James O Connor's Dream Of Becoming An Immigrant

An individual’s relationship with others and the places which surround them can have an effect on the individual’s sense of self-worth and their feelings of belonging. This notion is conveyed through the use of language techniques in both the set of poems “Feliks Skrzynecki”, “St Patrick’s College” and “Migrant Hostel” from Peter Skrzynecki’s anthology Immigrant Chronicles (1975) and the novel The Story of Tom Brennan (2005) composed by J.C. Burke.

My mother’s family is relatively new to America, early 20th century, and had migrated here from Bohemia (one of the Czech lands) after many political changes were occurring in Europe; which, eventually lead to the Great War (World War I). In their exodus from Europe all of their wealth was left behind and they only brought to America what they could carry. After arriving to the United States of America my ancestors immediately became successful with ambition and entrepreneurship. No one in my family stands idly by, nor do any of us stand around waiting for welfare. We are all very educated and successful and we have no tolerance for laziness and whining. My stepfather’s family is also from a highly successful and educated background; however, his family were in America since the Crowne. His family is linked to Thomas Jefferson, via marriage, and has had involvement with many of America’s great moment in history, such as, his families lumber company provided the wood for the first five frigates commissioned by Jefferson during the Barbary War. My biological father too has an in-depth history here in America. His family mostly were military officers in many of the countries early wars; i.e., French Indian Wars, Revolutionary War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, etc. Overall, I have quite an extensive

It 's so cold today. I sit on a suitcase packed for me, Norah. I am from a small town in Ireland called Cobh, and I live there with my mother, father and little sister. Glenn is my older brother, three years older than me. Oh, and I 'm sixteen. I guess you could call this feeling anxiety, but it really is more than that. It feels like I 'll never come home, and I 'll never see mother and father again. Everyone says (well, if you can call the newspaper editor and his wife everyone) that America is "paved with gold" and that "endless opportunities" await anyone who goes. But the stories I

Peter Marin’s article “Toward something American: The Immigrant Soul” explains the subtle but noticeable difference between American life and American culture. American culture is defined as primarily western, but is influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian and Latin American cultures. (Wiki) Marvin explains that American culture is not much more than a mixture of past cultures. American life is slightly different. Marvin writes American although influenced by past cultures struggles to find home. Marvin states “home” is for us, as it is for all immigrants, sometimes to be regained, created, discovered, or mourned”. There are qualities and aspects that make up culture which can be defined as American or Western. In this essay we will explore the distinction between life and culture and if culture can be easily be distinguished between American or Western.

“Mom, will I ever be treated as a regular person? When will I be like the others without people look at me in a strange way and make fun of me, when mom? When?” Those were the questions I did to my mom almost every day after getting home from school. Fourteen years ago that my parents brought me to this country offering a better life with better opportunities than where I was born. I was seven years old when came to the United States, but I still remember the happiness I felt when I first step in this country. Throughout the years, I have realize that not everything is easy and simple as I imagined. My parents worked in the fields because of the lack of a social security and not knowing how to speak English. Many Americans do not know how hard it is the life of an immigrant, they should have a consideration for us and not just blame us for the deviance of the United States.

I was born on january/31/1919 in Vietnam and immigrated to France. In 1942 I was studying at the university in Nice, where I met a fellow student, Jadwiga Alfabet, a Jewish refugee from Poland. In the summer of 1942 the French police began arresting Jews with foreign nationality. In September 1943 the Germans occupied Nice and all the Italian controlled zones and we were in danger of deportation. I decided to hide not only my wife, but also her relatives. In November 1943 I took a train with a few of my wife's relatives to get them in touch with a smuggler who could take them to Switzerland, I made this trip several

All around the world the United States of America is viewed as a place of freedom and equal opportunity for all people who settle in the country. Immigrants, especially from second or third world countries, view America as a chance for them to start over and a live the lavish lifestyles they are accustomed to hearing. However, this belief that everyone in the United States lives how they want to and has equal opportunity is false. Immigrants from countries all over the world face many different issues as they settle in the United States. Although these problems may vary, the message is the same; the American dream is a lot more difficult to achieve than previously thought. Although every immigrant is different in the problems

Humanity is ever so much more complicated than one could have ever imagined. Humans can thrive on change, but ultimately look for something to declare as home. In search of this home people travel long distances and risk everything they have. When an American contemplates the word immigrant, one imagines the countless people from Mexico crossing into our country or the refugees that hope to make this country their home. What eludes most of us, however, is the reality that most people were, at one point, immigrants to this country and that our forefathers came here exactly the same as refugees come today. What is brought to mind when I hear the word immigrant is hope and perseverance. I remember the countless people who have traveled here

