The book “Welcome to Paradise” illustrates how an migrants feel when coming to a new country-- hopeful for a new life, but with the belief that they are inferior to the natives of that country. When the narrator, Aziz, is preparing to move to Spain, he watches as those around him prepare for the move, and how they begin to adapt in preparation for their new life. He sees Pafadnam, who is described as a giant being to slouch wherever he went “with the air of someone apologizing for existing” (71). Pafadnam's transition highlights the air of inferiority that some migrants take as they go to a new country. Many believe that since they are not natives, then they are inferior and expect to be looked down upon. Aziz sees this and begins to question if being inferior, and invisible, is the only way to survive in a new country. …show more content…
This analogy of a cockroach for migrants shows the migrants and the natives view of migration. The native sees migrants pooling into their country, and may even see them as polluting the country, and since there are so many, they should just be ignored. They are seen simply as a nuisance to be brushed over, as if they were nothing. Migrants can see themselves as cockroaches because they must develop a hard skin to survive all of the discrimination and set back’s they will face. They also recognize that many natives look down on them, and the easiest way to survive is “to be nobody:another shadow…” (72). The use of cockroach shows how immigrants are looked down upon, and seen as just a bug or something that is
One’s commitment of immigrating to a new country for a better life indicates that oneself is ready to risk the life given to them by facing many hardships along the way. In the novel Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario, Enrique does exactly that, risking his own life at the age of seventeen in order to reunite with his mother who left him when he was five in order to obtain a better job in the US and give Enrique and his older sister everything she thought they deserved. Nazario utilizes an emotional appeal and metaphors to inform readers of the arduous situations migrants experience on their long and tiring journey in search of a family member and a better future.
Many writers explore the notion that cultural differences may inflict feelings of disconnection for their central characters. This is shown in the two texts ‘Neighbours’ and ‘Migrant Woman on a Melbourne Tram’, as both protagonists struggle to cope with their newly exposed environment. Despite this, we learn that it can be resolved through the acceptance of one another, yet others may remain to dissociate themselves from society.
For more than 300 years, immigrants from every corner of the globe have settled in America, creating the most diverse and heterogeneous nation on Earth. Though immigrants have given much to the country, their process of changing from their homeland to the new land has never been easy. To immigrate does not only mean to come and live in a country after leaving your own country, but it also means to deal with many new and unfamiliar situations, social backgrounds, cultures, and mainly with the acquisition and master of a new language. This often causes mixed emotions, frustration, awkward feelings, and other conflicts. In Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, the author
Cristina Henriquez’, The Book of Unknown Americans, folows the story of a family of immigants adjusting to their new life in the United States of America. The Rivera family finds themselves living within a comunity of other immigrants from all over South America also hoping to find a better life in a new country. This book explores the hardships and injustices each character faces while in their home country as well as withina foreign one, the United States. Themes of community, identity, globalization, and migration are prevalent throughout the book, but one that stood out most was belonging. In each chacters viewpoint, Henriquez explores their feelings of the yearning they have to belong in a community so different than the one that they are used to.
The author, Scott Russell Sanders; in his essay ¨Staying Put: Making a Home In a Restless World,¨ carefully crafted use of diction, imagery and figurative language generates his unfavorable attitude towards people ceasing to be migrants, instead of becoming inhabitants. His purpose is to respond to an essay written by Salman Rushdie and to convince the reader to stop uprooting themselves when things get tough and to settle in to where they are and ¨make it durable and long lasting¨. This purpose was created by direct quotes and explanations, yet respectful opinion.
Every individual, no matter who they are, will all face challenges that result from their backgrounds and cultures. Born in Calcutta, India and later moving to the United States, Amin Ahmad was an individual who discovered this harsh truth first-hand. In his essay, “I Belong Here,” Ahmad reflects on his experience of being treated differently from those around him based off his cultural background. He analyzes the emotional barrier that forms between the journey of immigration and the continuous feeling of inferiority based solely on the desire to belong. The article is written to provide a different point of view; one focused on introducing to the world the challenges and emotions immigrants face after starting the journey towards a new life.
