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Cultural difficulties faced by immigrants
Cultural difficulties faced by immigrants
Cultural difficulties faced by immigrants
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Being an immigrant with a cultural identity crisis is never an easy task. Adjusting to a new country or even a new continent can be rough for the even the toughest of people. Sarfraz Manzoor was only two years old when he immigrated to Britain in 1974. In the memoir Greetings from Bury Park by Sarfraz Manzoor, Manzoor, now inheriting the British nationality along with his Muslim ethnicity, struggles in his lifestyle with fitting in with his new country. The Pakistani hero is in a time of consistent trials as he discovers his true identity. When he faces these trials and tribulations, he explores new experiences that reflect on his character. When he was sixteen, he was introduced to Bruce Springsteen's music that changes his outlook on life. Throughout the memoir, the readers follow Manzoor's footsteps and sympathize with him as he journeys to find his place in the world. Manzoor is in constant struggle to find whether he should be considered Muslim or British. In the end of the memoir, we can see that Manzoor, with an obvious help from Bruce Springsteen's music and his constant trips to America, finds the identity that he wants to be considered.
When Manzoor first arrives in Britain, it is obvious that he was unsure whether or not he wanted to be considered Muslim or British. When his best friend introduces the music of Bruce Springsteen, Manzoor was unwilling to connect with it. However, Manzoor discovers that Springsteen's music was exactly how Manzoor was feeling. He understands Springsteen's connotations in his songs as he completely relates to him as well. At first, he believed that no one felt the same way as he did regarding his identity issue. He finally found someone that connected to him with his exact problem. After...
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...g from home to home just to see where he would be most happy. Although Manzoor finds where he truly belongs, it was the journey that set him up for it. Manzoor, although had taken three decades, discovers that "every opportunity, every job and every chance to pursue my dreams has been offered by this country, not by America, and not by Pakistan... I was born in Pakistan buy made in England; it is Britain which is my land of hope and dream" (269). Manzoor discovers that although you can be born in a place, it is where you are raised that makes you who you are. Instead of America, the land of opportunity, he finds that Britain is his land of opportunity and dreams. Manzoor finally finds that traveling to America and listening to Springsteen's music has set up his path, although strenuous, enables him to find that his true identity is where you are raised and not born.
Perhaps one of the biggest issues foreigners will come upon is to maintain a strong identity within the temptations and traditions from other cultures. Novelist Frank Delaney’s image of the search for identity is one of the best, quoting that one must “understand and reconnect with our stories, the stories of the ancestors . . . to build our identities”. For one, to maintain a firm identity, elderly characters often implement Chinese traditions to avoid younger generations veering toward different traditions, such as the Western culture. As well, the Chinese-Canadians of the novel sustain a superior identity because of their own cultural village in Vancouver, known as Chinatown, to implement firm beliefs, heritage, and pride. Thus in Wayson Choy’s, The Jade Peony, the novel discusses the challenge for different characters to maintain a firm and sole identity in the midst of a new environment with different temptations and influences. Ultimately, the characters of this novel rely upon different influences to form an identity, one of which being a strong and wide elderly personal
In Conclusion, the book Home of the Brave reflects Kek’s simple way of learning and adapting to a new language, culture, and experiences. From the content above, it is proven that Kek is lost between his identities and wants to be American in the same time. This is a very sensitive narration that covers most of the issues faced by new migrants from developing countries; from misinterpretation of appliances, to the hardships to learn English, and finally, racism.
There has been many discussions about how people try to fit in society, whether it is for music, interests in subjects, or even trying to fit in a specific culture. Groups and individuals seems to have a distinction among each other when it comes down to fitting in society and how they differ and have tensions among each other to conform to social norms. In “Making Conversation” and “The Primacy of Practice” by Kwame Anthony Appiah discusses how all cultures have similarities and differences but sometimes those differences are so different that they can not connect to another nation. Manuel Munoz in “Leave Your Name at the Border” argues how immigrants in a city are forced to act more societal and how it typically affects the diversity in
McGuire, Danielle L. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. New York, New York: Vintage Books. 2011.
Julian, one of the main characters of the story, struggles with his identity tremendously. He viewed himself as an upright scholar that graduated from college and was not racist in any way. “True culture is in the mind, the mind, the mind…” (O’Connor, 1965). Julian believed that if he could make nice with and/or become friends with African-American people that he was not racist. On the contrary, he did not have any friends of the African-American descent nor could he engage in a meaningful conversation with an African-American person. O’Connor sets a p...
