The Other Family By Himani Bannerji

“I’m Nikhil” (Jhumpa Lahiri 96) these are the words that Gogol uttered for the first

Mother Tongue is a story that describes how Amy Tan’s mother was treated unfairly because of her “broken English”. As the second generation of Chinese immigrants, Tan faces more problems than her peers do. Her mom, who speaks “limited” English, needs Tan to be her “translator” in order to communicate with the native English speakers. Tan has felt ashamed of her mother “broken” language at first. She then contemplates her background affected her life and her study. However, she changes her thought at the end since she realizes things behind language might be more valuable than language itself sometimes. Through the various different literary devices and rhetorical strategies such as the ethos, pathos, and logos appeals, as well as a

The poem “Mothers and Daughters” is written by Pat Mora. Pat Mora is a contemporary award winning writer, who writes for children, youngsters and adults. She was born in El Paso, TX in the year 1942. She attains a title of a Hispanic writer; however, the most of her poems are in English. In her literary work, one can observe the different aspects of the immigrants’ lives such as language issues, family relationships, immigrants’ experiences and cultural differences (1187).

In the article "My family's slave" by Alex Tizon, the author who was only 11 years old when he realized the woman who lived with him for 56 years turned out to be an unpaid slave. The salves name that lived with Tizon was named Lola. Tizon's parents brought Lola with them to the U.S. in 1964, when they moved from the Philippines. Lola was treated unfairly by Tizon’s parents. Thus, every time Tizon’s parents moved Lola was forced to sleep in any small space that was available, like a couch or amongst piles of laundry. Lola felt isolated from the world. She worked from morning to night without getting paid. Lola’s labor work went unnoticed and she was never rewarded. In the article “My family’s slave,” Tizon felt guilty

In the Dramatic autobiography the Happiest Refugee, book the author Anh Do uses a wide range of Scenes to take audience attention throughout the story with different sort of language effects. A specific form of exploring scenes to audiences is the storytelling, Anh utilises this technique in the book and explores his life experiences. The purpose of the storytelling is to increase the motivation or mental stimulation of reader through entertainment. To do this use range of features including, Narrative voice, setting, sentence structures, Paragraph structures, Figurative language, Alliteration, Onomatopoeia and Characterisation. The two scenes that exemplify all these features are the serious scene when Anh’s family face a massive loss from the farm interest rates and the other scène is when Anh’s mother gets a “biggest” Pig they could find and brought it on Anh and Suzie’s engagement to show how wealthy they are, that they can take care of their daughter and keep her happy.

English is an invisible gate. Immigrants are the outsiders. And native speakers are the gatekeepers. Whether the gate is wide open to welcome the broken English speakers depends on their perceptions. Sadly, most of the times, the gate is shut tight, like the case of Tan’s mother as she discusses in her essay, "the mother tongue." People treat her mother with attitudes because of her improper English before they get to know her. Tan sympathizes for her mother as well as other immigrants. Tan, once embarrassed by her mother, now begins her writing journal through a brand-new kaleidoscope. She sees the beauty behind the "broken" English, even though it is different. Tan combines repetition, cause and effect, and exemplification to emphasize

Set against the backdrop of the Californian Gold Rush of the 1850s, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt follows the lives of two brothers, Eli and Charlie Sisters. The Sisters Brothers tells the story of these infamous assassins who are on a journey to San Francisco to kill a man named Hermann Kermit Warm. Warm appears to be a subtle man, who is accused of stealing from their boss, a formidable figured named the Commodore. As the brothers continue on with their journey, they come across many people from all walks of life: a weeping man, gold-digging prospectors, a young-naïve boy, and a dentist. Although the brothers don’t realize it, these individuals help the brothers perceive the world in a completely different way. Not to mention, they change the way the novel is bestowed. The brothers eventually end up at their final destination in San Francisco from Oregon City, where they realize that their adventure has actually just begun. After several eye-opening incidents, the brothers begin to question their jobs, and the true meaning of their lives.

