In society, there is always corruption. The government drives people away by committing acts of wrongdoing and dishonesty. As You Like It, by William Shakespeare, tells about people fleeing the corrupt court in search of a safe paradise. Duke Frederick banishes and takes dukedom from Duke Senior, who has several followers leave with him. They are just several of the characters in As You Like It who end up fleeing corruption. They find refuge in the happy and peaceful Forest of Arden. Wonderful events happen in Arden because unlike the nefarious court, people have autonomy and rights. Much like Arden, America is a prominent refugee destination. People from Vietnam came to the United States in search of a better future after the war. Opportunities
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Everything is joyous in the forest. America, however, was not exactly a paradise for the Vietnamese refugees. Before they even arrived at America, life was rough. Having to sit on a boat for an extremely long period of time is not pleasant. Carina Hoang recalls, “‘It was the kind of storm that, with each wave crashing down, we all thought the whole boat would go down to the bottom of the sea. People threw up on each other, people were screaming and crying…it was horrible”’ (Baker). The Vietnamese journey to America via boat was much rougher than the banished of As You Like It simply walking to the forest. They had to go through difficulties overseas, which often led to sickness and death. Because they also had to hurriedly escape from Vietnam, “forced immigrants like the Vietnamese are usually less-prepared for the new society” (Chuong & Ta). It was challenging to interact with Americans due to a lack of English language skills. However, America was still a better place than Vietnam. Free from the grips of the dangerous, communist North Vietnam, America was paradise to the Vietnamese refugees. A refugee remarked, “compared to the bloody battlefields, the malaria-infested new economic zone and communist gulags, the squalid refugee camps scattered across Southeast Asia, the murders and rapes and starving and drowning on the high seas, California is still paradise” (Lam). California, where many of the Vietnamese immigrants arrived at, was heaven. After recovering from the initial shock of moving into a completely new
Everything is joyous in the forest. America, however, was not exactly a paradise for the Vietnamese refugees. Before they even arrived at America, life was rough. Having to sit on a boat for an extremely long period of time is not pleasant. Carina Hoang recalls, “‘It was the kind of storm that, with each wave crashing down, we all thought the whole boat would go down to the bottom of the sea. People threw up on each other, people were screaming and crying…it was horrible”’ (Baker). The Vietnamese journey to America via boat was much rougher than the banished of As You Like It simply walking to the forest. They had to go through difficulties overseas, which often led to sickness and death. Because they also had to hurriedly escape from Vietnam, “forced immigrants like the Vietnamese are usually less-prepared for the new society” (Chuong & Ta). It was challenging to interact with Americans due to a lack of English language skills. However, America was still a better place than Vietnam. Free from the grips of the dangerous, communist North Vietnam, America was paradise to the Vietnamese refugees. A refugee remarked, “compared to the bloody battlefields, the malaria-infested new economic zone and communist gulags, the squalid refugee camps scattered across Southeast Asia, the murders and rapes and starving and drowning on the high seas, California is still paradise” (Lam). California, where many of the Vietnamese immigrants arrived at, was heaven. After recovering from the initial shock of moving into a completely new