Yezierska’s short story “America and I” the tone of the short story evolves as the narrator describes her experiences of being an immigrant in American. She came to america to achieve what was the “American Dream” only to have many disappointments coming her way. The struggles of not being accepted as an American, low wages, and hard labor. The many obstacles weighed down on her but she still remained ambitous through it all. As Yezierska and immigrants across the world have viewed America as the land of opportunity, setting the tone with much excitement and hope. The narrator tells us on page 16 “America was a land of hope, woven of dreams, aflame with longing and …show more content…
desire. Choked for ages in the airless oppression of Russia,” Yezierska came from a place she wanted to get away from maybe chase her dreams, live a better life or simply for freedom just like many immigrants. She says, “Sunlight burning through my darkness—sunlight freedom singing to me in my prison,” the opportunity America could give her,was definitely eye opening for her setting a optimistic tone. Yezierska describes the work expected of her back in Russia, and what she is expecting the work america will provide “Here I was to be free from the dead drudgery for bread that held me down in Russia.
I’d be a creator, a giver, a human being!” She was expecting to find good but instead she was completely used and treated as if she was disgraceful. Her struggle beginning with not speaking english in America, which pretty much made someone useless because communication would be hard. The narrator says, “Here I was with so much richness in me, but my mind was not wanted without language.” The tone shifted as Yezierska is now desperate for wages with her first job in america, being a servant. She put her all into her work thinking that it would pay off, but when she thought it was time for her to receive her wages she was disappointed. Yezierska felt not having her own money made her seem like she didn’t have any freedom. On page 18 she says, “Like a prisoner in his last night in prison, counting the seconds that will free from his chains.” Although she felt like she should have been paid, the family she worked for felt opposite. Her hard work was overlooked and she was not given any recognition. The narrator felt heartbroken and hopeless as she describes on page 19 “I was choked no words came to my lips. Even the tears went dry in my …show more content…
mouth.” Yezierska was off to new work for very little wages in a sweatshop.
Sometimes immigrants fall into a cycle where their work ethic doesn’t equal the wages they receive. She was very poor living in a tenement and living on small meals. Yezierska explains on page 20, She had found work in american but not the type work she wanted, she came to america with the determination to find “Something cried dumb in me. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t know what it was I wanted. I only knew I wanted. I wanted. Like the hunger in the heart that never gets food.” The attitude she now had was ambition and determination to
succeed. She was depressed after what she thought america was offering seemed extremely hard to find. The narrator tone changed to anger and indigent for help. Her perspective of america being the golden land change the narrator says “Reality had hit me on the head with a club” The narrator describes with much frustration “I feel like a man who is sitting down to a secret table of plenty, while his near ones and dear ones are perishing before his eyes. America only seems to be the land of opportunity for Americans but not for immigrants. Yezierska found out America's golden land was only a golden lie that came with no good from it. The many experiences Yezierska came across developed different tones in the story.The joy and excitement to get away from a place you once called home, to come to a land that seemed to be golden but wasn't. In some ways America may have been a little better but it simply wasn’t the dream that was displayed. The hype of it all only made immigrants come to experience it, but it was all too good to be true.
The United States of America is known as the land of opportunity and dreams. People dream of migrating to this nation for a chance of a better a life. This belief has been around for many years, ever since the birth of the United States; therefore it’s a factor in which motivate many people migrate to the United States. Upton Sinclair, author of the Jungle, narrates the life of a Lithuanian family and there struggles with work, crime, family loss, and survival in the city of Packingtown. Sinclair expresses her disgust as well as the unbelievable truth of life in the United States involving politics, corruption, and daily struggle that many suffered through in the 19th and 20th century.
Yezierska's work appears to reflect her own lifestyle. In fact, since the use of the first person narration many think that her work his autobiographical. Most of her works portray the Immigrant woman is in pursuit of the American dream (Drucker 1-3). Like the Characters in Yezierska's stories Bread Givers and "Soap and Water", Yezierska had the same goals and accomplishments and came from a similar background: going to college, becoming a teacher, working in the laundry business and being raised in poverty. Although the stories resemble Yezierska's life, they are not, according to her daughter, completely accountable. According to Henriksen's "A Writers Life", he claims Yezierska's daughter warns against the accuracy of her mother's writing. "Although most of her writing was autobiographical, she was inc...
