America is known as the land of opportunity, the place where everyone wants to come to make a better life. People from other countries look at America and want what we have. They dream of coming to our country and having the same things that are seen on TV as the American Dream. As we have read in our texts, there are some immigrants that experience the dream or some aspects of it, but there are also some who have a different experience closer to the nightmare. These immigrants come hoping for happier, longer, more fulfilling lives, and sometimes are faced with the same obstacles and more than they had in their own country.

            “Soap and Water” displays the characteristics of the standard immigrant story because Yezierska immigrates to America with the dream of attending college and bettering herself. She faces many obstacles along the way because she does not have the money to bring her appearance to the level of everyone else. She is judged based on her lack of cleanliness. I think of this judgment based on the color code, because although her skin color is not referred to, the darkness of the dirt and the dean referring to her kind as being dirty brings about the race and color objective. Yezierska feels alone in this country with no one to talk to, but she pushes herself to the end and works toward her dream of finding the America she has always heard of.

            “The English Lesson” shows a very different side of the standard immigrant story. In this story Lali has already found her place in American society she just needs to learn how to speak the language. There are hints that Lali might not be happy in her marriage, but this is not the point of the story. Lali had immigrated and now her most important part of assimilation is to learn the English language so that she can communicate better with her customers. This story is a great example of the objective because there are many people in the class that directly say they have come to America to better them financially and in life. This is the main model of why immigrants come to America.

In comparison, “America is in the Heart” has the same objective, to come to America to better himself, but the route that is taken is a lot tougher. This story is similar to Yezierska because Carlos must endure many hardships and sadness during his journey through America. Carlos witnesses his brother and how he has changed as a person to assimilate into our world. Carlos wants to be a part of America and have a better more prosperous life, but he does not want to change his morals and values to gain this dream. This is a great story of how the dream of coming to America can become a nightmare.

A main distinction between immigrants and minorities is that immigrants choose to come to America and minorities are forced. Immigrants see and hear stories about the dream and make their own way into our country. Minorities are brought here as slaves or were forced out such as Indians. “American Horse” tells the story of a woman and child who are forced to leave their home. Albertine is an Indian woman who is hiding herself and her child from the Americans who want to “civilize” the boy. Her nightmare comes true when the boy is taken from her. She does not have any hope of a dream; all she cares about is protecting her child and keeping her ways. The American Indians were forced out of their homeland that they owned just as African Americans were. There is not much hope in their future because they are treated as nobodies unlike the immigrants who are given a chance if they try.

In “The Man to Send Rainclouds” we see a different aspect of the Indian culture. Teofilo’s family had assimilated but they still held their religious morals and values important. They were accepted by the town but still wanted to give their grandfather the burial of their people. They wanted to combine their ways with the American ways to have a little of both in the burial. This proves that some minority stories do present the dream and not all turn out bad.

New World Immigrants do not fully assimilate but choose to be in America but also keep their ties with their former country. “Like Mexicans” shows how the grandmother does not want to accept any other wife than Mexican for her grandson. She will not give up her believe that intermarriage is wrong. In the end, Gary sees that the woman that he chooses to marry is just like Mexicans. Being of one race does not mean that other races cannot have some of the same values or ways.

“Hunger of Memory” also gives an example of New World Immigrants. Richard became fluent in English but could not remember his native language Spanish. When people would come to his home he would feel ashamed and made fun of because he could not speak the language that was expected of him. His family did not believe that he should assimilate so much as to lose the language.

I believe a main point to understand with immigrants and minorities is that both groups faced many hardships when they came or were brought to America. They had to face the Americans with their unfamiliar language and customs. In both groups there were happy stories and there were sad, but in the end the main reason that anyone wanted to come or stay was to obtain what they did not have, a better financial security for themselves and their families. The dream was not what they had seen on television, but it was there for them to work toward and achieve. I would say that the dream could be an analogy for ambition or motivation, something that was not an actual object but more an idea that pushed them to a better future.

[Christi]