Book Of Unknown American Analysis

Have you ever referred to someone as “high class,” “middle class,” or “low class?” The article “Class In America” is a very educated read and describes the way people are characterized by their “class.” I think that this article informs all types of readers and allows people to see how people are grouped based on themselves. “Class in America” is written to show and prove to society that people do not talk about “class” anymore, because of the way the world looks at it today. Gregory Mantosis is the author of the article, and he uses many facts and data to prove his points.

My parents always wanted to give their children the life they never had. I am Mexican-American, both of my parents immigrated from Mexico to the U.S. before I was born. I have numerous relatives, including my older sister, who do not have the same opportunities I have to achieve success because they are undocumented. For them, college was only a dream that could never be attained. Being the first U.S. citizen out of my entire family affected the way I thought about life. It was expected that I would attend college because I was the only one who had access to all the resources granted to American citizens. Although, I agreed with my family, the pressure to succeed and be a role model to my younger siblings was overwhelming.

They started working and over the course of time, my sister and I were born. However, my parents always kept thinking about the "U.S. project." In 1997, we got Permanent Resident Cards, thanks to my grandmother who has been in America for over twenty years. Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, my parents had planned on coming to America, but they always just talked about it. I never thought they were committed to making the move. Then, in January 2000, my sister came to America to complete her studies and to settle here. She had always dreamed of living in the United States. That is the reason why she decided to move to this country. Then, in April 2002, my parents made one of the hardest and the most delicate decisions of their lives: they finally made the decision to move to America. It was not easy to make that decision because it would require my parents to leave the comfort of their jobs, their houses, their cars and their friends in France. Once the decision made, and four months later, my parents and I finally moved to the United States.

What every American should know by Eric Liu thoroughly examines the issue of cultural literacy and its place in modern America. It takes on a convincing argument against E.D. Hirsch’s book on the same which included some 5000 things that he thought define cultural literacy and every American should know. Liu argues that America has changed over time, becoming more multicultural, and to capture the cultural literacy of the country, no one person should sit down and come up with what they think everyone else should know. Instead he suggests that in order to capture the view of the nation, every American should be involved in the making of the list. The most engaging part of this article is Liu’s idea that this new list that is crowd-sourced should always change according to the times. It should not be cast in stone because things in this day and age change really fast; what is a hit this month will be old news in the next one. This is what cultural literacy really is; keeping up with what is going on around you and being open to learn new things as they emerge. This can also be said of education; in order to stay educated in any field, you have to be in the know of in terms of new developments.

As a first-generation Latina in college, I could not be where I am without the help of multiple individuals. My parent’s sacrificed so much coming into this country. They left behind their family, their home, in order to one day provide a better future for me. Initially, my parents planned on staying in America for five years then they would go back to Ecuador. However plans changed once my mom became pregnant with me. The decision to stay in order to give me the best future possible greatly affected both my parents. They suffer greatly and lament leaving their family everyday. Only my mom has the slight possibly of returning to her home country but unfortunately, the only thing waiting her is her mother’s grave.

Being a first generation college student is a heavy load to carry due to the constant reminder of having to be a good role model for my siblings. Children of immigrants are often highly expected to excel in their academics and to be involved in extracurricular activities. His/her parent immigrated to the “Land of The Free” in order to receive a better life and to give their children a place to call home. They work from one to two jobs a week just so that we can dig through the pantry, and raid the refrigerator. We sometimes take our parents for granted unknowingly, and constantly fill our heads with a question that we all seem to ask. “How do I please my parents?”, “What do I have to do to make them happy?”. As students we should all be voicing “College!”. Yes, maybe our folks’s dreams have faded away, however that should be our motivation to aim higher; to achieve our American Dream. Throughout our years of education, our very own relatives and teachers have emphasized on the importance of receiving a higher education. I have come to realize that I should not be asking myself “How do I please my parents?”. Instead, “How do I please myself?”, “What will my lifetime goals be?”, “Will it leave my parents hard work in vain?”. Obtaining a higher education will not impact their lives, but will affect yours drastically. My American Dream has always been to become an immigration lawyer that deals with international relations or to become a professor teaching my true passion for

