Reading and analyzing primary sources are one of the methods that provide a window into the past in order to determine the significance, reliability, and make a viable interpretation of the historical events. The book “Syrian Yankee” is considered one of the primary sources that provide a perspective to the story of an Arab immigrant from Syria at the beginning of the 20th century. In this essay, a chapter from this book, “My Home My Native Land,” will be analyzed and critically put in its historical contexts.
The author of this book is Salom Rizk, an Arab American, who immigrated to the United States of America. In the assigned chapter, there is no indication of his parents nor for siblings. From the other chapters of the book, it is known that he immigrated to the United States in 1927. Because of the 1921 Emergency Quota Act and the 1924 Immigration Act, my first interpretation was either he is a United States citizen who lives in Syria or he conducted a special type of immigration before he gets to a US land. The proof of that is in his writing when he says, “I raced from the American building to spread the good news …show more content…
Rizk recalls the words of one of his relatives, Abdo, about America, he says “… While Abdo’s words rang in my ears: ‘America does not take people with a bad character…. America is clean.’” (Rizk 119). In people’s minds, America is the land where money is everywhere, and everyone who gets in America is a great character. These ideas paint the bright, perfect and the ideal picture of America in the soul and the brain of the dreamers who what to accomplish the dream of touching the soil of America, where everything is
The author of this book is Salom Rizk, an Arab American, who immigrated to the United States of America. In the assigned chapter, there is no indication of his parents nor for siblings. From the other chapters of the book, it is known that he immigrated to the United States in 1927. Because of the 1921 Emergency Quota Act and the 1924 Immigration Act, my first interpretation was either he is a United States citizen who lives in Syria or he conducted a special type of immigration before he gets to a US land. The proof of that is in his writing when he says, “I raced from the American building to spread the good news …show more content…
Rizk recalls the words of one of his relatives, Abdo, about America, he says “… While Abdo’s words rang in my ears: ‘America does not take people with a bad character…. America is clean.’” (Rizk 119). In people’s minds, America is the land where money is everywhere, and everyone who gets in America is a great character. These ideas paint the bright, perfect and the ideal picture of America in the soul and the brain of the dreamers who what to accomplish the dream of touching the soil of America, where everything is