¶ … American, and what it means to be American. Two of the papers were written by Sherman Alexie. The third paper was written by Bharati Mukherjee, a Calcutta native who immigrated to the U.S. At the age of 21. The story of This is what it means to say Phoenix Arizona became the movie Smoke Signals that was made quite a few years later. The papers are narratives -- Bharati's is autobiographical and Alexie's have some autobiographical elements . The stories ask questions of belonging, in particular to a larger society that is quite different. The stories are similar in terms of the ways that the different narrators and characters seek to find home. Bharati and her sister Mira are juxtaposed against each other in their quest to define home. They both have lived in the United States for decades, but they have different perspectives on the relationship that they wish to have with the country. Alexie's characters, especially in Indian Education also have trouble defining their relationship with the U.S. As a whole. In Phoenix, the two boys have a brief discussion about the meaning of the Fourth of July, and what relevance it should have for the two of them as natives. The discussion highlights that there are mixed feelings. While these are different than the mixed feelings that the Mukherjee sisters have, they are mixed nonetheless. Victor in Indian Education enjoys success growing up attending a white school, but there is always the underpinning of knowing that he is different, and because of this he will have a different...
Mukherjee's experiences are trying to fit in to a country, and these are juxtaposed with her sister's experiences as also fitting in on a socio-cultural level (more or less) but not having taken out the paperwork (citizenship) to prove it. This is difficult for both of them, and gives both of them pause. Mira wanted to retain her Indian identity, and this ultimately caused her a tremendous amount of grief after the immigration rules were changed.
Autobiographical Account of Racial Relations in the Community My Autobiographical Account of Racial Relations in My Community "Despite my time studying race and ethnicity, I have been in the racial minority very seldom;" such has often been my own life as well (McKinney 2004 p 19). The community I reside in is typically a white majority, but has been developing to come into closer proximity to other minority groups. While these groups
Autobiographical Memory How we remember our own lives is a huge factor in how we view ourselves in general. As such, our autobiographical memory can both impact and be impacted by our mood and mindset. The concept of the autobiographical memory is incredibly complex, and is often varied based on individual experiences and mood sets. The notion of the autobiographical memory is a complicated one for sure. There is a vast body
Given the fact that my upbringing was somewhat strict, at the age of 18 I decided I wanted to take control of my freedom and started to do things that I pknew others would not approve of. This is why I decided to get married at this age, although I was advised to do otherwise. It seems that my decision was not a correct one, since we divorced when
Autobiographical Narrative of Colonial American Life The rise of the colonial era in the 1600s and 1700s was a time of reckoning and awakening for very many of us. Living in this time in the divided regions of America had its fair share of challenges for every person. It was worse if you are an immigrant from other worlds or had come in as a slave worker. These challenging times dictated
The driver's head was bloody like mine, but he was conscious. He didn't look at me, and didn't say anything. I noticed that the car had four passengers; it might have been a mother and father, and two daughters, both very close to my age. The eldest was on her cell phone. "at the intersection of State Street and Main. There were three cars involved," she breathed gently. "Are you guys
By "story" I do not mean that the ways in which they understand (and enact) their lives are somehow false, fiction rather than fact. Rather, I am using the word in what might be seen as an essentially Jungian way: Each person's biography can be seen as a narrative, a story that the self tells about the self and to the self. It is the most fundamental story in
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