I found this piece to be particularly heartwarming. Obviously, we as a class know that Yiezierska becomes famous and popular, since she ends up writing things that we're reading, but to go into the beginning of her story as she's telling it, to ride with her, so to speak, on the emotional rollercoaster as she feels so hopefully and then subsequently let down about her adopted "Americanized" family not paying her after a month of work is rough. In fact, the whole time is basically her just trying to make a living and then being completely screwed over by whoever is employing her. Until she realizes she can be a writer at the end of it, it's a pretty miserable story - but, as we all know, she ends up being fairly famous and writing well past the point that she could actually write or see, via transcriptionists.
I don't so much have a question for you all, but rather a thought to ponder: In each of the instances we've studied so far, most of the immigrants we've dealt with have come over to America full of hope, only to have their hopes smashed to the ground by the harsh reality of the American system - but most of them push through and get their stuff together to the point that they become financially stable and end up doing what they like (or at least what makes them a living). A hundred years later, we're all struggling to make things work, but we've got a whole lot more opportunities to "work by what's in [us]" than most of these people ever did. How do you plan on using what you've learned from this class to motivate you to get what you need to get done, done?
Watching my parents past 14 years and seeing how they lived in America as immigrants and as well as reading articles about immigrants is simply amazing. It seems to me that, with perseverance, positive attitude and hard work, I believe people can make a living in America. It may not be the work they love to do, but my parents paved a passage for my siblings to do something we love. As a first generation of immigrants, it seems to me that my parents laid down a foundation for future generation to live and prosper. Its the sacrifice my parents made and I’m thankful for it. I think reading all the articles and books about immigrants opened my eyes even wider to be thankful and that I would follow my parents’ examples of perseverance and continue to work on my hard work with positive attitude, especially in class.
ReplyDeleteThis is actually something I have also noticed in my readings so far. As college students, we work hard to educate ourselves to be productive American citizens, but most of us are also working to keep ourselves fed and sheltered. It is a hard cycle to go through everyday and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel isn't easy because that light is attached to more work and debts. So many of these pieces are optimistic and have the message of "work hard and everything will work out for the best" and this is a message that is hard to support sometimes, but it is a message that you cling to. As bad as it seems, sometimes I think "hell if an immigrant can come to America without any idea what they will do or how America works and end up happy, I guess I can do it too." Not the best thought but it works. Thanks for reading my negative nancy rant.
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