Essay on Two Languages and Two Cultures

After civil war had settled down, many immigrants came to America to live from many countries such as Germany, Ireland, and England. There are as many as 12 million immigrants at this time. Regarding Chinese immigration, they immigrated to the United States from 1849 to 1882. Between this period, America had California Gold Rush, which is one of the reasons Chinese people immigrated. Because the Chinese Exclusion Act was taken into practice, no more Chinese people could immigrate to the United States after 1882. Chinese immigration is the divergent point for Chinese’ lives who lived in America.

Globally, the United States has been known as "a nation of immigrants" almost from its inception. Beginning in the 1600s with English Puritans and continuing today, America is a melting pot of culture and ethnicity. In fact, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, immigration was the major source of U.S. population growth. Looking over our 200+ years we find that to clearly be true, with approximately 1 million immigrants coming to America during the 17th and 18th century. Almost 3 million arrived during the 1860s, and another 3 million in the 1870s. In the next four decades, the number of immigrants rose to over 25 million people, most from various European nations, most arriving in New York or one of the Eastern seaports (Damon, 1981). Despite the politicization, as of 2006, the United States actually was the number one country globally to accept legal immigrants into the country, with a current immigrant population of almost 40 million (Terrazas and Batalova, 2009). In fact, the peak of immigration was 1907, when over 1.2 million Europeans entered the country beginning a push towards legislation limiting immigration in the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1924 and the 1921 Congressional Quota Act. These immigrants came for two sociological reasons: the push factor (wars, famine, persecution and overpopulation) and the pull factors (jobs and the promise of freedom). Most came by ship, and a passage often cost the equivalent of an entire life's savings causing many

Tan shows that she is embarrassed in her family for their lacking of proper American manners. Although at the time she felt ashamed, the words spoken by her mother, “Inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame” became better understood later in life. In Amy Tan's work, the strong use of description of both the event that are occurring and Amy’s feelings about them, draws the reader in and makes them feel as if they are part of the action. Tan's Chinese-American culture and life stories are imprinted in her writing which gives the reader an opportunity to gain knowledge about the way of life in her family, friends, and even the Chinese culture. Tan's main purpose of writing is to inform and educate people about growing up as a minority in the American society.

Since its founding, the United States has attracted immigrants from all over the world and consists of a variety of different cultures. Immigration has had an enormous impact on American society and economy and shaped the country remarkably.

The Chinese Experience records the history of the Chinese in the United States. The three-part documentary shows how the first arrivals from China, their descendants, and recent immigrants have “become American.” It is a story about identity and belonging that is relative to all Americans. The documentary is divided into three programs, each with a focus on a particular time in history. Program 1 describes the first arrivals from China, beginning in the early 1800’s and ending in 1882, the year Congress passed the first Chinese exclusion act. Program 2, which details the years of exclusion and the way they shaped and distorted Chinese American

Jing-Mei, a young girl born in America, continuously opposes the tenacious ambitions of her Chinese immigrant mother who believes America to be full of unlimited opportunities. The different types of conflict present in Amy Tan’s short story, Two Kinds, establish the theme of parental expectations in a relationship between mother and daughter. Jing-Mei undergoes an internal struggle as she aspires to become her own individual, just as external conflict appears between the mother and daughter, each with a different mindset.

Economically, they filled a significant need for cheap labor in booming American industries. The large numbers of immigrants helped keep labor cost down for Big Business and different groups were often put against each other in competition for the cheapest workers. Politically, different immigrant groups became active members of various labor organizations and unions, pushing to change pro-business laws and establish regulations governing working conditions and wages. And socially, American culture as it is known now was formed by this influx of immigrants. People from all over the planet brought with them not only their labor but also their cultures, helping to contribute to the mosaic that is the American way of life. These immigrants, as shown by the prejudice and discrimination directed towards them, were not always welcome. In economic hard times, immigrants were blamed for job shortages and family hardships, used as scapegoats for larger problems. Nativist movements were directed against the Chinese, Japanese, Italians, and others, especially during the 1880s and 90s. As evidenced by the Chinese Exclusion Act and later legislation that limited immigration from Japan and other regions, this anti-immigrant sentiment went as high up as the nation's capital. This history was simply a repeat of the nativism and hatred directed against the Irish and Germans of the 1840s and 1850s and is similar to that experienced in America today by immigrants from Mexico and Latin America. In the area of immigration, history repeats

