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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 on in the story, he discusses the relief that deciding to go punk made him feel because it gave him a group to identify with, even if it wasn’t true to who he was, “...I wanted to be white. It’s not a proud feeling, but it’s not a feeling that comes from the shame of being brown. It’s a tired feeling…Punk alleviated that exhaustion—or at least I thought it did. In my spiked leather jacket, Subhumans T-shirt, Doc Marten books, and ever-changing haircuts, I forest the portrait of a kid who belonged, a kid who fit in by not fitting in, and even if that portrait ultimately turned out to be flat and shallow, it had the illusion of depth.” (Tran 7). 

Based on this, and your own text, what is the better option for immigrants trying to assimilate; should they fall prey to stereotypes and fit into the boxes already made for them or should they carve their own path? Or is there an in-between?

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I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez is about a young girl named Julia whose parents are immigrants from Mexico and they moved to Chicago. Julia is a girl who doesn't really like crowds and she has a temper and often gets grounded for the things that and the things she says and does. When her mom was coming to pick her up from school she was supposed to pick up Olga because she was forced to take the bus. When she was switching buses Olga was on her phone not paying attention and walked into the street where she got hit by a semi and died. As the family mourns this loss Julia finds some strange things in her sisters room including a hotel key card that did not belong to the hotel her sister worked for, these things caused her to want to investigate what her sister was hiding.

When her parents came from Mexico they got jobs and tried to fit into society. Her dad works at a candy factory packaging candy. And her mom works to clean houses for people. Julia loves art and loves going to the art museums although no one wants to go with her, she wants to go to college and live in a dorm but she is expected to stay home if she goes to college she is expected to go to community college near there home. When she tells her family she wants to be a writer they tell her she won't get very far and that she should get a job that will actually pay well so she can live in a good place. “Once, I told Apá that I wanted to be a writer, but all he said was that I had to make enough money so I didn’t have to live in an apartment full of roaches” (Sánchez 121).

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Hi pmaloy24,

I am curious as to your answer to the question, then? You replied with summary of your novel as well as a quote to support the summary, but never addressed the question over stereotypes and assimilation. Based on your quote, it seems that the character in your novel wanted to be someone else which her parents did not approve of. Do you think that this was an appropriate response from her family? Do you think too that Julia should just do what her family wants her to do instead of following her dreams?

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