Verified Document

Mora And Lim's Success And Failures In Essay

Mora and Lim's Success And Failures In Defining American Identity People from different, cultures, countries, and ethnicities have long viewed America as the land of opportunity. Pat Mora and Shirley Geok-Lin Lim offer differing views of what it means to be an American and how they define being an American. Because of their differing ethnic and cultural backgrounds, Mora and Lim conflict in their definitions of American identity. In "Immigrants," Mora explores American stereotypes of identity while simultaneously examining immigrant fears of assimilation and acceptance. In "Learning to Love America," Lim analyzes what America represents and how she views herself within American culture and society. Through a comparison of tone, theme, and definition of identity, Lim's poem and how she views herself is much more successful than Mora's poem and formation of identity.

Tone plays a major role in establishing Mora and Lim's perspective of America. Mora's "Immigrants" is reflective of her cultural and ethnic background, and reflects many of the fears associated with becoming an American. In the...

In "Immigrants," Mora's fears are rooted in rejection and a failure to assimilate to a narrow definition of American, which includes extreme patriotism, hot dogs and apple pie, football, and speaking English in a "thick" accent (Mora ln 1-2, 4, 7). Mora emphasizes that parents' fears extend beyond the physical well-being of their children and often lead them to wonder, "Will they like/our boy, our girl, our fine american/boy, our fine american girl?" (ln 13-15). These ominous tones of fear makes it appear as though the immigrants in the poem are not secure in their own identities and are trying too hard to fit in and be accepted by American society. On the contrary, Lim's poem has a more hesitant tone that emphasizes her reluctance to embrace America as her country. Lim's hesitance can be seen through her repetitive use of the word because, which makes it appear as though she is trying to convince herself that embracing America is the right thing to do. Lim concludes her poem by stating, "because it…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Lim, Shirley Goek-Lin. "Learning to Love America." from Exploring Literature. Ed. Frank

Madden. 5th Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: AB Longman, 2012. pp 958.

Mora, Pat. "Immigrants." from Exploring Literature. Ed. Frank Madden. 5th Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: AB Longman, 2012. pp 959.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Success Classroom
Words: 838 Length: 3 Document Type: Professional Writing

Success Describe your most meaningful accomplishment in the classroom that positively impacted students. What key strategies contributed to your success? How did you track your progress to ensure that you were successful? I have had many meaningful moments in the classroom, but my most meaningful accomplishment in the classroom was when I was able to help a student with a learning disability. I have worked with children with various disabilities on many

Success a Discussion on Defining and Attaining
Words: 542 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Success A Discussion on Defining and Attaining Success The dictionary defines the word 'success' as "the achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted." Yet despite this seemingly clear definition success is different for each person. In fact, the things that some want most, such as money, may not signify successful and happy lives for others, such as those who look for immaterial things to achieve success and happiness. The following paper will thus

Success Means Achieving Something Unique Through the
Words: 846 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Success means achieving something unique through the efforts of an individual -- even in the face of adversity. Success isn't measured by heights attained, but by obstacles overcome. I understand this sort of success as the very essence of individualism. Failure in these terms means conforming to the dictates of convention and never attempting to do anything that is independent or unique. Therefore success is not necessarily defined by the

Success One Obvious Difference in
Words: 859 Length: 2 Document Type: Research Proposal

Without the best people, innovation and remaining a market leader is impossible. Yet although the Intel website is not disingenuous, it seems less explicit about its corporate culture than Google's website. Google paints a picture of a workplace in which employees eat lunch side-by-side with executives and have a key role in defining and shaping their 'pet' projects. Intel's website has more unsubstantiated mission statements about innovation than Google's. Regarding

Success Vs. Personal Life Success
Words: 1288 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

He may be even too tired from work to spend quality time for his personal life. As a consequence, his career may be a success but his personal life is not. As with balance, Pucci also considers harmony in work and life to be important. It is where elements must agree with each other to achieve success. For instance, balancing work and life does not necessarily guarantee success. It may

Success for One Person IT's Based on
Words: 343 Length: 1 Document Type: Term Paper

Success For one person it's based on earnings and corporate connections; for another it's gambling wins; for another it's curing AIDS. Whatever the definition of success, everyone wants it. Success might be defined differently by different people but no person on Earth isn't driven to do something, to fulfill some personal goal however small or mundane. The farmer hopes to be successful in his fields; the child hopes to be successful

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now