In the book Half Brother, by Kenneth Oppel, Ben Tomlin is a very thoughtful person because he is considerate, caring, friendly, and kindhearted. Ben Tomlin, the main character in the book, lives in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada with his mom, dad, and a chimpanzee, Zan. Some things about Ben is that he has curly hair, he likes to play Risk and pinball, and he does cross-country and photography. First of all, Ben is a thoughtful person because he is considerate of others, especially his friends and family. An example that proves this is can be found in Half Brother, by Kenneth Oppel on page 371, said by Ben. “I paused, because this part was hard to admit. ‘I didn’t love you at first, Zan. I thought you were weird, and I guess I was jealous, and sometimes I didn’t want you at all. But that didn’t last long. You were my little brother. I really felt that. That was never fake.’” This quote explains that even though Zan is a chimpanzee, Ben still loves him because he cares for him and wants what’s best for Zan, which is a family. Another time where Ben shows his thoughtfulness by being considerate of others is when he understands why Zan is being crazy. Even though Zan is fooling around and he can’t stop him, he is not mad at Zan because he knows that Zan is an animal after all, even though his family is raising him like a human. He knows that Zan is only having his temper tantrum and he knows that he can’t stop him because he is an animal, not a human. In Half Brother, by

America is a nation built on the foundation of freedom and equality. Today, America is one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world, but also one of the most religiously dived. Eboo Patel, author of the novel Sacred Ground, is an activist for the integration of pluralism into American culture. Throughout the novel he expresses his ideas for more interfaith programs to broaden the knowledge of the younger generation with the hope of eliminating bigotry amongst various religions. Patel’s crucial message is that many people often misjudge or jump to conclusions, in this case about religions, which they don’t know much about. College is a place to break these barriers because it is a time for self-exploration and new ideas to be formed.

The book Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Coates writes a letter, addressing his son. He composed this message to his fifteen-year-old son, who that year had learned of the unjustified murders of numerous black individuals, including Eric Garner and Michael Brown; killed by police officers who received no punishment for their actions. Coates describes to his son many realities, that he has experienced firsthand, with which a black person must contend. He details his difficult childhood, living in fear – fear of the streets, fear of the police, fear of losing his body. In his letter, he illustrates how Howard University, the Mecca, and his experiences and interactions there shaped him. Another incident he discusses as one that

For some people finding out who they are is not exactly the hardest thing to do in the world, some know it from the moment they are born. There are, however, also other people who have to struggle and search for their identities. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri is the story of a boy who does just that. It focuses on the Ganguli’s, a Bengali family, who, after moving homes from India to the United States, struggle to uphold a delicate balance between honoring the traditions of their heritage and assimilating into the American culture. Although Ashoke and Ashima’s parents are proud of the sacrifices they have made to provide their children with as many opportunities as they could, their son, Gogol, strives to create his own identity without leaving his heritage behind. In the novel Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, Gogol faces many struggles while searching for his identity.

A person’s heritage and cultural identity may be lost when moving to a new country where the culture is different and other cultures are not easily accepted. In the short story “Hindus”, Bharati Mukherjee uses setting, characters and the plot to discuss what it is like to lose your cultural identity while being a visible minority in America. Mukherjee uses the plot to describe the events that take place in the main characters life that lead her to realize how different the culture and life is in the America’s. She also uses the characters as a way of demonstrating how moving away from one’s culture and heritage can change a person’s perspective and ways of thinking. Mukerjee also uses setting in her story to identity the physical differences in culture between living in India and America. Alike the setting and characters, the plot helps describe the loss of culture with a sequence of events.

In the personal essay “My Mothers Tongue” (1990), Amy Tan, widely known author explains her insights on language and culture identity using details and memories from her own life experiences. Tan conceals that the language in which her mother used with her “was the language that helped shape the way [she] saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world” (1208) and in the process it made her who she is today as an author. Tan illuminates the euro centricity of the Master Narrative by retelling stories of her mother being treated poorly because of her “broken” or “limited” English. She recalls many past experiences where her mother suffered from bad service and treatment from restaurants, stockbrokers, and even hospitals. Using examples from her personal life Tan gets her point across about language and culture characteristics in order to show how Chinese culture is affected by the master narrative and also encourages others to include a variety of cultures in order to overcome bias opinions. Tan’s apparent audience can be ranged from the child of an immigrant to a doctor and offers an authentic and rich portrayal of Chinese history through her conflicting experience of her Chinese and American cultures.

Samsara is a film that takes you on a visual tour of countless extravagant places in the world. Samsara is an extremely unique film, because it showcases a plethora of different cultures, people, and landscapes, and seasons. Ron Fricke the director of the film wants us to be aware of all the things that are going around us. Fricke wants to emphasize avoiding all political correctness and views. I think that is the overall theme of this film is to show the viewers that we do not need the hustle bustle of everyday life to function. Instead we can focus on the wonderful things that are around us. We can connect through meditation but meditation does not have to be positive or optimistic. We can find way to connect and meditate through anything that has meaning to us in our

Strangers on the roof is written by Rajendra Prasad and is the English translation of his famous write-up Sara Akash. Sara Akash was Rajendra Yadav’s first novel set in his home town Agra, which brings forward the real face of society and contradicts the norms and notion put up in the name of Hinduism.