Learning to Love America The journey and emotions that an immigrant must endure is something that no one can know unless you have experienced it. It may bring up feelings of joy, remorse, belonging, or isolation depending on the individuals experience. In Shirley Geok-Lin Lim’s poem “Learning to Love America,” she digs into these emotions of immigrating to a new country and the expectations that come with it. The speaker of this poem, most-likely a middle-aged immigrant and a mother, demonstrates that coming to America was both a rewarding journey as well as a struggle with her own personal identity and belonging through contrasting her thankfulness and her remorse. At first, the poem starts off with one line, “because it has no pure products”
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The fact that these attributes of where she is now living are mentioned may mean that she was unable to experience these things where she once lived. Because of this, this may be interpreted as being grateful that she now gets to experience these things. The speaker also writes that her “senses have caught up with my body/ my breath with the air it swallows/ my hunger with my mouth” (ll 9-11). Again, this shows that although she was not used to the new land in the beginning, a completely normal occurrence when you move anywhere, she has finally become accustomed to America. When she speaks of her hunger, again it illustrates that she is happy that her family no longer experiences this now that they live in …show more content…
She speaks of how her son is a “strong American boy” (l 14), however the speaker follows this thought with how her son struggles with his identity as well. “Because I have seen his eyes redden when he is asked who he is/ because he answers I don’t know” (11 15-16). Although it may be assumed that he was born in America because he is considered an American boy, he still knows the struggle of his mother. He still feels the feeling of not belonging that comes immigration. As a mother, it would be a hard realization to know that your son is also struggling with something you hoped he never would have to when coming to a new
The fact that these attributes of where she is now living are mentioned may mean that she was unable to experience these things where she once lived. Because of this, this may be interpreted as being grateful that she now gets to experience these things. The speaker also writes that her “senses have caught up with my body/ my breath with the air it swallows/ my hunger with my mouth” (ll 9-11). Again, this shows that although she was not used to the new land in the beginning, a completely normal occurrence when you move anywhere, she has finally become accustomed to America. When she speaks of her hunger, again it illustrates that she is happy that her family no longer experiences this now that they live in …show more content…
She speaks of how her son is a “strong American boy” (l 14), however the speaker follows this thought with how her son struggles with his identity as well. “Because I have seen his eyes redden when he is asked who he is/ because he answers I don’t know” (11 15-16). Although it may be assumed that he was born in America because he is considered an American boy, he still knows the struggle of his mother. He still feels the feeling of not belonging that comes immigration. As a mother, it would be a hard realization to know that your son is also struggling with something you hoped he never would have to when coming to a new