Immigrants Moving To The New World

People look for change all the time. Sometimes it consists of finding a new job, a new home, a new school, or even a new style of appearance. It’s not always easy to make a change though. Finding a new job could mean cutting back on spending, and finding a new home means you leave back a town you knew by the back of your hand. Immigrants from all over had to find new homes as they travelled to their new land. They chose to leave behind their homes, family, and jobs to try and change their lives. Some immigrated because they had no choice for reasons of poverty and personal issues, and others were just hopping on the bandwagon of living in a new world. Moberg’s novels help today’s society notice the divide between the new world and the old world,

Home is a place where you can sleep, you can relax, and a place that feels secure. Sometimes, home is viewed as where you grew up as a child, or the first place you lived. Immigrants moving to a new country were leaving their homeland, but where they were travelling to, would that be “home”? Many immigrants, for example like Karl Oscar, their homeland was in the past and was forgotten, and the new land was their new home and that was what they always would push toward. Other situations, like Kristina, home would always be where you grew up. Before I read this book, I never really thought of what the word “home” meant for me. Home for me is the place I grew up most in. For me, that would be Lindstrom, even though I grew up in forest lake, I’ve spent the most time here and have made my best memories here in town. I think anyone who moves countries would agree that their homeland would be where they grew up. After reading, I realized why Karl Oscar felt as if home was America. Back then, they knew they would never go home, and they knew that they would never speak to someone they knew from Sweden again. Accepting that fact that Sweden was not in their life anymore, the accepted America as home. It was where they would forever stay, so why not make it as home feeling as possible. Karl Oscar did write back to Sweden many times, which shows he does miss it, and feels

If you have a past of crime and violence, people might not think very highly of you. If you have a past of helping others and volunteering, people might look up to you. In the novel, Ulrika is looked down upon because of her title as the town whore. Danjel is also looked down upon because of crime in religion and being exiled from the church. Karl Oscar is known for his big nose that is said to be lucky. All of these people are known for this in their small town in Sweden, but when they move to America, nobody even knows who they are. Ulrika mentions that she could even change her whole name and only her and her Swedish group would know. Before I read these novels, I always had my opinion that you can’t run away from your past, or your problems, as they will always catch up to you. I knew before reading that a lot of immigrants were stereotyped in their own country, much like in America. I knew that a lot of them were moving because of their past, such as being exiled, or being a town whore. In America, people can move to a new town, and become a whole different person if they’d like. In other countries, it might be harder to move 20 miles and become a different person as a whole. After reading, I realized that people can really hide from their past if they’d like. Ulrika for example, became married to a pastor, even after all her past of being the town whore. Danjel could join his religion again, or