“Two Ways to Belong in America” and “Kung Fu Crew” both articles explain, how racial or ethnic identity is a big part in which you are as a person in America today. As a person in America today with my parents being Latino I grew up with their cultural traditions, their family values and religion. It helps you identify who you are and it also provides you a belief system. No matter where you go in life you will always know that where you grew up at it will always feel like home. Bharati says in her article “I feel some kind of irrational attachment to India that I don’t to America.”(Mukherjee 195) Our parents show us almost everything we believe in when we are kids and it sticks to us for the rest of our lives. Latino’s spoke Spanish had their ways in raising a family. We celebrated all the holidays with the whole family and if you were not present you would be basically disowned. Every major holiday you would eat the same kind of traditional food. My parents always said if theirs not rice, beans and roasted pork we weren’t celebrating anything. Also when we all sat down to eat make sure you thank god for the food you was about to eat, if not someone will be yelling across the room maybe even get up and slap you for eating without thanking god. Where I grew up everyone knew my family because we were …show more content…
If either race would come around another race area they would know just by their appearance, their skin color, how they dressed and how they talked that they weren’t from that area. For instance in the article Kung Fu crew Henry points out ”there are the recent immigrants with uncombed hair and crooked teeth who sing karaoke in bars.”(Han Xi Lau 88) They knew if a kid had just came from another country just by their
Something that has always fascinated me is the confrontation with a completely different culture. We do not have to travel far to realize that people really lead different lives in other countries and that the saying "Home sweet home" often applies to most of us. What if we suddenly had to leave our homes and settle somewhere else, somewhere where other values and beliefs where common and where people spoke a different language? Would we still try to hang on to the 'old home' by speaking our mother tongue, practising our own religion and culture or would we give in to the new and exciting country and forget our past? And what would it be like for our children, and their children? In Identity Lessons - Contemporary Writing About Learning to Be American I found many different stories telling us what it is like to be "trapped" between two cultures. In this short essay I aim to show that belonging to two cultures can be very confusing.
They both think they deserve the blanket because Maggie wants the quilt to use everyday as a blanket and Dee wants the blanket to have up. Maggie has a bigger culture than Dee because Maggie will use it everyday and she will have it when her and her man get married. Wangero said, laughing that “Maggie’s brain is like an elephant’s” , well they mean she has a memory as and elephant. Dee said “Maggie can't appreciate these quilts.” Their mom thinks maggie deserves it. My mom would have said Maggie deserves it too because my mom would want to to use it everyday. Their culture and my culture sees the same. It’s the same and a lot of ways. Maggies mom made a promised and she kept it , exactly like my family would have. (Maggie 64) by now was standing in the door. I could almost hear the sound her feet made as they scraped over each other. As I see it is that we all see culture in the same way but just by different
Racial and ethnic identity are crucial elements in the framework for individual and communal identity in our society. Deep values through religion and family create a sense of racial and ethnic identity and are manifested in sensible ways for many distinct minority populations in the United States. Individuals with these beliefs have different cultural values that are undesirable in mainstream American society. For others, on the other hand, especially white Americans, ethnic and racial identity are virtually invisible because societal normality is usually constructed around their ethnic, racial and cultural values. We commonly refer to them as the “standard American culture.” In Native Speaker, the protagonist, Henry Park, is unable to define himself in American society. This essay will discuss Park’s cultural self and his path to discovering himself in relationship to his family, friends, and the United States, as well as drawing in personal experiences that relate to Park’s.
In America, there are many considerable companies created by immigrants during the height of immigration. During the early 1900s, the American Dream was in full swing and patriotism was found amongst most Americans. During this time, Americans had a sense of vivaciousness when talking about America and the economy. With the roaring 20s and significant economic growth in the 1910s, many non-natives flocked to America in search of a better life. However, as time went on and America’s economy started to adjust, the American Dream and patriotism of indigenous Americans also evolved. Bogged down with the aftermath of the Great Depression in the 1930s, second and third generation Americans fell out of love with America. Immigrants kept hope though,
In America, it is a common misconception that all foreigners are similar; it is believed that they all have similar dreams and each of them end up chasing after the same jobs. However, this is not the case. Not only do immigrants from different countries hold different dreams, but those with a shared background even have varying hopes and dreams for the future. This is evidenced in Bharati Mukherjee’s essay, “Two Ways to Belong in America.” She utilizes several rhetorical strategies in order to show that immigrants have the ability to be assimilated into the American culture, but that they should not be deported if they choose not to conform to said culture.
