The first example which shows this is how both characters in both poems began losing their formers lives is the usage of descriptive imagery that is told. For example in America in the first stanza: “Mama never knew what to make of the monthly five pound jars handed out by the immigration department until my friend Jeff mentioned Jelly”. While in Elders at the Falls “They stood there just above the river all the long day with their backs turned”. Both poems show right in the beginning how each of these characters are going through a change that is unwanted to them. The family in America is experiencing learning another country's ways and culture and getting adapted to them. As opposed to the Elders at the Falls these people are trying to
