In Becoming American, the Hang Sou , Herr, and Cha clans underwent tremendous turmoil in leaving Thailand and coming to America. They knew that there was no future for their families in Thailand and escaped the hardship and turmoil to take on the risk of reestablishing their family. They also had to overcome numerous barriers to begin the process of moving to America which lead to many difficult emotions and feelings that the family had to go through. When the family first left to America on the bus, they were essentially leaving behind a way of life that they had known forever, to enter the unknown. Families just wanted to touch and be with the other clan members because they didn’t know when or if they would see them again. I believe the …show more content…
line that was used was “let’s just hold hands because we may never be a family again”. What fear and sadness that the family must endure when leaving their homeland and coming to America. I feel sad when I leave my parents and family to come back to school, but their experience is so much more. Amazingly, all of their possessions fit into five tiny suitcases, which even surprised the security agent at the airport. They will start from basically nothing, and hopefully establish themselves in their new way of life. That must be a very scary feeling having little to start with knowing that when they get to America they will have to begin quickly for survival. Once they arrived to America their normal way of life was drastically changed.
No longer were they living in a cramped house with one room and dirt floors, but now had running water and modern appliances. I couldn’t imagine how a mother would feel trying to cook on a new foreign gas stove versus just using an open flame like back in her native land. Additionally, grocery shopping was new and foreign as was the American currency which made it extremely difficult to cook and provide food for the family. This was a completely new culture and way of life. Not speaking the native language in a country is always an issue because it makes it very difficult to interact with those around you and contribute to society. No employer wants to hire a person who can’t speak English, which made it extremely difficult to find a job even though many of them wanted to work. The families tried to take English as a second language classes, but the documentary stated it would be a few years until they were proficient enough to contribute to society. The difficulty to interact with others must have been frustrating, as it is a key part of fitting in the American culture. In America, they would have to find a new way of life, and get accustomed to Urban America. Each of these factors must have been on the minds of the family, and would have contributed to the sense of fear and wariness these people must have had in their new life in
America. Moving to a new home is never easy especially when it is halfway across the world The Hang Sou, Herr, and Cha clans had to overcome multiple barriers such as loss, language barriers, and a new culture and customs to embrace their new life in America. It wasn’t easy and they faced plenty of hardship and struggles, but ultimately it gave them the best opportunities for their children and for the future generations to grow and succeed.
While both Chaukamnoetkanok and his grandparents’ experiences were very similar, Chaukamnoetkanok points out that there are two main differences. First, the motivation for their immigration was drastically different. Chaukamnoetkanok states “Ar-kong migrated from China mainly for economic reasons. My parents’ main objective for migrating was the education of their children” (Foner 338). His parents left behind everything they had in Thailand and started a new life from the ground up in the United States for the sake of their children. His grandparents, on the other hand, could not provide their own children with a decent education
In their pursuit of assimilating and calling the US home, they had forged a new identity of Hmong Americans. (Yang, 203) Being Hmong American meant striving to move up the economic ladder and determining one’s own future. They understood that for them to realize their American dream and their “possibilities”, it could only be done so through “school”. (Yang, 139) Yang realized her dream by attaining a Master’s of Fine Arts from Columbia University and publishing books about the Hmong story.
For Foua, a Hmong mother, the United States was a complete opposite to the life she was use to living and right now preparing this wedding shows the skills that she possess even if they are not very relevant in her new home, “‘I [Foua] am very stupid.’ When I [Anne] asked her why, she said, “Because I don’t know anything here. I don’t know your language. American is so hard, you can watch TV all day ad you still don’t know it” (Fadiman 103). This wedding bought Foua and Anne close in a different way, it created a new level of understanding and appreciation. Anne is starting to discover what it is like to be from another country where the language is different, the clothes are different, the entire way the people live is different. Basically, the world has been flipped upside down and the people need to find their new source of living. It is never easy to pick up a perfectly settled life and suddenly decide that moving and changing it all around is exactly what we need to do. But that was not the case of Foua, her family was forced to move to the United States. This would have made it even harder to adjust. Everything is suddenly thrown at Foua and there is no looking back only forward and the forward might be a lot more difficult. This is why this wedding is like a dream to Foua, it combines her old life with her new life. Although, the skill of creating a Hmong wedding might not be useful in the United States they still create a lot of joy and this joy can lead people to understand one another in a new found way. A new joy that was found in the new life of the bride and groom, but also there was the connection between two cultures. There was a greater understanding and
America was not everything the mothers had expected for their daughters. The mothers always wanted to give their daughters the feather to tell of their hardships, but they never could. They wanted to wait until the day that they could speak perfect American English. However, they never learned to speak their language, which prevented them from communicating with their daughters. All the mothers in The Joy Luck Club had so much hope for their daughters in America, but instead their lives ended up mirroring their mother’s life in China. All the relationships had many hardships because of miscommunication from their different cultures. As they grew older the children realized that their ...
