What is the author’s claim in the selected reading? In other words, what do you believe the author wants their audience to learn or understand better once they have finished reading?
The author wants the audience to know that they are able to make a home for themselves in America. They could be who they were and still partake in quintessential American traditions, like Thanksgiving, and make them their own. Have you identified key points that the author uses to support their claim in the selected reading?
If so, include them here.
Her parents worked hard. Her father went to college in Seoul and her mother was moving
south when North and South Korea were created.
Her father was a translator for the United States Military during the war and later became the only anesthesiologist for the local hospital in Minnesota.
Her mother raised the family and cooked the entire Thanksgiving meal starting at 6am every year.
Describe the author’s target audience: what group or groups of people is the author trying to reach with their message?
The main audience is immigrants, but anyone who reads the article can learn something from it. Because her family is an immigrant family, though the kids were born in the United States, they faced struggles that most Americans do not face. They still fought to overcome them and Thanksgiving was a way for them to celebrate the previous year that they had, even if every Thanksgiving was the same.
What choices does the author make within their writing to connect with this target audience?
The author chose to connect with this target audience by describing famous things that all
immigrants will know such as Norman Rockwell painting and Jimmy Stewart-esque moments. This is what many immigrants picture lives in America as being and so this will help them understand the moments that Lee is describing.
Explain your evaluation of the author’s claim: is the claim strong or weak? What evidence or key
points from the writing best support the author’s claim? If you found the claim to be weak, explain why the evidence or key points provided did not effectively support the author’s claim.
The claim that Lee is making is a strong one. She shows through the memories that she has and the stories that she was told as a child the struggles that her family faced and ultimately ended up surviving.
Thanksgiving helped her family dig their roots into America and the culture here as well as help them survive as a family.
