Wah-Yet then sent all six of her sons back to her home in China to receive an education, as she believed that the quality of education in her new home did not meet the standards of the institutions where she was from. She then had all of her daughters legally assume English first names so that they could attend a catholic private school right down the street from the restaurant. This effort of assimilation that Wah-Yet took made for her daughters is similar to the social changes that the Puerto-Rican immigrants encountered in Bourgois’ book, In Search of Respect (Bourgois). Her daughters were not admitted to the school until their names were legally changed, and while at school they were prohibited to speak in their first language, Cantonese.
In “The Good Immigrant student “, Bich Minh Nguyen talks about how her life was a child and how her life was like living in a white neighborhood in Michigan. At first when they had recently move to Michigan her Latina stepmother had a strong belief on bilingual education so Bich and her sister were sent to a school that had a bilingual educational program because her step mother feared that they would forget how to speak Vietnamese. There for the girls attended that school but there problem was not that they didn’t understand English but it was that they had trouble understanding Vietnamese they decided to not attend their bilingual classes anymore and the stepmother realized that the girls weren’t interested in learnig both languages.
As the outsiders a family of sudanese in Stephanie Soileau's “The Boucherie” share a cultural moment when forced to unite with their Louisiana neighbors when a cow has to be butchered, under muslim law. An act of grace for this impecunious community of cajun folks to receive a cow after an incident in the freeway where lost cattle was being trail back to its’ rightful owner. This one cow made its way to the home of the sudanese.The only non cajun family of outsiders, the miss fits, the foreigners were the ones to receive that gift in their own backyard. Now it’s up to the cajuns to befriend the Nasraddin family and persuade them to have a community feast without the fear of having the cops interfering with their celebration. Little did they know that
Henry is a prime example of how children are required to show intellectual breadth in relationship to their parents as he was willing to think beyond his father’s wishes for him. For about a third of the book, Henry obeys all of his father’s wishes. Henry is a first-generation Chinese American, who attends Rainer Elementary on scholarship. Rainer is an all-white school. Henry’s father saw the importance of his son attending this school, especially since his son was on a scholarship, and Henry attended, even though he was tormented by his peers everyday and was forced to work in the kitchen during lunchtime. Henry obeyed his father and wore his “I Am Chinese” button everyday. He obeyed his father when he was told to only speak English at home, even though both of Henry’s parents spoke Cantonese instead. Henry was even set on going back to China to
For many immigrants the journey of assimilation in the end has always bared the fruit of a better life. Yang and her family are a perfect example of that. “The Latehomecomer” is a memoir, that focuses on the journey of a Hmong family from Laos that flees the aftermath of the secret war, Yang, the author elegantly composes a commentary on immigrants assimilating to American society through the literary devices of irony and imagery as her family strives to become Hmong American.
On the other hand, Nguyen talks of the language difficulties that she experienced being a Vietnamese in the United States. At first, she is enrolled to a school far from home as it offers bilingual education to help her integrate with the system of learning. She works hard to raise her academic performance with hopes of falling in favor with the teacher. However, as the teacher knows her Vietnamese origin, she manifests her stereotype on Nguyen’s comprehension in literature readings. For instance, while it was her turn to read, the teacher would interrupt her making sentiments such as “you are reading too fast….things she did not do to other students” (Nguyen, 35). She also faces a “school-constructed identity” together with her sister with all sorts of jibes thrown against them. As Vollmer puts it, “such assumptions affect the interpretations made of student behavior and school
Honor is a concept that has a great deal to do with entitlement and based on the actions or qualities of a person. There are three main types of honor that society recognizes; family, men, and women and in The Heptameron, Marguerite de Navarre portrays each of the three types of honor throughout her stories. Published in the 1500s, the series of short stories portrays the values and beliefs of that period of time. However, there are often a number of complications that follow honor that lie with classified and understandably honorable deeds or traits, and who is it that determines this. Another issue that one may find is that it is also complicated to be able to view one form of morality in the presence of another due to certain views clashing with one another. In addition to this, Marguerite de Navarre’s stories are written around the themes of love, lust, and adultery, in addition to honor. Each of these has a significant role in portraying the integrity of men, women and family. The Heptameron’s twelfth story has each of the three types of honor present throughout it, and show how they either compliment or conflict with one another. Through the character of the Duke of Medici, the Duke’s “other half”, and the sister of this man, the reader is able to recognize the instances in which honor is evident.
Multiple studies have found that students are spending less time on their academic studies leading to a decrease in education and an increase in temptation of academic dishonesty. Cheating has been prevalent since mankind existed, but writer William Chace gives his outlook on the issue in his article, “A Question of Honor”. Chace is able to use adequate reasoning to engage the reader in an article that depicts perspectives from every angle. Included within the article are a sense of sympathy, through explanations and even a proposed solution of how to end academic dishonesty.