In his story “Village 113” Anthony Doerr argues that pain is inevitable over time. A couple of examples that over time pain becomes inevitable are: Teacher Ke and the relationship between Li Qing and the seed keeper. Teacher Ke notices what is becoming of their village by noting: “They spread a truckload of soil in the desert and call it farmland? They take our river and give us bus tickets” (126)? Teacher Ke has a background with “the winter of weeds” where he only could eat weeds for sustenance for that winter (126). Doerr implies that with the culmination of their “world” being destroyed becomes a reality; desperate measures need to be taken to sanctify relations and belongings. As the construction of the dam continues, there is a sense of painful emotion to the fact that they are making villages migrate out of their homes and into the city where they are thrown with the little money they are given for their land. From the accounts of teacher Ke,
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 a party guest stereotypes Invisible Man and asks him to sing a “spiritual” he disrespects and de-legitimizes the artistry and cultural heritage of African-Americans. This points to a larger issue in the novel of how one utilizes one’s heritage for identity purposes and how the de-legitimizing of vernacular forms of expression through stereotyping can alienate one’s self from its own history and
The narrator of The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man decided not to fight for racial equality in America for his fellow African-American, or even for himself, but rather conformed with the white majority thus selecting the uncomplicated path: the path that would lead him to security and safety in the years to come. After struggling with his identity in the white and African-American community as a “colored” man who could pass as white, he decided to discard his “colored” roots and stick with his white origin. By doing such a thing, he was able to live a simple, respectful, and safe life, but he abandoned a very significant part of his identity. He felt slight remorse towards the end of the novel, but self-interest held more importance to him than embracing the cultural heritage of the African-American community.
In the opening paragraph of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, the protagonist introduces readers to what he means when he refers to himself as invisible: the protagonist is seen only for the color of his skin, and thus, grouped into an African-American general populace. In grouping the protagonist, whites not only refuse to see him but also forbid him from possessing an individual identity. Using Ellison’s prologue to Invisible Man, Louis Armstrong’s “Black and Blue” (referenced in the prologue), and additional intertextual allusions, this essay argues that jazz music enables Ellison’s protagonist to separate himself from the African-American general populace and retain his individuality; jazz music shows him that he already accepts his invisibility, and that he listens differently to the lyrics than others. The wider implication being made is that, by listening to jazz music, an invisible man is compelled to act. He learns to take advantage of his invisibility so as to undermine the culture that oppresses him and be seen.
...orgettable. Research shows that “There’s this unifying force that comes from the music and we don’t get that from other things.”(Landau) Bruce Springsteen is a great storyteller and has captured some of the experiences of the American working class. Even when the lyrics are dark or the subject matter is depressing, he manages to provide hope, too. For as long as I can remember, my mother has been playing Springsteen’s music. When I hear a song of his now, it reminds me of driving down the road with the windows down belting out a song with my mom. As Dave Marsh from Creem Magazine prophetically wrote in 1975, “Springsteen’s music is often strange because is has an almost traditional sense of beauty, an inkling of the awe you can feel when, say, first falling in love or finally discovering that the magic in the music is also in you.” (Bruce Springsteen Biography 2)
Jhumpa Lahiri, the brilliant author of The Namesake, made a significant point about second-generation immigrants having dual-identities in America. In terms of dual-identity in The Namesake, a person is encountered with choosing between cultures, lifestyles, and decisions. Gogol Ganguli, a protagonist, faces the problem of dual-identity throughout the book. Furthermore, he was faced with the idea of becoming either a true American or Bengali. Gogol’s problematic dual-identity journey started from the day that he was born till the day he found a true balance between his dual-identity.
I do not consider myself Paki-American. I am too "Americanized" to be Pakistani. (although by birthright, I am American), and I am not quite up to par with the American way of life. So what does all this have to do with my culture, what does a label really matter to cultural identity? It matters much. I believe that this seemingly trivial confusion over labels reveals the even greater confusion that surrounds my cultural identity: Am I a bridge between these two multifaceted cultures, or have I become a mosaic displaying colors from here and there, and elsewhere too? Perhaps both, and I could be a colorful bridge, or perhaps neither. Whatever the case, I cannot seem to separate these absolutely disparate realities within me. Their forces are still clashing, coming together within me, creating a wonderful confusion out of me. I believe that to truly analyze my culture, the roots of this confusion must be explored. In the span of this essay, I must try to encompass the widths of two worlds, their unique interactions within me... which I hope constitute what is called culture.
In Ta-Nehasi Coates’s “Letter to my Son”, Coates addresses the overwhelming inequalities between African American culture and Caucasian culture in America. The state of diversity and equity in society is grim for a period of time. Every race constitutes individuals. The more close-mindedness is perpetuated, the more likely the majority of society will fall back into racist tendencies and acceptance of ethnic presumptions. Coates knows the hardship black population endured that white population will never understand. Coates subvert conventional discourse about the idea of supremacy by indicating intellectual delegitimacy; white people are smarter and degeneralizing bodies; to unlock the painful truths of America. Giving it a deeper connotation to depict those who is
Ethnicity is made up of many factors and can be seen through various viewpoints. To cut someone’s identity into specifics can be a difficult task depending on what is being looked at and by whom. Nagel sees this when she writes, “As audience change, the socially-defined array of ethnics choices open to the individual changes. This produces a ‘layering’ (Mcbeth 1989) of ethnic identities which combines with the ascriptive character of ethnicity to reveal the negotiated, problematic nature of ethnic identity. (240)” In this she says that one’s ethnicity can be changed or formatted to fit into a bigger field, varying by who is looking into it. Mohr also sees how different perspectives can play as a factor, when talking about immigrants in the United States. Mohr uses the character if Aldo Fabrizi to demonstrate this, Fabrizi calls out William and says, “What do you think of your paisano. He don’t wanna...