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Immigration Literature

If we examine two short stories by minority women, we see how immigrants often face challenges of assimilation, expression of identity, and survival upon arriving in new countries. In the case of Etsu Sugimoto, we see how the distinct differences between her neighbor and she provide her with a fuller understanding of the similarities between her own Japanese culture and American culture. In Tillie Olsen’s story, we do not get as heavily accentuated a tale regarding immigrants and/or minorities. While Olsen is Jewish and her daughter suffers from internalized cultural ideals of external beauty, the experiences in this story actually demonstrate the universal experiences of all human beings despite their being experienced by an immigrant minority women.

In Sugimoto’s A Daughter of the Samurai we see the experiences of a Japanese girl whose neighbors’ questions regarding her native culture provide her with greater insights into her own and its similarity to American culture. For instance, we see that Miss Helen is shocked to discover there are women in Japanese culture like Molly Pitchers but even more so to discover there are entire Japanese societies where men maintain the domestic sphere while women labor in the work force. As she tells Miss Helen, “A genuine woman’s-rights woman is not one who wants her rights, but one who has them” (Sugimoto 251). Still, despite similarities to American culture like the one above, there are many differences in the story when it comes to culture and understanding between Japanese and Americans. We see this when the narrator tries to explain to Miss Helen the different customs and views associated with cut fresh flowers in Japan. Even though the narrator gets a better sense of American culture and her own from her interactions with Miss Helen, this is not the case for Miss Helen. Showing definite ethnocentric tendencies, Miss Helen’s response to the narrator’s explanation ...

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Immigration Literature. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 11:44, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1685706.html