The mother, truly wants what is best for her daughter, but refuses to acknowledge that her daughter does not want to be a prodigy or play the piano. Her daughter only wants to live her own life and does not understand the success her mother is trying to push on her. Every mother and daughter relationship is different, but the most classic type is the “mother knows best trope.” Of course, if the story was presented in China, rather than America, the daughter may have fallen into her mother’s life path, “"Only two kinds of daughters," she shouted in Chinese. "Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!" (Tan pg #). However, since her daughter was born in America, she was given an opportunity to be who she wanted to be, because of America’s new dream of independence and

Making a name for oneself and starting a family is difficult, but it is even more arduous when it is in a completely new country with citizens who judge newcomers based on racial differences. In the face of such adversity, Joseph and Mary Tape swiftly assimilated themselves and their family into American society; in a time of intense political tension for Chinese immigration, they utilized their abilities to survive. By embracing their assimilation and connecting into their ever expanding prestige as middle-class Chinese Americans, the Tapes were able to act as ethnic and cultural brokers between the Chinese and American society. Though the Tapes were “at once powerful and marginal” as brokers, their unique social standing and abilities

U.S. as an immigration country, has a long history of immigration. It is a complex demographic phenomenon that has been a major source of population growth and cultural change of the United States. People came here because of varies reason, the major reason among them are fleeing crop failure, land and job shortage, rising taxes, and famine. Nearly 12 million people immigrate to the United States between 1870 and 1900, making it the world largest immigrate country.

        Ever since the United States was founded, immigrants have been arriving on its soil.  The first white inhabitants of the U.S. were immigrants from Europe.  They came for many reasons, such as religion and opportunity.  As the country grew and became more prosperous, it became more enticing to foreigners looking for opportunity.  This continued into the 20th century and finally during the 1920’s, the United States began to restrict immigrants from coming to their country, mostly for cultural and economic reasons.  Even the immigrants that were allowed in during the 20’s faced many hardships such as religious persecution, racism, and xenia phobia.  One of the major groups of immigrants during that

Millions of people come to America, the most diverse country in the world, in search for the American Dream. Everyone has their own of American Dream leading them to success. Culture shapes our way of life and is learned through the society that we were born into. Many different kinds of immigrants come to America including white, black, rich, poor, religious, etc. Each have their own way of life and their own customs. Coming to America will be a different lifestyle and it will take time to get used to adopting the various mannerisms. Being born into a certain culture can determine one’s values and behaviors. Traditions change when entering a new setting. Immigrants coming to America have to assimilate to a great degree in an economic and social

The media is the biggest tool of circuit of culture, and yet there are very few representations of minorities in media. Fresh Off the Boat is a cultural artifact for Asian Americans. “Artifacts are charged with meaning, but many of those meanings speak for our identification with groups” (Brummett p.55). The show represents what the group is like as a whole. This is problematic as the show represents Asian Americans as chinkified, “ching-chong” caricatures. The methods used for methodological perspective are the nodal points of the Circuit of Culture. The Circuit of Culture is representation, regulation, identity, consumption, and production. Out of these five, identity relates to the show the most. The show represents Asian Americans and reminds or shows the audience the experience of immigrants. Many Asian Americans tune into Fresh Off the Boat because it is one of the few times Asian Americans are able to identify themselves and their families with the characters as they experience similar experiences. It reminds Asian Americans the struggles and difficulties of balancing two different worlds and experiencing extreme prejudice. The writer for “Saucy Dishes”, Gish Jen writes, “And all for the distancing of the

America is a melting pot of culture. The statue of liberty at Ellis Island has welcomed hundreds of thousands of immigrants into this country since the early 1900s. Although the immigrant families knew it was important to learn the American language and American culture, they also wanted to keep alive their rich heritage and pass it onto their children. This was often a struggle as their children attended American schools and picked up on the American culture ways quicker than their elder parents. Often these children, especially the teenagers, would struggle with embarrassment over the ways their family was different from other American families. One author who wrote about this struggle was Amy Tan.

The media chosen for this essay is based on a currently running television show that is being aired on the American Broadcast Company or what is more commonly know as ABC. The name of these television show is called Fresh Off the Boat, which is a work of comedy based fiction set between the years of 1995 and 1997 in which the family of a Taiwanese family comprised of first, second, and third generation immigrants that move from Chinatown in Washington, D.C. to Orlando, Florida of the main protagonists is a son named Eddie Huang in which he is basically the narrator of the story. The father of the Huang family moves to open a country and western themed restaurant and the majority of the family begin to have issues assimilating into the Florida community almost entirely devoid of other Asians. Although the cultural aspects of how the family is not fitting in plays a prominent role in the narrative as told by Eddie other