Fong See is holding on his lap very firmly and sturdy his youngest son Eddy, while Letticie very protectively holds the small of her daughter’s back with her hand. And how could they not be on the verge of protectiveness. During this time, the Chinese immigrants were viewed with much negative sentiment by the American citizens. They believed the Chinese were taking away their jobs and if they were successful business owners this sentiment against them was even greater. “For many Chinese American, life in California was marked by daily rounds of humiliation and intimidation” (Bean and Rawls, 193). And this did not excluded the See family, who despite being a very successful family, they were still viewed as Chinese immigrants who emigrated from China as laborers, and as Chinese descents they were subjected to the discriminatory treatment of that
Michael Miller’s book, The Bon Marché: Bourgeois Culture and the Department Store, 1869-1920, is an expansive and interesting look back on a era of Parisian history that is best represented by its then-current trend and social innovation, the department store. The book gives a fascinating account of the store from its beginning to eventual common place status in 1914. The book gives an insight on the factors in which the store saw success, such as the management, the labor, and new marketing. It also gives light to the social factors that made the store possible (i.e education and economy).
Once an immigrant becomes situated with their new life styles, the foreign immigrants are introduced to a sense of hatred and discrimination omnipresent in society. Many Americans and white men were not welcoming towards alien immigrants and expressed a great deal of discrimination and hatred. Immigrants and their families realized they had to learn to accept this hatred if they wanted to live in America, and eventually taught themselves to be tolerant towards discrimination, without knowing a motif behind a white man’s disgust towards immigrants. Hana was able to accept the discrimination and eventually passed down her tolerance and acceptance down to, her daughter, Mary, who learn to submit to a white man’s intolerance. Mary became aware that “her Japanese face denied her certain privileges…when she went to the City Plunge, she was told ‘We don’t think
As a ship is without a sail or a king with no castle, so too is a courtier without a Court lady. In "The Book of the Courtier" Baldesar Castiglione not only included a perfect courtier, he also molded his female equivalent, a Court lady. "The Courtier" itself was a step by step guide intended to instruct the young, affluent and upwardly mobile in areas of manners, learning, sport and conduct. It was published in 1528, at a high point of humanistic thought and antiquarian chivalric interest in Renaissance Italy. Often overlooked or undervalued is the discussion of the ideal Court lady, described in eloquent and perfect detail by the characters of Caesar and Magnifico, who was assigned by the Duchess to
Pierre Bourdieu was an acclaimed French sociologist, anthropologist and philosopher, who is still noted today as being one of the most prominent and influential intellects in recent years. He is famous for his contributions to many subjects and areas, and much of his work is still considered today as being classics. His work is considered to be some of the most innovative and groundbreaking bodies of theory and research in contemporary social science. He is still prominent today for his many great contributions to the field of sociology, and though he has many revolutionary concepts, this essay will focus on three; Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital and field, and a key sociological factor these concepts help to explain. These three
Amy Tan’s short story “Two Kinds” describes a Chinese immigrant family who hope of finding success and an overall betterment of life in America. After losing everything in China, Jing-mei’s mother, Mrs. Woo, tries as a minority house maid in the 1960s to provide all the opportunities she can for her last daughter. This short story revolves around the interactions between the Jing-mei, who desires a ordinary life, and Mrs. Woo, who seeks only the best from her daughter. The values of these two characters are in constant conflict of which creates a lasting segregation between parent and child. Through Mrs. Woo’s death, Jing-mei questions her childhood upbringing and her mother’s true intentions that were masked by pure immigrant ambition.
Amy Tan’s ,“Mother Tongue” and Maxine Kingston’s essay, “No Name Woman” represent a balance in cultures when obtaining an identity in American culture. As first generation Chinese-Americans both Tan and Kingston faced many obstacles. Obstacles in language and appearance while balancing two cultures. Overcoming these obstacles that were faced and preserving heritage both women gained an identity as a successful American.
Wong feels that she needs to fit into the dominant culture from an early age. The reason for this is because society stresses the dominate culture, promotes the dominate culture and pressures immigrant children to fit in. Wong uses herself as an example of the tremendous pressure children of immigrants are under to fit in, which is a burden placed on them by society. The pressure is so great that many are embarrassed by their roots and their heritage. Wong experiences this burden, and this is what drives her to want to become the stereotypical All-American girl. She learns to hate her culture so much that she does not want anything to do with it and she wants a divorce from her ethnic roots, “Wong’s adolescent embarrassment of her ethnic