Ethiopian Culture In Dinaw Mengesu's Life

Although ethos and logos are important modes as well, this text is most effective due to White’s continuous use of pathos. His thesis statement suggests the urge to return to his childhood memories, “…this feeling got so strong I bought myself a couple of bass hooks and a spinner and returned to the lake where we used to go, for a week’s fishing and to re-visit old haunts” (“Once” para. 1).The audience is also evoked with anticipation to what will happen later. A good example of this is “I took along my son, who had never had any fresh water up his nose and who had seen lily pads only from train windows” (“Once” para. 2). The audience is left asking how the trip with his son will compare to his own memories. White goes on to describe in intricate detail his memory of the lake, cabins, and scenery. He uses visual imagery to allow the audience to place themselves in the setting he has described. “White wants to emphasize the permanence of some things, or at least the memory of some things, despite the continual change that happens in the world”

He begins by telling of peasant life in the native European land, how it began to crumble because of poverty after having obtained rock hard stability for centuries, then he follows their long, dangerous trek to America which very few could endure because ships were overcrowded and unsanitary. Handlin then gives the account of the few that lived to see land on the other side of the Atlantic, detailing their struggles with the transformation from home life of the village system, which included the hierarchy social structure, an economy relying on the land, and family-based homes contrasting to American industrial economy, multiple religions, communication, immense knowledge, democratic government, and freedom. The stress and pressure to completely change their lifestyle, traditions, morals, and standards all at once causes immigrants to feel helpless and

One way the author reflects the hopes, fears and expectations of the culture in the book was through Antonio’s dreams. Antonio’s dream reflected several of his most difficult cultural challenges including his parents conflicting aspirations and the towns conflicting religious beliefs.

Immigrants have the continuous struggle of trying to adapt to a country's language and customs. Tan portrays this struggle throughout the wordless novel; the businessman tries to communicate with other people using symbols and drawings in a sketch pad. Another scene that displays the language barrier struggle immigrants go through was when he first arrived. He was being asked questions in a language he didn’t know and was randomly examined by a doctor; this scene reminds viewers of immigrants landing in Ellis Island for the first time and being examined for potential illnesses. When immigrants move to a different country they need to be careful about what they write or say, anything can be taken out of context based on a country’s history. Post September 11, 2001, after the Trade Center incident that Americans would never forget there was a target placed on any civilian who showed Muslim culture customs, such as clothing or headwear. Events and headlines in the news contradict the ideology portrayed in Tan’s wordless novel; however the story starts to take a sudden

She gives the reader very vivid memories from her childhood and how being raised poor affects her identity as a person. She discusses how Mexicans identify themselves; since there are many different ways to identify culture, they make up several different cultures (Indian, Black, and Mexican). By the end she talks about the fight that Mexicans put up to stand up for their culture and their identity.

In the book, Mengestu describes his challenges with trying to transition to America and trying to find a place where he really belongs. In Peoria, Illinois where his family moves after leaving Ethiopia, the author feels out of place since he was surrounded by white school, community institutions and churches. Moving to Washington DC where many Ethiopian immigrants lived, he still felt out of place and it was only when his parents moved to Brooklyn, in a neighborhood called Kensington, that Mengestu was finally able to gradually settle down.

All throughout the world, imperialism was spreading quickly through the nations. More land meant more power, superior nations were looking to take over smaller less powerful ones. When it came to conquering smaller countries, the superior nation had to be able to manage and control it successfully. This idea was first bought forth during the Berlin Conference during the separation of African colonies. It stated that any European country could claim land in Africa; however, they must be able to keep control of their conquered area. Managing some African colonies would prove to be a difficult task for some of the European nations. In fact, Nigeria and Ethiopia would both play a part in the African resistance. In order for the spread of imperialism to work, these European nations would have to create imperial management methods. The Europeans were able to come up with many different forms and management methods of imperialism to use in Africa.

For Mengestu, being able to fit in a community could only be achieved if he knows who he is and where he is from. His inability to understand his identity throughout the majority of the book is tied to his belief that identity is passed down from one's placed of origin, family background and views, environment growing up, or a combination of these. Thus, leaving Ethiopia at the age of two to live in the United States causes him an internal conflict over determining who he is. Is Mengestu from Ethiopia? Is he from America? Mengestu’s struggle to call a place home, to say he is “from” somewhere, is due to his perspective on identity, which causes him to isolate himself until he realizes that he, and only he, can define where home is.

Throughout the novel he focuses on the notion of language and how being a native speaker provides evidence for one to claim or be seen as a native of America. Chang-Rae Lee

The first thing that strikes me about The Star of Ethiopia is the stark difference in structure and style. The structure itself does not revolve around a single person or character but rather of a peoples as a whole. The plot follows an entire race of people through history, and the urgency of the story is not lost, but rather it is amplified. Likewise, the style of the show requires a unification of collaboration to create a spectacle for show. DuBois gives a freedom to a production to make a production of his pageant specific to their wants in needs while also still ensuring that a truthful history is given. The theme of these two aspects is a collectivism that permeates the psychology and culture of people of color, which truly separates this show from the other theatre of the time. The collectivism that DuBois uses in The Star of Ethiopia is illustrated as a collective retelling the history of African Americans, but also sets in motion a redefining of what it means to be African American and how they

The narrator is caught between his freedom and success in Paris and his past, marred by racism, which he is again about to confront. Using the flashback episode as an example of what he expects on his return, the narrator details the horrible feelings of helplessness and hatred generated by racist behavior. His family in the United States experienced prejudice firsthand and it damaged them forever. His father 's and sister 's lives were destroyed by racism, and the narrator escaped to France to avoid the same fate. Now famous, he must come to terms with his expatriate status, and find a way for his son to live without the same scars of racism.

In the beginning of the essay, the narrator explains his views about life. The narrator goes onto compare the different aspects of the cultures, and in a sense thinks like the White man, that his

In addition, disappointment is another reason Jayanti choses to let assimilation take over her self-identity. When she finally realizes that America is not as glamorous as she imagined, read about or saw in pictures, she feels disheartened. When she arrives, she looks forward in seeing, “neat red brick house with matching flowery drapes, the huge, perfectly mowed lawn green like it had been painted, the shiny concrete driveway on which sat two shiny motorcars”(73). However, she is greeted by a, “crowded [apartment] with faded, over stuffed sofas and rickety end tables that look like they’ve come from a larger place...the tiny room I am to occupy - it is the same size as my bathroom at home” (73,74).

Ha Jin’s “The Woman from New York”, showcases the grand impacts of adjusting to cultural differences. This story encompasses both the emotional feat and the physical feat in distance that many go through in their lives. It specifically reveals the challenges that arise in adapting to new life back at home when in the past, a person lived elsewhere and much differently. In following the life of Chen Jenli in this story, readers can explore her societal and cultural struggles or they can place themselves in her shoes. In using Chen Jenli as a vessel, “The Woman from New York” addresses various and most certainly relatable difficulties that people like immigrants or expatriates face. However, these individuals can rely on the psychological process of mindfulness to help in adjustment and difficulties.

    While many American immigrant narratives concentrate on the culture shock that awaits those who arrive from the more rural Old World to live in a city for the first time, Willa Cather's immigrants, often coming from urban European settings, face the vast and empty land of the plains. Guy Reynolds notes that "the massive outburst of America westwards was in part powered by the explosion of immigrants through the eastern seaboard and across the continent. Ethnic diversity was at the heart of America's drive westwards" (63). The land and land ownership shape the lives of these newcomers in powerful ways, giving them an immigrant experience that is in some ways