The country is the first and most the biggest obstacle on the journey of accomplishing for anyone and that’s an American Dream. Some may not appreciate how difficult it actually is to make a name as an immigrant to the United States. While many Americans know how difficult it is to find a good job in the American economy today and most do not realize and understand how hard it is to get in to this country on your own. If and when some immigrants get into our country, they are automatically forced to start at the bottom of the “totem pole” as Howard W. Foster said, “in the employment world, with many other out of work employees or employees who are new to the American workforce. Many immigrants that do not have an education or connections here in America, start off working minimum wage jobs, if they are fortunate, even some people who have been in America for their entire lives are forced to settle for minimum wage jobs.” According to Ted Widmer from “ What the Man behind the American Dream really meant” he explains there are not many employment opportunities out for immigrates and they are being turned down because of their race and where they came from but it is not the last step in trying to achieve their dreams. In many cases the money is not enough to live off of and some people are forced to get a second or third job that only pays minimum wage causing not enough time for education and without any education they can not move up in their life and they will stay at the same level for there rest of their life’s, it will continue it is an ending cycle in this generations and will be continued in the future. The American dream is about being satisfying with your life and completing your life but it is also about earning enough to have a respectable life, having the ability to move up within the work surroundings as well as

I was always a precocious child, yet argumentative and rebellious. I did not want to accomplish anything following a pattern set for me. I wanted to forge my own way. This determination set me at odds with my mother, and has defined our relationship all these years. It has surely led me down my own irregular path in life, and placed me in position to be the family’s black sheep.

On a random Thursday morning in the middle of October, I became an orphan. I have always been independent and mature from a young age, but all that changed on a crisp day in November when I learned what it means to grow up. Something typically marked by a Bat Mitzvah or the acquisition of a driver’s license was, for me, marked by the arrest of my single mother.

I am who I am today because of my parents, first my dad worked so hard in order to be able to pay to get our papers and be able to legally come into the country. The immigration process took more than 10 years. We were only able to see my dad once a year because he was here working and saving up to bring the family together. In July of 1998 just 3 months before I was born my sister Elena passed away before being able to come into the country, she waited for so long to reunite with my dad and it didn't happen she left before her dream came into reality. When my family was finally able to reunite we made the most of it we enjoyed every second with each other. When I entered school I was known for the Mexican girl who didn't know English however

It was the 11th, the day that we arrived. My dad and my sister had already made it, and it was really late. My flight landed, and so had 16 others. We off of the flight, and headed straight for immigration. Last time we came, immigration took 5 minutes, but this time, it took 45! After the long immigration process, we went to the baggage belt, where we couldn’t find our bags. While we were walking to go and file a complaint, we found one of our bags off of the baggage belt. Others took our bags off of the belt, so we went around the belt to find the bags. After we found the bags, we headed out of the airport. It was 4 am, and as soon as we got home, we went to sleep. We got up at about nine and got ready to go to my aunt and uncle’s 25th anniversary

On April 3rd, 2017, I called my neighbor, Frank, to talk about the story of his family’s immigration. Frank had ancestors who moved to the United States from Germany more than 100 years ago that kept a journal that has been with his family ever since it was recorded. He told me that a long time ago, George and Jean, both residents of Germany, fell in love and got married to each other. After spending some time together in Germany, they decided that they were going to immigrate to the United States. “Living in the United States to them meant all that freedom implied. A land where they found a home where they could raise their children in a land of the free and the brave.”

I’m an immigrant. I was born in Mexico and it was only until my parents decided to come to the United States that I am where I am. My mother tried to cross the border to come to the United States for the first time when I was still in her womb all by herself as my father was already in the Unites States working in order to provide for her in the way that he wasn’t able to do so by staying in Mexico. My mother was caught by immigration and was sent back. My mother was very disappointed because she knew that if she didn’t get me to the United States some way or another I wouldn’t get very far in life by staying in Mexico. My father returned back to Mexico when I was born and it wasn’t until I was 4 years old that they decided to try to cross the border once again. Although I was only 4 years old I remember the whole experience as if it was yesterday. The amount of fear of getting caught by immigration and having done everything for nothing was always in the back of my mind while going through the whole experience. Up to this day nothing has ever been as terrifying and nerve-wrecking as having to go through that whole experience especially for a 4 year old child but I will forever be grateful for the bravery and strength that my parents had to gather in