“Migrant Hostel”, gives the responder a perspective of the plight of migrants and the trouble they face in building relationships due to the events in their past and the lack of understanding in the world around them. The metaphor of the “barrier at the main gate… Pointed in reprimand or shame” demonstrates how their housing affects them. A person cannot belong if they feel shamed, furthermore they consider themselves “birds of passage” with constant “comings and goings.” The constantly fluctuating events in their life results in an in-ability to form relationships as they have in-adequate time to form them, hindering belonging. Despite this shared “memories of hunger and hate” allowing some belonging, the alliteration emphasises the hardship of
Unconsciously, we all speak different languages; we categorize the way we speak by the environment and people at which we are speaking too. Whenever a character enters an unfamiliar environment, they experiment with language to find themselves and understand reality. For immigrants, language is a means to retain one’s identity; however, as they become more assimilated in their new communities their language no longer reflects that of their identity but of their new cultural surroundings. When an immigrant, immigrates to a new country they become marginalized, they’re alienated from common cultural practices, social ritual, and scripted behavior. It’s not without intercultural communication and negotiation
Many second generation minorities from immigrant parents are driven subconsciously to conform to new culture and social norms. For foreign born parents and native born children integrating the two cultures they inhabit brings about different obstacles and experiences. In Jhumpa’s “The Namesake” the protagonist Gogol is a native born American with foreign born parents. The difference with birth location plays an important role in assimilating to a new society in a new geography. The difficulty for parents is the fact that they’ve spent a decent amount of time accustomed to a new geography, language, culture and society which makes it difficult to feel comfortable when all of that changes. For Gogol the difficulty only lies with the cultural norms imposed by his parent’s and the culture and social norms that are constantly presented in the new society.
It is well known that immigrants come to America with the hope of a better life filled with immense opportunity. Immigrants are filled with ambition, the driving force of their success. Their ambition is fueled by adversity faced in their native countries, and the realization that their situation, no matter how bad it may be, is much better than previous living conditions; they hope it will eventually improve. “Girl in Translation” is yet another novel, which explicates how immigrants are more ambitious in striving for success than American citizens.
Immigrants struggle with many things. Hosseini showed us that parents will do anything for their children. Baba did not have to leave his home and be thrown into a society where his customs are misunderstood. He is a proud man who loves his country, but not as much as he loves his son. However, he won’t let the change of scenery change his values, way of thinking, and his customs. When someone leaves their home country it is to be expected that not only is there a possibility that they had undergone a hard journey, but that it will take time for them to be truly immersed into their society and its cultural
In the novel The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez struggles of humans are conveyed through a view that is rarely expressed: the individual points of view of immigrants to the United States. The novel uses the individuals of an apartment complex in Delaware to demonstrate struggles faced by humanity. It has within it lessons that every young adult should learn. The novel teaches, through the distinct views of individuals, that all individuals have value based solely on the fact that they are human and that every action has an effect that must be considered.
Exile, the reality and practice of being barred from a native country, has prolifically influenced many philosophers’ theoretical writings. Indeed, Julia Kristeva being in exile from her native Bulgaria is a foreigner in an unascertained land. Being an outcast influence’s her philosophical, political and sociological extended essay Strangers to Ourselves published in 1991. The book addresses a problem that Kristeva has experienced first-hand: the struggle of being a foreigner in Western culture and the difficulties that people and nations have with treating foreigners residing in their motherland. Jealousy drives our nationalist temperaments and Kristeva explores the figure of the unconscious foreigner in all of us. Strangers to Ourselves draws on the difficulty that natives have in accepting the stranger within and if we can come to terms with this notion. The exile is often a foreigner in an unfamiliar place or a foreigner repressed within the native’s unconscious, however a feeling of ‘strangeness’ can also occur through an exclusion from the ‘hegemonic rationalism of modern society’ (Lechte: 79). There are at least two other forms of exile that can produce the foreign-ness in us: being an exile as a way to thrive intellectually and imaginatively and being alienated as a woman. Historically and in the contemporary world, natives incite prejudice onto
Traversing lands unknown to one before has always been a subject of mystery, as these foreign sights and wonders give way to many unexpected discoveries to the naïve mind. In any society, the idea of travelling abroad is still taboo in most circles – the ethnocentric ideals of most traditional cultures, while not outright forbidding, but still do look down on the practice of leaving home with goals of success. Whether it be religious thoughts of demons abroad or wanting to keep handy laborers at home, or any other reason, there is always reason for those wanting to wanting to keep such virile young at home, and they will often attempt to do so. Those leaving will give up their identity, but not in any kind of negative way; as they grow, they will find themselves changed by time, as they embrace the new ideas and rituals of their live-in society. They may go home, but with the inward change and newfound knowledge, they will not be able to see the world with their young eyes, as they once had. Overcoming adversity is a manner of mending the word a bit and learning to adapt to any current situation.
He walked over to the shore and reflected on the surrounding. He was observing the faces of the people that will travel with him to an unknown destination. He was hoping it would be Italy but any country, in his illegal situation, is a promise for a better life. The immigrants were only middle aged men. However, their faces didn’t reflect their youth.