Undocumented Immigrants

America is a land of much promise. As immigrants chase the American Dream, they face tremendous challenges. They all know how difficult it is to try to navigate a foreign linguistic, political and cultural system, in search of basic necessities. In “Persian, English”, Jasmin Darznik recalled some obstacles she confronted and examined her complex relationship with the Persian language as a immigrant. In “Outlaw: My Life in America as an Undocumented Immigrant”, Jose Antonio Vargas, who has been living illegally in the U.S. since he was twelve years old, struggled to overcome his status as a “undocumented immigrant”—to fit in, to belong, the be accepted. In the process of working toward the American Dream, obstacles are always expected. Before

achieving the American Dream, one has to survive the American “nightmare” which includes language, stereotype, cultural differences and so on.
Learning a new language is one of the challenges many immigrants face. Learning how to speak and write English helps them survive. “In America I might have cleaved myself to Persian, but survival—even the most basic social survival—depended on learning English and learning it fast.”(p140) If you have never lived in a foreign country then buying bread, traveling on the train and watching the television probably don't sound like very complicated tasks. However, if you are struggling to understand and be understood then even the simplest, everyday task can turn into a nightmare. To learn English, Darznik began to make her way through stacks and stacks of library books. She polished off essays and began to walk away with all the school literary prizes. Similarly, Vargas “spent hours at a time watching television (especially Frasier, Home Improvement and reruns of The Golden Girls) and movies (from Goodfellas of Anne of Green Gables), pausing the VHS to try to copy how various characters enunciated their words”(p378) But once she mastered the rudiments of reading and writing, English became less a matter of survival than something beginning to resemble love. She discovered a passion for language and found a job as a journalist. Finding work when immigrants don't speak the language fluently can be incredibly difficult. Learning the tongue used in the country as quickly as possible is absolutely essential for progressing and earning money after immigration.
Struggling with the language is not the only problem immigrants face, sometimes stereotypes are confronted.