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2. Group C--wgoucher26 (Replacement A)

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​​In Phuc Tran’s book, Sigh, Gone, he discusses the difficulty of figuring out his identity as an immigrant in a mostly American neighborhood. From questioning his name to determining where he fits in the social structure of his high school, Tran has to navigate learning who he is with an additional barrier to the average teenager, having a whole other culture as a large part of his life. One way that Tran finds ways to carve out his place is to read, not just to improve his vocabulary, but so he can have the same cultural references as the typical white guy, using Clifton Fadiman’s The Lifetime Reading Plan as a guide. 

Early in the story, Tran talks about his family’s relocation to the United States after fleeing Vietnam. After being bounced between multiple camps and multiple countries, they finally started to settle in Pennsylvania, “We needed to blend, adopt our new country as it had adopted us. My parents were navigating all the straits and inlets of living in America, holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving, driving in the snow, the difference between ketchup and catsup.” (Tran 20).

Based on this idea and the ideas from your book, how quickly are immigrants pressured to assimilate? What aspects of culture do they need to assimilate to early, and what aspects can be avoided or pushed until later?


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Protobeing
Joined: 5 months ago

In my book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Oscar the main character is the black sheep of the family. He's very nerdy and on the heavier side and has acne during his middle/highschool days and even still when he is in college. In the beginning the book talks about him and how he was getting girls and stuff but then his gf threatened to break up with her since he had another gf. He broke up with his other gf Olga but then his other gf breaks up with him and he grows up he becomes a nerd and he got bigger and no girls wanted him. Then later on he goes to college and he meets a girl named Ana which he falls in love with and she brings him out on a date. But she doesnt get with him and instead goes back with her ex. The book then moves onto his sister, his sister lola hated their mom deeply even though their mom was sick. Which made her run away from home with a boy named Aldo but they eventually broke up and then she gets another boyfriend named Max but then my book kinda cuts off into their mothers story. In my book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao talks about his and his sister's mother (Beli).  She had a very repetitive life but she got a scholarship and throughout school she dreamed about boys which upset her mother. Then she got her first bf named jack he's considered the schools handsomest but they didn't last long but then they got back together but that also did not last long and she dropped out of the school.she eventually got with a gangster for a long time, she got pregnant by him but his wife sent her off with some grunts that beat her near to death, she was dumped on the road and somehow she lived. She then later left Santo Domingo to go live in New york. My book moves on back to Lola, her grandma tells her that she has to move back with  her mom and she quit her classes and everything and she even broke up with Max. She felt like utter crap and she wasn't herself. She fooled around with one of her classmates' dad who was after her which made the guy happy till she asked for a lot of money. She had gotten the money and stashed it. She soon found out that her ex Max had died which was heartbreaking for her since she hadn't seen him since the break up. through out the second part of my book it didn't go into depth about the aspects of culture my characters had to assimilate to or about how pressured they were nor did it talk about the aspects, but my characters did have to assimilate their surroundings which is abit similar in a way. an example of when my character had to assimilate to their surroundings was when Lola had to assimilate to being away from everything she loved, “i ended up being really stupid those last weeks. I guess i wanted to disappear more than anything and so i was trying to make it so.” (Diaz 206)

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Protobeing
Joined: 5 months ago

how do you think the story would have changed if the male at the start of the story had gone to the gym and bettered him self? Do you think this would have changed the plot/storyline of the book? 

Do you think that the girls actions could have been different and focused more in school it would have been different or do you belive that life was meant for her and that's her destiny 

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Protobeing
Posts: 23

he probably would have been way more confident and possibly would have gotten a girl friend and would have had less people bullying him. as for the second question I dont really understand it that well mostly since idk which girl you were talking about specifically 

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Protobeing
Joined: 5 months ago

In my book A Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok Kim recently moved to the United States from Hong Kong. Kim is still struggling with the challenges of being an immigrant, balancing her education, work and the struggles that come with being in a new country. Because of these challenges Kim feels like she has to assimilate to American culture quickly. Early on Kim feels like she has to learn the English language quickly in order to succeed academically and socially, “I had to help my mother with the English letters that came from the factory. There were papers that had instructions written in English, and my mother couldn’t understand them. She depended on me.” (kwok) This quote shows that Kim didn't  just have to learn english because of school she had to learn english to help her mom. Kim needed to learn English quickly to help support her family. Kim in the beginning of the book solely focused on surviving because that is all you can do in an unfamiliar country. Kim only focused on learning English and her academics in the beginning of the book. But later on in the book she started to make friends and challenge discrimination she faces in the book.  

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