As a result, their lives changed, for better or for worse. They were inexperienced, and therefore made many mistakes, which made their life in Chicago very worrisome. However, their ideology and strong belief in determination and hard work kept them alive. In a land swarming with predators, this family of delicate prey found their place and made the best of it, despite the fact that America, a somewhat disarranged and hazardous jungle, was not the wholesome promise-land they had predicted it to be.
When I turned to look, I was excitedly greeted by my relatives and their big signs that read: “Welcome to Korea!” What happened next was a flash of tears, hugs, and kisses. I had seen my parents emotional before, but not to this extent. This made me wonder how much my mother truly missed her family when she parted from them to move to America. It also made me consider how her relationship with her family strengthened her identity as an Asian-American.
After the fall of the Saigon in 1975, Heidi’s mother- Mrs. Mai Thi Kim decided to send her to America as fearing for her uncertain future in Vietnam. Twenty two years later years, Heidi eventually found her Vietnamese mother. However, as she was raised in the States, Heidi is now "101%" American and has little knowledge of her Vietnamese heritage. Undoubtedly, this reality reveals potentials for cultural collision.
Reading through this story reveals satisfaction as pertains to justification of the theme of reunion and family for the Asian-American culture. The role of flashback cannot be disputed as it helps in building the story to reach the climax at the end, which sums up the story. In this regard it is worth concluding that this story allows us to see the importance of family and being reunited with your roots.
As I grew older, between the transition of a child to a teenager, I learned more about my family, its culture and background, and even some back story about how they came to the United States to the first place. Back at home, my parents are certainly not home for long and everyday we weren't
The United States and its people take great pride in knowing that the U.S. is the greatest nation in the world. That is why it’s our duty to father the rest of the world when conflicts arise. American culture and ideals are also thought to take precedents over all other cultures and ideals. In the book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall down, written by Anne Fadiman, there are many great examples of how American culture is imposed on the people residing with in its enclosed boundaries. The U.S. going to war in Vietnam is also a great example of how the U.S. tried to impose American values on the “less fortunate.” Through understanding America’s so called “duty” in Vietnam one can interpret the intervention of American idealism in the life of a Hmong family.
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.
Nguyen was still staying in Vietnam, his yearning for a stable, comfortable and peaceful life in the United States was reflected by his longing for delicious food in the United States. Because he is one of the victims of the Vietnam War, which “took away more than two million lives, in which many of them were civilians, three million were wounded, and hundreds of thousands of children were left orphans.” (Rohn 1) Also, the Vietnamese society was totally in turmoil since the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Numerous Vietnamese had become refugees and lots of them were trying to escape from Vietnam to the United States. According to statistic, “Since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the Vietnamese immigrant population in the United States has risen significantly, increasing from about 231,000 in 1980 to nearly 1.3 million in 2012, making it the sixth largest foreign-born population in the United States.” (Rkasnuam and Batalova 1) Mr. Nguyen was also one of those Vietnamese who could no longer endure living in Vietnam. Therefore, when Mr. Nguyen’s cousin Eddies sent a photo of his American life to him, he expressed his aspiration of moving to the United States by describing how the Peking duck, steamed fish, fried rice with shrimp aroused his appetite. Mr. Nguyen and his family imagine a picture that they are still staying with each other and are tasting the foods happily. (Lam 83) Standing in Mr. Nguyen’s shoes, food implied his American dream and his attitude towards food reflected his expectation of living in the United
Descending from minority-driven ancestries, it’s hard to truly call myself an American, ethnically at least. Scratch that. I’m going to dispel the notion that being an American is a way of describing someone. No one is truly American, not even natural born citizens. We are all descendants of either Natives, Africans, Asians, or Europeans, and even those ethnic groups were derived from even earlier ancestors. The point is: the suggestion that an American identity exists, is a myth. Granted, people who live within the borders of the United States do share certain customs that are unique to them, but for the most part, what we identify as American would be better labeled as Nativasiofrindiapean. The foods we eat, the music we drown
First, if the media allowed for Americans to see more international news, I believe that the world would be different. America would appreciate that other countries make us a great country. When looking at Figure.3, I thought it would be great to know that America owes foreigners about $4.5 trillion in debt. This would let Americans know that we are not making this nation a better place by ourselves. This would probably make Americans get off their butts and try to build something that is American, rather than always buying from foreign and making them work for our needs.
American Culture, two different words that have different meaning. When put together this word can say so much about one country. American culture is what make America great, but for many people that don't live in the United States may have different interpretation for it. For those that do live in the U.S. they would say American Culture stand for democracy, freedom, religion, sports, and entertainment.