The tone of the short story “America and I” changed dramatically over the course of the narrative. The author, Anzia Yezierska, started the story with a hopeful and anxious tone. She was so enthusiastic about arriving in America and finding her dream. Yezierska felt her “heart and soul pregnant with the unlived lives of generations clamouring for expression.” Her dream was to be free from the monotonous work for living that she experienced back in her homeland. As a first step, she started to work for an “Americanized” family. She was well welcomed by the family she was working for. They provided the shelter Yezierska need. She has her own bed and provided her with three meals a day, but after a month of working, she didn’t receive the wage she was so
Jose Antonio Vargas’s article on My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant is a writing about his childhood journey from the Philippines to the United States as an Undocumented Immigrant. Vargas writes this article to emphasize the topic of immigrant and undocumented immigrant in the United States. He uses all three appeals: pathos, ethos, and logic in his writing, in specific, he mostly uses pathos throughout of his entire article with a purpose for the reader to sympathize and to feel compassion for him. The use of these appeals attract many readers, they can feel and understand his purpose is to ask for others to join and support other people who undocumented immigrant like himself. In addition, it gives other undocumented immigrant people courage
America, a land with shimmering soil where golden dust flew and a days rain of money could last you through eternity. Come, You Will make it in America. That was the common theme of those who would remove to America. It is the common hymn, the classic American rags-to-riches myth, and writers such as Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass had successfully embraced it in their works.Franklin and Douglass are two writers who have quite symmetrical styles and imitative chronology of events in their life narratives.
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.
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.
When the class was first asked to think of a topic for our reflective paper, this scenario was one that I could vividly remember as if it had just occurred yesterday. After I read Jose Antonio Vargas’s “Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” and Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue”, I noticed a common theme across these two pieces that I could very much relate to. Jose Antonio Vargas’s mother reminded him to fit into the American way of living by saying “If anyone asked why I was coming to America, I should say I was
“You are in America, speak English.” As a young child hearing these words, it did not only confuse me but it also made me question my belonging in a foreign country. As a child I struggled with my self-image; Not being Hispanic enough because of my physical appearance and not being welcomed enough in the community I have tried so hard to integrate myself with. Being an immigrant with immigrant parents forces you to view life differently. It drives you to work harder or to change the status quo for the preconceived notion someone else created on a mass of people. Coming to America filled me with anxiety, excitement, and even an unexpected wave of fear.
Mary went from not even attending school in Russia, to star pupil in America, illustrating the promise that America had to offer immigrants. American afforded Mary with opportunities that were impossible in her home country of Russia. Even though Frieda also lived in America, her circumstances represent the realities of the Old World. For instance, Frieda’s only way of learning about American history was through Mary, as she was not afforded time to read while working. By not attending school, Frieda did not only became stuck in the Old World mentality in terms of education but also in terms of marriage. Her father “had put Frieda to work out of necessity. The necessity was hardly lifted when she had an offer of marriage, but my father would not stand in the way of what he considered her welfare” (Antin, 218). Frieda was not given the opportunity to marry for love, as was the American way, but was married out of necessity for her welfare, reminiscent of the Old World mentality. Public education provided Mary with the opportunity to marry not because she had to in order to survive, but because she wanted to. The stark contrast between the lives of Frieda, representing life in the
The first six lines show Voznesensky’s urgency and hurried pace with the way they appear on the page, as well as using two exclamation points. Voznesensky even writes, “I measure, explore, / discover, all out of breath…” In these first few, lines Voznesensky utilizes the American mood of always rushing around, to discover something new, in order to show his need to understand America, and therefore he shows the grasp he has on at least one aspect of the American spirit. In lines five and six he uses repition when he writes “In America, America,/ In myself, myself…” Here the speaker shows his need to find America and himself. By putting the “Americas” on the line above and lining them up to be...
In the story, the mother’s belief in this sentiment gave her hope for her daughter to become a prodigy. Therefore, the weight of the dream is left on the first-generation. The belief of endless possibilities is set upon first-generation Americans and Americans alike. From the beginning of the story, the daughter states that “America was where all my mother’s hopes lay” (491). The mother has the be...
“I am a first generation immigrant and a woman, but I don't really write about that because I feel like I'm a human being. There are universal human experiences.” (“Evelyn Rodriguez”). As a first generation woman myself, I can relate to the notion that I am more than my background. While there are universal experiences people go through, my cultural experience is something that sets me apart from others. I believe that it is essential for me to find the balance between assimilating into American culture while keeping my cultural identity.
Thus, here in the new land, they view as useful, not as in their home where they were viewed as useless. This tells us that to be an American is to look for one’s happiness. Here they have the opportunity to grow. In this new land, they learn to grow and become better than yesterday. As Crevecoeur states, “The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore, entertain new ideas, and form new opinions” (Crevecoeur 290).
It is through the events in the journey of life that shapes and molds who we are as people. As for me, immigrating to America was one of those milestones that have shaped who I am. Those who have had the opportunity of moving from a different country to America know what a privilege it is. I felt the same honor to know that I would be journeying to the land of opportunity. Without hesitance, I spent the last two months packing and making the final preparations before moving to a new continent. Although it was a bittersweet time, leaving my beloved family behind, I knew that I couldn’t resist the treasure that waited for me in the new land. Coming from a developing nation the high level of sophistication that greeted me on arrival to America made feel like I was in paradise.