“To strengthen my decision to add an American name, I had just finished fifth grade in Whittier, where all the kids incessantly called me “ferocious” (85). Ferocious sounded angry and violent. Dumas was not a mean person, in fact she just wanted to fit in and adapt to her new life. She did not want to be the kid who was not asked when she moved to America or where her accent went or if she was enjoying the country. She just wanted to be like everyone else on the block.
Velez2 Jennifer Velez Comp107 Miss Atzeni 3/22/2012 The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl By Elizabeth Wong In Elizabeth Wong’s writing on how she struggled to be an “All-American” girl, she expresses the strict religion and culture brought on by her single-parent raising mother, when all she only wanted was to fit in with American culture. While Elizabeth and her brother wanted to play childhood games, such as ghost hunt, with their friends their mother was stern on the importance of learning the language of their heritage. She would walk them seven long blocks to Chinese school, no matter how often they pleaded with her to not attend. Elizabeth wasn’t fond of the smell of the school or that the learning was restricted. She felt that American school would be a better fit for her.
Before the reform movement, the American Women were voiceless, they had no say in society, however the reform movement will soon change that. Married women had no very little rights compared to husband, one
Both of these women have similarities, for instance, they both don’t have any children, they wish to be seen equally to men, and they feel somewhat imprisoned within themselves. Frida Kahlo didn’t have any children of her own because her illnesses didn’t allow her to have any. So her paintings, her creations, were basically her children. Most of her art work reflects herself, her feelings and her life stories. Elisa, like Frida, didn’t have any children of her own either.
"In America I will have a daughter just like me. But over there nobody will say her worth is measured by the loudness of her husband's belch. Over there nobody will look down on her, because I will make her speak only perfect American English" (3). This is extremely different from the older generation because when they were kids they were very independent and could not rely on their parents for help and support. A huge difference between the two generations is how outspoken they are.
And what is “normal” is presenting and upholding oneself as a white person. In The Joy Luck Club, The Accidental Asian, and A Shortcut to the American Dream, I am going to compare and contrast the process of assimilation of the second generation Asian Americans and why they question their culture and identity. In The Joy Luck Club, Lena St. Clair is an example of a second generation Asian American, who assimilated but also aware of her culture and self-identity. She grew up in a household where her mother, Ying-Ying, does not speak any English and her father, Clifford, who does not speak any Chinese. Her family structure is different than any typical Asian American household because her parents don’t communicate with each other.
She does this because her town, Riceville, Iowa, has no black people in it, and therefore most of her students never met one. This means anything they say would not really be their own judgment, but rather the judgment of others regurgitated. On page fifteen they said, “ Negroes weren’t as smart as white people. They weren’t as clean. They fought a lot.
When ambition continuously drives you towards greater success, life can take a tragic turn. Born and raised in a trailer, Maggie is a 30 year old woman from Southwestern Missouri blending into society like any other citizen of the United States. She is not noticed for any of her previous fights that she had contended in and hopes that she will eventually be seen as a great honorable fighter. Like many others in her community her career is going no where because of her low class status and being looked down upon. For example... “She was trailer trash, like so many of the people in the region, and grew up being looked down upon” (Toole, 68).
For as long as we can remember, human rights in Saudi Arabia have always been less than that of any other country, especially their women rights. In Saudi Arabia, the women have no rights to their lives or what goes on around them. For instance, they are not allowed to show their faces or bodies, cannot drive, and they are not allowed to vote. If they are not married, then their father has complete say so over their lives even if they are grown. Once married the husband has full power over them but may still consult with the father.
Her father had said, “None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such.” (364) Her father never allowed her to make her own decisions even when she was almost 30 years old. Many people think that maybe the reason why he was so strict with Miss Emily and why he put so much pressure on her could have traced back to her family. Emily’s family was a very noble family and her father had thought that they were the most prominent in the entire town and that no one else was fit for Miss Emily. Any time a man would come close to being a part of Emily’s life, her father would not allow it and he would chase them all off. Her father had kept her away from any experience with love that she might ever have known.