Assimilation Into American Society Essay, Research Paper

Several old ages ago, America was taught to be a & # 8216 ; runing pot, & # 8217 ; a topographic point where immigrants of different civilizations or races form an incorporate society, but now America is more of a & # 8216 ; salad bowl & # 8217 ; where alternatively of organizing an integrated entity the people who make up the bowl are unwilling to unify as one. America started as an immigrant state and has continued to be so. People all over the universe semen to America for several grounds. Most people come to America voluntarily, but really few semen unwillingly. For whatever grounds they may hold for coming they all have to confront exposure to American society. When exposed to this & # 8216 ; new & # 8217 ; society they choose whether to absorb or non. Assimilation in any society is complex. Since assimilation is non simple, people will hold negative experiences when absorbing into American society.

In American society, larning to talk English decently is a important factor in assimilation. Peoples who have decided to come to America have found it instead hard to absorb into American society for several grounds. One ground being that larning a new linguistic communication is or can be well hard depending on your age. This is so because the act of larning a new linguistic communication such as English, is much more hard for an aged individual than for 1 who has non reached adolescence. Harmonizing to Grognet, for aged people there are several factors that affect their willingness to larn. Among those factors are, physical wellness, mental wellness, cultural outlooks, attitude, motive and eventually the ability to get the right enunciation, and to suitable articulation ( Grognet 296-297 ) . For a individual who has non reached the prepubescent age, it is easier to acclimatise into a new society for assorted grounds. As a kid, one is non to the full habituated to a certain civilization or society. Another ground is that kids learn a linguistic communication by copying the sounds they hear ( apery ) without an speech pattern. This enables kids to obtain a right enunciation. Here a kid has a positive experience and is able to absorb with easiness. On the other manus, an aged individual will happen the acquisition procedure a challenge and to a certain extent the state of affairs might even be so onerous that one loses involvement in larning. In Amy Tan & # 8217 ; s speech My Mother & # 8217 ; s English, she explains the troubles her female parent faced because she ( Tan & # 8217 ; s female parent ) was unable to clearly show herself. She ( Tan ) besides felt the effects of this as a kid. Not merely did Tan & # 8217 ; s mother find talking English a barrier in the procedure of assimilation, but Tan herself felt her female parent limited her perceptual experience ( Tan 45 ) . Since Tan & # 8217 ; s female parent was unable to talk English properly people would non give her good service and would non handle her earnestly even to the extant that people & # 8220 ; pretended non to understand her or even acted as if they did non hear her, & # 8221 ; ( Tan 45 ) . This is merely one illustration of many that shows how some people have had negative experiences absorbing into American society.

Language is non the lone factor impacting the assimilation of people into American society, but one & # 8217 ; s traditions besides have an consequence on the willingness and on the grade to which one assimilates. Some people have found that certain imposts they have are non accepted in American civilization and might even be condemned. Harmonizing to Richard Rodriguez, America is a topographic point where people are joined by a common civilization, but besides are loath to laud the assimilation procedure ( Rodriguez 184 ) . As a consequence of this, people have negative experiences. An illustration of such an experience is a individual who has different traditions than Americans is frowned upon and may be discriminated against because of the difference. In Curanderismo: A Healing Art by Cynthia

Lopez, curanderismo is herbal medical specialty, which is used to mend people’s garlics. Since curanderismo is neither accepted nor understood in the U.S. , people characterize it as witchery, although it is far from witchery. On the history that curanderismo has no scientific justification doctors reject it. A practician of curanderismo might even be blamed for misdiagnosing a individual who has a serious unwellness ; this can bestir more guess about the curative art. When American society is loath to accept the traditions of the individual who is seeking to absorb, it creates an instability in the individual. This instability makes it hard for a individual to wholly absorb, therefore the individual partly assimilates. By “incorporating the new with the traditional, ” a individual might be able to absorb with more easiness ( Lopez 336 ) . This disaffection of people’s traditions is a negative experience for anyone who is seeking to absorb.

Furthermore, one & # 8217 ; s ethnicity might endanger a individual & # 8217 ; s patterned advance in assimilation. Throughout the history of America there has been racial favoritism. Racial favoritism is likely the worst type of subjugation one might confront while seeking to absorb into any society. An illustration of when one & # 8217 ; s ethnicity jeopardized one & # 8217 ; s incorporation into American society was during World War II ( 1939-1945 ) . Since America was in combat with Japan and found Nipponese to be highly hawkish, people of Nipponese descent shacking in America were put into internment cantonments. In Arrival At Manzanar, Jeanne and James Houston describe the manner Nipponese people were relocated to an internment cantonment and how Nipponese foreigners ( work forces ) were imprisoned until the terminal of the war. At this clip, being Nipponese was thought to intend that you would bewray America by undermining the war attempt. To forestall this the Japanese were treated with belligerency. Not merely were other Americans highly hostile to Nipponese people, but besides they were ignorant of Nipponese tradition and civilization. For illustration, Nipponese people are accustomed to eating steamed rice with salty nutrients and at Manzanar the Japanese there were served rice with apricot sirup as exceeding. Not merely was the nutrient meager but besides their life quarters, which really were unequal barracks. The Japanese had to populate in nonvoluntary destitute conditions, which is an atrocious experience for people who are seeking to accommodate to American society. When Jeanne Houston wrote, & # 8220 ; & # 8230 ; Papa & # 8217 ; s disappearing didn & # 8217 ; t trouble oneself me about so much as the universe I shortly found myself in, & # 8221 ; it described the badness of the state of affairs the Nipponese found themselves in during World War II ( Houston 308 ) .

However, assimilation seems to be a procedure where one will meet negative experiences. Peoples have and will go on to emigrate. They will besides confront assimilation. Although America has non accomplished the assimilation into one race, it consists of people sharing a similar individuality. In the words of Richard Rodriguez, & # 8220 ; We are collected together-but as persons & # 8230 ; we stand together, entirely, & # 8221 ; therefore people will absorb but as single & # 8216 ; Americans & # 8217 ; .

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1. Grognet, Allene. & # 8220 ; Aged Refugees and Language Learning. & # 8221 ; Hillard, Piro, and

Warner. 295-300.

2. Houston, Jeanne. & # 8220 ; Arrival at Manzanar. & # 8221 ; Hillard, Piro, and Warner. 307-314.

3. Lopez, Cynthia. & # 8220 ; Cranderismo: A Healing Art. & # 8221 ; Hillard, Piro, and Warner. 334-336.

4. Rodriguez, Richard. & # 8220 ; Does America Still Exist? & # 8221 ; Hillard, Piro, and Warner. 183-186.

5. Tan, Amy. & # 8220 ; My Mother & # 8217 ; s English. & # 8221 ; Hillard, Piro, and Warner. 42-46.

6. Hillard, Judith, Vincent, Piro, and J. Sterling Warner, Eds. Visions Across The Americas.

Orlando, Fl: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998.