Mengesu From America Analysis

Everyone in the world has their own identity but some are still searching for it. Many base their identity on race, religion, culture and language because it’s easier to belong to a certain group. However, there are some people who struggle with finding where they belong. For instance, James McBride in The Color of Water wonders who he is through most his childhood and some of his adult life. Mcbride tries to find himself by learning about his mother's background. After evaluating his mom’s past,culture and race his own issues with himself were made clearer because now he finally knows where he came from.

Through the personal stories of his hair, love life, and behavior, Liu is able to show the effects of his assimilation. The second section deals with Liu’s struggles to conform to white stereotypes as an Asian American. With his personal anecdotes, he establishes himself as a more credible source to speak on the subject of assimilation. The second section uses narration to provide evidence about Liu’s definition of assimilation.

Inside of this singular black identity, Ifemelu describes how everyone is expected to act and react in the same way. Ifemelu noted that when racism came up on television, black people were supposed to be enraged. Yet when it came up in everyday situations, black people were supposed to be forgiving of racists and allow the white liberals to debate about racism. Personally, I cannot say that I ever experienced anything similar to Ifemelu in terms of race, I have, however, had experiences where I felt out of place and different. When I visited France, I spoke no French and went to stay with a family where only the sons spoke English. As a result, for the 18 days, I spent in France, I only ever heard French and thus felt excluded from countless conversations. Even though I am white like the majority of the population, I still felt out of place, but not inherently discriminated against as a result of my nationality and linguistic abilities. I remember at one point their father said to me “Thank goodness, you can’t understand what we are saying.” This lighthearted comment hinted, at how since I was different linguistically, I was seemingly discriminated against or at least thought of

In the essay “Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa”, David Sedaris recalls stories from what he considers to be his dull upbringing and contrasts it with the distinctly unusual childhood of his partner Hugh, as well as refers to his own internal struggle to abstain from jealousy, in order to demonstrate how individuals experiencing very different childhood versions ultimately can relate to each other in a meaningful and constructive manner. Hugh did not have an average American childhood. Rather, he was an American living with African servants, chefs, and personal drivers. Growing up on another continent, Hugh’s childhood stories are loaded with incidents that Sedaris could hardly imagine experiencing as a child growing up in

In 1998, Eric Liu wrote a book about his struggle with acculturation titled “The Accidental Asian”. A chapter within the book called “Notes of a Native Speaker” depicts an essay written by Liu which fully describes his struggles with race and how he overcame them. Eric Liu is an American born Taiwanese Asian. His parents immigrated to the United States before he was born and in so, gave him a mixed cultural background. He started becoming a writer after attending Yale University and graduating from Harvard Law School. In his “Notes of a Native Speaker” author Eric Liu argues that as he was “becoming white” he was achieving, learning the ways of the upper

“Berlin, Ira. The Making of African America The Four Great Migrations. By Ira Berlin. New York: Penguin Group, 2011. Pp 289”

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.

Unlike many African Americans who attend church on Sundays, I attend Jummah on Friday’s and attend Eid festivities with Guineans around New York City, as well as carry myself the way Guinean females are raised: with a certain degree of modesty and reservation. In addition, due to my Guinean background, West-African name, and clear, modulated English, I am also an outsider to my neighbors in Brownsville currently, and was teased as a child. My drive and motivation to achieve the American Dream, especially for the sake of parents, in Brownsville, an inner-city African American, is seen as an affront to their perceptions of blackness. Many of my neighbors have confessed that they believe that “I am too good” or “act white.” However, despite this, when I am faced with racism or acts of white supremacy, I feel emboldened to act, where I do not call upon my Guinean identity. In those moments, I especially identify with the African- American identity. I feel a dire responsibility to assist African-American in my community, more so than I feel a responsibility to help my family members in Guinea. In all, when asked about my identity, I respond with, “My parents are from Guinea, but I was born in America.” I am comfortable, and again, proud to identify as a Guinean-American, despite the challenges with identifying as either. This conflict is drawn upon, once again, in Georges Woke Up Laughing where Schiller and Fouron

He stated that the American-Identity, is an identity that which black men are born into only because remnants of slavery. Working along the main idea of double observations in African- Americans who has lived in the experience that hides behind a veil. People

Asagai sees Africa as his home and intends to go back there but he also seems to believe that African Americans in America have amazing opportunities. “I LIVE THE ANSWER! (pause) In my village at home it is the exceptional man who can even read a newspaper . . . or who ever sees a book at all.

Dinaw Mengestu talks about his life long trouble with his society and fitting in with the people of his community. Born in Ethiopia and raised in the States confused him and made him feel like he doesn’t belong anywhere. He doesn’t feel like he was ever part of the Ethiopian society and is not accepted in the United States, as an American. I understand his situation, not because I went through what he has but I’ve lived around people that have. During high school I had a Persian friend who’s parents have immigrated to Bahrain, and he felt like he didn’t belong in the country he also didn’t feel like he was a Persian at all, because he has never been there. It was difficult on him to make friends, and people made him feel like an outsider. But like Mengestu my friend slowly adapted to his surrounding and didn’t identify

Curiosity was inevitable for the boy, however, and led him into what William E. Cross’s Nigresence Model declared was the immersion stage of racial identity for a black person. In this stage, African Americans basically submerge

For thousands of years, waves of immigrants continue joining the developed countries in the world, bringing with them the unique cultures, languages, and ideas. Over time, those unique values might be faded away with each generation because of the new culture exposition. The second-generation immigrants experience a cultural conflict between that of their parents and that of host society. Most of them are unable to preserve and empower their origin cultures. Many differences between the first-generation and the second-generation immigrants arise. Through the analysis of the mother in “Death of a Young Son by Drowning” and the Das family in “Interpreter of Maladies”, I would like to demonstrate the differences between the first-generation immigrants, who travel from other countries, and the second-generation immigrants, who were born and raised on the immigrated land. These differences include the purpose of being in the foreign land, the connections to their homelands, society’s view, and the culture differences.

There are four texts that are used in these lessons. The main text that the students will be reading throughout the unit is the fictional novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (used in Lesson 1& 2). The three non-fiction supporting text that the students will be reading were selected because of the connection that they make with the major themes that will be discussed in this unit. The first text is Home at Last by Dinaw Mengestu (found in Lesson 1). This is an 11th grade reading level article that is in their textbook, The Language of Composition 2nd edition so it is easily accessible to all students. I chose this as a supporting text because Mengestu is a prolific and beautiful writer about the issues of being an immigrant and the feelings of “outsiderness” and culture.

He knew what it felt like to be discriminated against, as his unusually narrow build and sunken chest became the object of ridicule throughout his youth. Well-honed psychological lines of defense had been fully developed by this point in his life, and certainly his new friends could relate. Appreciating his company, and accepting him into the culture, this new group, both from local communities and from other countries became his ally. Some had even been in prison for serious crimes, but what struck him the most, since