“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.
Immigrants were first welcomed in the late 1700s. European explorers like Walter Raleigh, Lord Baltimore, Roger William, William Penn, Francis Drake, John Smith, and others explored to the New World for religious purposes and industrial growth. The first European settlers that settled in the late 1700s were the Pilgrims. After the Pilgrims first settled in Virginia, the expansion of immigrants started. Then in 1860 to 1915, America was growing with its industries, technology, and education. America’s growing empire attracted many people from Europe. The factors that attracted many people to the American cities where job opportunities with higher income, better education, and factory production growth. As the population grew in the American
The customs they learned as kids have been passed on to me. We were always having barbeques in the backyard, Christmas parties, Easter egg hunting, having pan de los muertos on the Day of the Death, and celebrating Mexico’s Independence. Even though we celebrate Mexican holidays we would also celebrate American Holidays like 4th of July, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. Having to celebrate both cultures holidays was a pleasure, because it would give us time to see our family more. Also, we would be able to celebrate some holidays twice like mother's day because in Mexico it was always on the tenth of May and in America it was another
Being an American is more than just living in America, or being born in this country. Many people talk about being American’s and they aren't even in this country. Being an American is a way of life that people adapt into by seeing how we act. People all over the world eat the same things that we eat, so that can't really be a way of being an American. To me, being an American is embracing our ways of life, not fighting for the other guys, and loving our anthem and the flag.
Among every other country in the world, the United States of America is where people feel the most comfortable place to come and live a better life. Immigrants are people who leave their counties to reside in other counties that are rich and safe to better themselves. Every year people immigrate to the USA for many reasons. Many people are having difficulty living in their native country such as over population, jobless which make the economy so hard. People from outside of the United States think there is peace, love, equality, free education, jobs, good food to stay healthy, but most importantly freedom of speech to express yourself in America. Today, I will only focus on some reasons why people in my country immigrates to America. This is
What does it mean to be a citizen? What does it mean to be a part of a country? I believe that being a citizen is much more than just living in the same country for a set number of years. There are several ways that the word "citizen" can be defined. For example, individuals may say that when you do good deeds and make your country a better place you are considered a citizen. When you work hard to donate to your country you are showing that you believe in While there are other individuals believe that being a good citizen means portraying kindness, generosity, a helping hand; what some people may refer to as a servants heart. Of course, different countries will have different interpretations of what citizen is and
The Latino and Hispanic culture has many differences that truly make it unique. This culture is compiled of people living in the United States but have lineage from Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and El Salvador, and other Latin American countries (Sue & Sue, 2007). The terms Hispanic and Latino tend to be used interchangeably in the United States for people with origins in Spanish-speaking or Portuguese-speaking countries, like Mexico, Costa Rica, and Brazil. Contrary to many beliefs, Hispanic is not a race, but an ethnicity. Hispanic is a term created by the U.S. federal government in the early 1970s in an attempt to provide a common denominator to a large, but diverse, population with connection to the Spanish language or culture from a Spanish-speaking country ( U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). It is imperative to be mindful of the distinctive differences that exist within the sub-groups and between the different groups. Similarly, to the African American culture it is important to know the history of the culture.
Belonging to the native culture has a positive and negative effect. In the article "Two Ways to Belong in America" by Baharati Mukherjee and "A Battle of Cultures" by K. Cannie Kang, both articles deals with the main idea that some of the immigrant accept their new life. In addition, some of immigrant like to stay in their cultures even when they move to another country. How immigrant interact with a new country, and how that reflects on them. In the article "Two Ways to Belong in America" Baharati Mukherjee explains that there are two ways to belong in America. The first one to belong legally and obtained the citizenship. Furthermore, to live and work and feel part of the country. Baharati came from India
They seemed to care and love one another and didn 't bad mouth each. When they did bad mouth someone it was more petty then anything. My family is in general a Hispanic home always busy and hectic. We don 't have dinners together, we don 't talk about our problems, we just count on each other for support. My house is dominated by my mother 's family, I grew up with my cousins and having my grandma and grate grandma watch over me until my mom could come home. Because of this I grew up with broken English and broken Spanish, I would always have words mixed up in my head which made it hard to
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