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“Two Ways to Belong in America” is an essay written by an immigrant author Bharati Mukherjee based on her and her immigrant sister’s life in America. The essay is a direct response to congress and their decision to take away government benefits from resident immigrants. Bharati’s targeted audience are the public who are affected by the government decision and those who are willing to fight against the Congress. The essay revolves around two immigrant’s life choices: Bharati and Mira (author’s sister). With hope of better future, life and education both sisters moved to America in early 1960’s. With plans to move back to India and settle down with the men picked by their father, the story unfolds as their plan fails and they marry their college love. While both the sister come from same heritage and religion the, difference in ideology separates their view towards immigration rules in America. Bharati marries a Canadian man while her Mira continuing her Indian heritage marries an Indian man. …show more content…
Marrying a Canadian man, Bharati, she receives her Green Card and seeks for the benefit of American residence while working and living in America.
Her sister is less interested in American life style and continues her Indian heritage. As an immigrant myself, I agree with her adaption with the western culture and her fight for the benefits of an American. Labeled as the “Land of Opportunities” people immigrate to America with hopes of new dream, new life, and a possible bright future for themselves and their family. Change is necessity with the change of time and place. Bharati’s argument on the essay is based on the changes one needs to adapt with time and situation. She compares her life with her sister and lets the feeling flow through their personal life. While Mira feels “used” by American government clinging on to her Indian citizenship, her sister Bharati feels loved and cherish all the opportunities that America has to
provide. Both the sisters serve and provide equally to the American government and Bharati’s fight against the Congress justifies the means. An American Immigrants pays equal federal taxes, Medicare and Social Security taxes and should be awarded the same benefits as born American. It is an individual choice to be an American or “just” an immigrant. One cannot demand the benefit of American government if one declines to be an American. As her sister picked her Indian heritage and home citizenship, she cannot be ‘mad’ if she not awarded the same benefits. In the other hand, Bharati deserves her benefits so as all the other legal immigrants who are Americans.
The story is about two sister who currently lives in America. It has to deal with moving to the United States in the 1960’s. Both sisters moved to the United States in hope to pursue their dreams and to achieve they goals with college and further education. Both having similarities in appearance and religious values. Both Bharati and her sister Mira had planned to move back to their homeland India after their education. This story relates to our point of culture having a major impact on how people judge each other because it has a huge impact on how people view the world differently because, in this example, I feel manipulated and discarded. This is such an unfair way to treat a person who was invited to stay and work here because of her talent” it is basically stating on how even immigrants (like the sisters themselves) who have come into the U.S., are sometimes given fewer benefits and rights than everyone else and that they feel discluded from being able to express themselves if they wanted to, or to have good thoughts that America is as good as people has said it was, with all this freedom. The last example is, I feel some kind of irrational attachment to India that I don’t to America. Until all this hysteria against immigrants, I was totally happy.” This demonstrates that it isn’t the country itself that makes people unsafe or unsure, it’s the people running it who try to put limitations
In the short story “America and I” by Anzia Yezierska, the author talks about a girl who came to America looking for the “American dream” and also trying to escape from Russia, which she calls prison. This nameless girl feels “beaten out of [her heart],” suffocated in Russia, like she couldn’t get out of her impoverished lifestyle there. She tried to adjust to living in America because she’s from a different culture and environment and she asks many questions to help herself out but then she realizes that she is not an American and never will be. She ends up working with a Russian family as a servant. Then, later on she worked in a sweatshop and got fired. She had low thoughts about
The government of the United States of America is very unique. While many Americans complain about high taxes and Big Brother keeping too close an eye, the truth is that American government, compared to most foreign democracies, is very limited in power and scope. One area American government differs greatly from others is its scope of public policy. Americans desire limited public policy, a result of several components of American ideology, the most important being our desire for individuality and equal opportunity for all citizens. There are many possible explanations for the reason Americans think this way, including the personality of the immigrants who fled here, our physical isolation from other countries, and the diversity of the American population.
