Suki Kim: ”Fresh Of The Boats In Queens”

A. Resume:
The essay is about a 13 year old girl in the early 1980’s and she is from Korea. They lived a very wealthu live in Korea but because of her father lost everything overnight, they moved to America. She tells ud about her first playmates i America, and how it is for her, to moved to another country and suddenly being the ”Asien” girl, who skin is yellow.

B. Genre/style of writing:

C. Point of view:
This is a subjective essay. In the text we see words like ”I” and ”we”. Forexample: ”We who sat huddled in that ESL class” (p.82, l.9) and ”I took public transportation to school for the first time” (p. 81 l. 15).
It means, that it is a firstperson point of view. Us readers reads the story through the firstpersons experience and perspective.

D. What is Queens?:
The Queens area is on of the five districts that forms New York City. Queens is the second most populous borough in New York City. There population has been growing faster and faster recently.
It is the most ethnically diverse couty in America, and there is alot of immigrants. Mostly E and S Asians and Hispanics. There is around 67,000 ethnic Koreans, who lives in Queens. The Mass Korean immigration in America started around the 1950s. They came to the county with the intention of earning money, making business and make a good life for their family.

E. Is there a RAGS TO RICHES story in the text? Why, why not?
Rags to riches means that a person rises from poverty to wealth. But in this case, it is the exact opposite. The girl in the story went instead from rich to rag. She is facing poverty with a rich girl’s habits. At first she lived a luxurious life, when money was never an issue, in South Korea. Her family were millionaires, but suddenly they lost it all over night. They moved to Queens, New York. Berceuse of that, she had to face that she wasnt’ able to get private chaffeurs and maids to laundromat’s anymore. It was now the public transportation who carried her to school.

F. The title:
Hvilken mulige betydninger(er) har romanens titel?
Hvordan passer titlen til romanens øvrige indhold?
Gør titlen, at romanens indhold skal forstås på en bestemt måde?
Kan titlen forstås symbolsk?

Eksempel:
Titlen på Simon Fruelunds roman Borgerligt tusmørke kan være en nøgle til at fortolke selve romanen. Borgerligt tusmørke er et meteorologisk fænomen, der dækker over den første fase af tusmørket, hvor mørket begynder at falde på, men hvor vi stadig kan se genstande og horisonten forholdsvis tydeligt. Sammenligner vi dette med romanens handling, kan man tolke det sådan, at det overfladiske liv på Dantes Allé er tydeligt. Vi ser folks vaner, deres ydre og statussymbolerne. Men under overfladen lurer fordommene og de mere dunkle værdier som fx racisme, angsten for fremmede, homofobi og ensomhed.

Discussion:
In my opinion, i think that there is a big difference whether you are an immigrant in the United States or Europe. For example in regard to the laws concerning immigration in the US and Europe. Right now, because of the big immigration from the east, the US consider to make up the laws, so it gets easier to get a greencard, working permit etc. But only if they have the qualifications for it. That means, that they have to have a good education. They are many more who will immigrate to the US than Europe. They are looking for ”The american drem” and not the ”European dream”. I also think, that many people moves to the U.S, because of the language. English is one of the main language in the world, so there is many that think. That is better at english then forexample danish. So they move to the U.S because they think it’s easier. There is alot of adjust when you move to another country. You have to learn the language, the traditions, the way the people act and so on. But a problem for the immigration in the U.S, is that you, for example can’t learn to language if you don’t have the money. Because the only way you can learn it, is if you go to an evening school, which cost money. The problem is also, that is you don’t have any money, when you come to the country, it is very hard to get a good life. In the U.S, life is so much easier, if you have money. Immigration can also be a good thing. The global class of 200 million immigrants is today an economic ower, that can promote the prosperity. That is berceuse, that international immigrants sends at least 150 billion dollars back to their home countries, and their economic contribution to developing countries development is three times as large as official development assistance.

What is your opinion on the matter?
In your opinion, how does migration to Europe today DIFFER from migration to the States – or, considering the most recent events – do they not differ at all?

Single out 2 important problems that may arise in relation to the issue MIGRATION in the world today?