Bless Me Ultima China Analysis

As immigration from other countries into the United States grew, conflicts of culture have been a prominent issue that have affected immigrants, resulting in cultural alienation. This sense of isolation has been established and enforced by the white Americans, dating back to the early 1900’s, due to the beginning of non-European immigrants coming to America. In the two excerpts from “Bless Me, Ultima” and “The Buddha in the Attic” the speakers are people who have experienced immense cultural isolation from other cultures where they are not accepted. In “Bless Me, Ultima”, the speaker talks about how he was publicly ridiculed by teachers and other children in his class, alluding to how many immigrant children have felt when their culture is …show more content…
As he first arrives, he cannot speak english as well as the other kids. The teacher “pointed at [him] but he could not understand her”, as it was not his first language (Anaya). This alienates the speaker in multiple ways, he was singled out and humiliated for his lack of skills in english by his own teacher. This separated him from the American kids immediately, as they could all understand and answer the teacher. Along with feeling like he doesn't belong personally, the other children in his class also point him out, while they “laughed and pointed…[and forced him to be] kept away from the other groups...and worked alone” (Anaya). He was already feeling ashamed and disappointed in himself for not being like the others, but was also called out and bullied into solitude. Cultural difference is another factor in the alienation of the speaker. For example, when it is time for lunch, the other children take notice of his lunch and “laughed and pointed again… and showed [him] their sandwiches which were made of bread” (Anaya). Although the difference was small, the other children in his class used it as an opportunity to mock and single out the speaker. When they show him that he is not like the others, he still could not understand why they were so unaccepting to him. This is how many American …show more content…
Although they came to get a better situation of living, they were heavily discriminated and alienated by white American citizens who saw only them as inferior employees. For example, the Japanese immigrant women would see themselves differently than the women that they worked for, as they “regretted that [they] could not be more like them” (Otsuka). Their idolization of western culture has made them blind to how these women really felt about them. The white women were praised and envied by the Japanese women, purposefully dividing them into class systems. This created the cultural isolation of the immigrant women who were constantly surrounded by a social class of people that they would never get to be in, because of their race. Lastly, the speaker talks about how their employers spoke of them, calling them better than “the others [groups of immigrants not from Japan]”, therefore marginalizing them to seem insignificant (Otsuka). These women were objectified by their employers, and “bragged about… to their neighbors” as if they were only servants, and degraded their worth as equals (Otsuka). When the white women would show them off like pets, this divided their social standing, because of their cultural background as immigrants. The cultural