Anzia Yezierska is one of many immigrants that traveled to America in order to create a new living. Throughout her short story “America and I”, she immerses the reader with descriptive imagery and thoughtful detail as she tells of the challenges she personally faced. Perpetually conflicted and confused, Yezierska’s ever-evolving understanding of America changes the structure of narrative to fit her journey. Throughout the trials presented and an internal battle against an imagined and romanticized America, Yezierska finds her true America and the life she can build within it, which is reflected in her adjusted structure and tone.
Moving from the unpleasant life in the old country to America is a glorious moment for an immigrant family that is highlighted and told by many personal accounts over the course of history. Many people write about the long boat ride, seeing The Statue of Liberty and the “golden” lined streets of New York City and how it brought them hope and comfort that they too could be successful in American and make it their home. Few authors tend to highlight the social and political developments that they encountered in the new world and how it affected people’s identity and the community that they lived in. Authors from the literature that we read in class highlight these developments in the world around them, more particularly the struggles of assimilating
Throughout his villanelle, “Saturday at the Border,” Hayden Carruth continuously mentions the “death-knell” (Carruth 3) to reveal his aged narrator’s anticipation of his upcoming death. The poem written in conversation with Carruth’s villanelle, “Monday at the River,” assures the narrator that despite his age, he still possesses the expertise to write a well structured poem. Additionally, the poem offers Carruth’s narrator a different attitude with which to approach his writing, as well as his death, to alleviate his feelings of distress and encourage him to write with confidence.
In her short stories, Lahiri presents the condition as a ramification of the degree to which characters adapt to society (Bhardwaj 12-13). This is to say that immigrants experience this crisis differently, depending on how much they have integrated into their new surroundings. Mrs. Sen cannot seem adapt to American culture as she continues to embrace her Indian upbringing. Her traditions cannot be fulfilled at her house or in her community as she yearns to return to India. However, she realizes that she should try to adjust and becomes a babysitter for a short while until she gets into a car accident. Because Sen barely accepts her environment, her challenge is embracing Western
Immigrants arriving in America for their first time are initially devastated at their new lives and realize their “golden lives” were simply fantasies and dreams of an ideal life in America. Immigrants from foreign countries, including those mentioned in Uchida’s Picture Bride, faced countless problems and hardships, including a sense of disillusionment and disappointment. Furthermore, immigrants and picture brides faced racial discrimination not only from white men, but the United States government, as well. Immigrants were plagued with economic hardships lived in deplorable living conditions. Though nearly every immigrant and picture bride who came to America fantasized about an ideal life, they were faced with countless hardships and challenges before becoming accepted American citizens.
In “My Two Lives”, Jhumpa Lahiri tells of her complicated upbringing in Rhode Island with her Calcutta born-and-raised parents, in which she continually sought a balance between both her Indian and American sides. She explains how she differs from her parents due to immigration, the existent connections to India, and her development as a writer of Indian-American stories. “The Freedom of the Inbetween” written by Sally Dalton-Brown explores the state of limbo, or “being between cultures”, which can make second-generation immigrants feel liberated, or vice versa, trapped within the two (333). This work also discusses how Lahiri writes about her life experiences through her own characters in her books. Charles Hirschman’s “Immigration and the American Century” states that immigrants are shaped by the combination of an adaptation to American...
The average person wants one thing more than anything else, and that thing is to belong. Usha, a young girl from Calcutta, is no different. Already trying the find her place in the world, Usha must now assimilate into cultural society within the United States. Usha’s uncle, Pranab Kaku, came from Calcutta as well having first come to America, his experiences start off worse than Usha’s, which causes him to join the family in an act of social grouping. With the Old World trying to pull them back and the New World just out of reach, both must overcome tradition and develop their own personal values.
