Immigrants In The 19th Century

In the late 19th century, people across the globe left their homelands in hopes to find freedom in the United States. Overwhelming populations of immigrants flooded urban areas like New York City. The “native” Americans skeptics of immigrants resulted in the assimilation of many immigrants because of the threat they caused. The out-casting of immigrants in large cities by the “native” Americans led to the formation of immigrant neighborhoods in order to have a sense of community. The condensed outdated apartment buildings in the neighborhoods had multiple families living one floor. Immigrants believed that they would flourish in the new land of opportunity, not realizing that everything would cost money in the city, such as electricity, rent, …show more content…
Before Rose finds out in the hospital, she did not know that the part of New York City that she was living in was considered the East Side, the Slums or the Ghetto (240). Rose enjoyed her time spent away from her home and the responsibilities her parents bestowed on her when she lived there. When she returns home, her only thoughts were of herself and the outside world beyond her home on Cherry Street (248). When the opportunity arises for her to leave home to go to the retreat center out in the countryside, she does not think about it for a second before she accepted the offer. Younger children of various nationalities who all came from the poor immigrant communities filled the retreat center. Rose escaped from her daily work life at home when she stayed at the retreat center. She felt like she belonged at the retreat center and that she fulfilled a bigger purpose than when she worked for the sweatshops. As she returns home again, she says “it was hard to get used to the old life again…..It was all stranger than ever, the home, my people; their ways” (273). Rose feared that she would lose touch with her native culture when she came over to America and now her culture became the one thing she wished to get rid of in her