Immigrants in America
My mother, an immigrant from Romania, came to America when she was in her mid-twenties. She knew that America would be better for her because of the injustices she suffered in Communist Romania. Although they are not as violent, such injustices were still present in America. Her accent and dress were mocked, she was told to leave the country, and few Americans would befriend her. Most immigrants must endure unfair treatment. The Bean Trees, written by Barbara Kingsolver, is a story set primarily in Arizona that follows two main characters: Taylor Greer and Lou Ann Ruiz. The two girls are subjected to injustice everywhere, whether it is through the poverty in the town where they live or the strip club near their grocery …show more content…
In her article, García mentions the strong aversion Americans had to allowing Southeast Asian immigrants into the US. She states that “news stories about the high casualty rates of Vietnamese boat people stranded at sea and in squalid refugee camps in Thailand did little to change public opinion: By 1979, only 32 percent of Americans surveyed wanted to accommodate more Southeast Asian refugees,… [complaining] that the refugees were culturally ‘unassimilable’” (García par. 8). Americans are very selfish, worrying less about the lives of those struggling to survive in other countries and more about the preservation of their culture. All the Vietnamese immigrants needed was a safe, comfortable place to stay, but they are so despised in society that Americans couldn’t even grant them that. Not only can Americans not tolerate the thought of cultures mixing, they cannot stand the culture, particularly the material culture of dress. In The Bean Trees, Taylor helps Estevan and Esperanza leave Arizona and go to a Native American Reservation in Oklahoma. In order to avoid suspicions from the border patrol, “Esperanza and Estevan were dressed about as American as you could get without looking plain obnoxious: he had on jeans and an alligator shirt… [and Esperanza] was wearing culottes, a yellow T-shirt, and sunglasses with pink frames” (Kingsolver 254). Estevan and Esperanza had to be people that they weren’t or else they would immediately be taken by border patrol and deported back to Guatemala. Kingsolver uses the element of setting, which shows the clothes they were wearing were ordinary at that time and would help them blend into society unnoticed. Estevan and Esperanza had to change not only their clothes, but their cultural background in order to be considered normal in American society, demonstrating that Americans did
My mother, an immigrant from Romania, came to America when she was in her mid-twenties. She knew that America would be better for her because of the injustices she suffered in Communist Romania. Although they are not as violent, such injustices were still present in America. Her accent and dress were mocked, she was told to leave the country, and few Americans would befriend her. Most immigrants must endure unfair treatment. The Bean Trees, written by Barbara Kingsolver, is a story set primarily in Arizona that follows two main characters: Taylor Greer and Lou Ann Ruiz. The two girls are subjected to injustice everywhere, whether it is through the poverty in the town where they live or the strip club near their grocery …show more content…
In her article, García mentions the strong aversion Americans had to allowing Southeast Asian immigrants into the US. She states that “news stories about the high casualty rates of Vietnamese boat people stranded at sea and in squalid refugee camps in Thailand did little to change public opinion: By 1979, only 32 percent of Americans surveyed wanted to accommodate more Southeast Asian refugees,… [complaining] that the refugees were culturally ‘unassimilable’” (García par. 8). Americans are very selfish, worrying less about the lives of those struggling to survive in other countries and more about the preservation of their culture. All the Vietnamese immigrants needed was a safe, comfortable place to stay, but they are so despised in society that Americans couldn’t even grant them that. Not only can Americans not tolerate the thought of cultures mixing, they cannot stand the culture, particularly the material culture of dress. In The Bean Trees, Taylor helps Estevan and Esperanza leave Arizona and go to a Native American Reservation in Oklahoma. In order to avoid suspicions from the border patrol, “Esperanza and Estevan were dressed about as American as you could get without looking plain obnoxious: he had on jeans and an alligator shirt… [and Esperanza] was wearing culottes, a yellow T-shirt, and sunglasses with pink frames” (Kingsolver 254). Estevan and Esperanza had to be people that they weren’t or else they would immediately be taken by border patrol and deported back to Guatemala. Kingsolver uses the element of setting, which shows the clothes they were wearing were ordinary at that time and would help them blend into society unnoticed. Estevan and Esperanza had to change not only their clothes, but their cultural background in order to be considered normal in American society, demonstrating that Americans did