Mukherjee begins her essay with an exposition of her and her sister’s story. She uses repetition in order to emphasize the main differences between the two. For example, she states, “I am an American citizen and she is not. I am moved that thousands of residents are finally taking the oath of citizenship. She is not.” This line is used to set up her subject. She is stating that she is an immigrant whose dream was to envelop the American culture, while her sister does not believe that she should be assimilated into it. The use of repetition also appeals to her audience, Americans, by capturing their attention. Many Americans are nationalistic, if not jingoistic, and believe that America is the greatest country in the world. The notion that others do not feel this way may intrigue them, or potentially offend them, causing them to read on in attempt to find flaws within her argument.
“The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden, is a commentary on government and the materialism of modern man. The poem is written in the form of an obituary inscribed on a monument built by the government in commemoration of an average, upstanding, and decent community member. Throughout the passage, the speaker lists facts about the citizen’s life which he believes prove that the deceased was a valuable person. In actuality these facts represent nothing more than the socially accepted values and actions instilled in society by materialistic views. This makes the government appear unconcerned with the true thoughts and feelings of its people, seeing them only as statistics. We can see this in the subtitle “To JS/07/M/378 This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State”. The citizen is being referred to by a number rather than a name.
The Quiet American is written by Graham Greene. This novel is about the conflict between Alden Pyle and Thomas Fowler. The novel’s events have already taken place and Fowler is the narrator of the story. Thomas Fowler, a man in his fifties, is a British journalist who has been covering the events taking place in the French War in Vietnam for over two years. He chooses to remain neutral between the sides of the battles he covers. He meets Alden Pyle, a young American who is well educated and secretly works in a secret agent service. Pyle has read numerous books written by a scholar named York Harding, who believes that a “Third Force” is needed in Vietnam, which is neither communism nor colonialism. Pyle is opposite of Fowler because Pyle is a believer of the “Third Force” and also, Pyle is naïve. Pyle fails to recognize the consequences of a majority of his actions. The conflict between these two not only involve their opposing beliefs but it also comes from their relationship with Phuong, Fowler’s live-in lover. Pyle and Fowler meet at a hotel called the Continental, which is where Pyle also meets Phuong. Pyle is captivated by Phuong and has the chance to dance with her. While Fowler is covering a battle for his journalism of the war, Pyle goes to tell him immediately that he has been in love with Phuong ever since he met her and that he wants to marry her. Fowler is annoyed by Pyle’s confidence that Phuong will leave him for Pyle. In an incident at a guard tower, Pyle saves Fowler’s life after he breaks his leg as they attempt to escape from soldiers. After hearing rumors about Pyle, Fowler starts to investigate Pyle’s actions and finds out that he is importing military supplies from the United States into Vietnam. Later, while ...
The author writes about the migration of Americans to India. The Americans in the second half of the past century "began streaming into" India. These American immigrants settled in towns and villages of India and adopted the Indian language and life style completely. Their basic aim was to work for charity. Some of these Americans returned back and some married the native girls, stayed and got connected with India. They became part of
Bharati Mukherjee’s story, “Two Ways to Belong in America”, is about two sisters from India who later came to America in search of different ambitions. Growing up they were very similar in their looks and their beliefs, but they have contrasting views on immigration and citizenship. Both girls had been living in the United States for 35 years and only one sister had her citizenship. Bharati decided not to follow Indian traditional values and she married outside of her culture. She had no desire to continue worshipping her culture from her childhood, so she became a United States citizen. Her ideal life goal was to stay in America and transform her life. Mira, on the other hand, married an Indian student and they both earned labor certifications that was crucial for a green card. She wanted to move back to India after retirement because that is where her heart belonged. The author’s tone fluctuates throughout the story. At the beginning of the story her tone is pitiful but then it becomes sympathizing and understanding. She makes it known that she highly disagrees with her sister’s viewpoints but she is still considerate and explains her sister’s thought process. While comparing the two perspectives, the author uses many