ic nostalgia. Just as California, its climate, economics and culture shape the lives of the Chinese and Mexican families in the two books, so is California itself shaped by the ethnically diverse population of immigrants seeking a new life there. California can safely be said to be the symbolic embodiment of the American Dream, although what the Chinese and Mexican immigrants find there is hardly a dream. The first generation (as in Tan's book) and the older members of a family (as in Galarza's book) find it harder to adapt culturally than do the second generation (in Tan) and the younger members of Ernie's family. One difference between Ernie's experience and the experience of the daughters in Tan's book is that Ernie (born and raised in Mexico) never loses his appreciation of the culture of his native country, while the daughters in Tan's book, born in the United States, must learn to appreciate their native country through their mothers' stories and/or by personally traveling to
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