The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henriquez reveals the struggles that many immigrants face when coming to the U.S., focusing on the story and experiences of the Riviera family. The Rivieras moved the the U.S. to get a special education for their daughter, Maribel, who had serious brain damage. Previously in Mexico, Maribel fell off of a ladder and injured her brain, causing her to have mental instability. This moment changed the lives of the Riviera family, especially Alma and Arturo, Maribel's parents. After the accident, Arturo was quick to blame Alma for it, placing a strain on their relationship and obstructing their honesty with each other.

I can only imagine what immigrating to america is like for these families, everyday children my age and younger are risking their lives to come to America and It really makes me appreciate how much I have. For Lourdes, Enrique, and Maria Isabel in Enrique’s Journey they must make the hard decision of leaving everything they grew up with in Honduras to come to america for a better life. Lourdes, Enrique’s mother, could no longer afford to feed and send her children to school and was struggling to make money with her job. “Lordes can think of only one place that offers hope… Lourdes has decided: She will leave. She will go to the United States, and make money and send it home.” (p.20) Lourdes decides to make the trip because it

A important dilemma in my personal life is about my experience as a first generation immigrant in the United States. My parents take extra precaution to make sure I do not loose sight of where I came form and so, my parents drive to Mexico every year with my sister and I to see relatives who are living in conditions worse than ours so that we are grateful of our life in America. As I see my cousins and nieces/nephews grow up, I see realize that they have no real role model to look up to as no one has completed college when their parents exited high school and some not even that. So I want to help my family members to aspire to be something better in life and not a mailman or manual laborer like my father and uncles. I would like to instill

The ^American Spirit United States History as Seen by Contemporaries Ninth Edition Volume I: To 1877 Houghton Mifflin Company Boston New YorkContents 1 2 Preface xxi New World Beginnings, 33,000 B.C.-A.D.1769 1 A. The Native Americans 1 1. Visualizing the New World (1505, 1509) 1 2. Juan Gines de Sepulveda Belittles the Indians (1547) 3 3.

Mikayla has been bullied since she was young. She got punched by a second grader at her first day of kindergarten. Her school life became worse and worse, and she was called “Big Fat Loser” because she was fatter than other students. It was difficult for her to accept the abuses, and she attempted to hurt herself. Bullying is someone uses threats, coercion or force to maltreat or humiliate others. The harmful effect of bullying is it can destroy a person’s life, or even make a person die. In the book, “The Book of Unknown Americans” we see that how Garrett abused Mayor and Maribel and the different views and ways of dealing with the problem of bullying by their parents, and I think the way their parents used to solve the problem is not effective.

In author Cristina Henriquez’s novel The Book of Unknown Americans, the characterization of Alma Rivera is used to convey how grief and misery is magnified when all that a person had ever known has been taken away for some reason out of their control; it is only when they learn to give up control and forgive themselves, that they overcome the feelings of grief and guilt.

Some were simply fleeing violence from gangs and deadly drug violence. As with many others, my parents sought to give their children a better life than they had. They knew that America had many more opportunities that could be offered in our home country. If it weren’t for the numerous sacrifices my parents made for me, I wouldn’t have the hardworking mentality that I implement in everything I do. I am very thankful and blessed to be able to attend college in a country where there is a tremendous amount of support to those who cannot completely afford

That is what these parents are trying to do they are trying to get to America to better their children’s future and let them have

n my paper, I discuss the paratext of Norton Anthology of American Literature. I focus on the table of contents that is separated by eras starting with 1864 to present text. As well, as being separated by eras the eras are separated by authors starting with most popular authors like Dickinson, twain and other authors. I also focus on the preface that gives the reader extra information on the different eras represented in the books. The preface separates its sections like the table of contents discussing the major events and topics during that time. Lastly, I focus on how the style and structure of writing changes not only between the authors in their era but also how the style and structure change from era to era. The Norton Anthology of American