Many Ukrainians immigrated to the United States seeking freedom and the opportunity to achieve success. They were also striving to build more prosperous lives for their families. Since 1877, about 976,000 Ukraine’s have migrated to the united states and that number is still going up. Moving to America presented the Ukrainian Americans with many challenges. The immigrant’s lack of English-language skills prevented them from having favorable jobs. Imbolo Mbue’s novel Behold the Dreamers reveals the Jongas, a broken family from a poor small town in Cameroon. With little to no personal possessions or connections in America, the Jongas had to rebuild their lives from the beginning. Ukrainian Americans and the Jongas from Imbolo Mbue’s novel Behold the Dreamers both struggled to find their place in
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The Ukrainian Americans had a challenge adapting to American culture. This caused them to stay in communities with people from their own ethnic background. Fedunkiw adds, “Ukrainian immigrants tended to settle near other immigrants, particularly others from Eastern and Central Europe…which gave them the sense of the community they had left behind when they crossed the ocean to the United States” (Fedunkiw 464). Ukrainian Americans felt out of place, and therefore choose to associate with people from their own ethnic background. Similar to the Ukrainian Americas, the Jongas often felt out of place, The Jongas were finally in America all together pursuing their dreams, but they often felt like outcasts. Neni opposed going to a bar for Winston’s birthday, because she felt out of place. When she arrived to the bar her thoughts were confirmed that “[t]his place wasn’t her kind of place; the people out there weren’t her kind of people” (Mbue 90). The Ukrainian Americas and Jongas never felt they truly belong so they tended to associate with people from the same ethnic
The Ukrainian Americans had a challenge adapting to American culture. This caused them to stay in communities with people from their own ethnic background. Fedunkiw adds, “Ukrainian immigrants tended to settle near other immigrants, particularly others from Eastern and Central Europe…which gave them the sense of the community they had left behind when they crossed the ocean to the United States” (Fedunkiw 464). Ukrainian Americans felt out of place, and therefore choose to associate with people from their own ethnic background. Similar to the Ukrainian Americas, the Jongas often felt out of place, The Jongas were finally in America all together pursuing their dreams, but they often felt like outcasts. Neni opposed going to a bar for Winston’s birthday, because she felt out of place. When she arrived to the bar her thoughts were confirmed that “[t]his place wasn’t her kind of place; the people out there weren’t her kind of people” (Mbue 90). The Ukrainian Americas and Jongas never felt they truly belong so they tended to associate with people from the same ethnic