Immigrants face many hardships when they first arrive in America to seek out the American Dream. They have to become accustomed to a different lifestyle and culture. For most immigrants assimilation is very difficult, however, the transition is significantly easier for their children when they grow up in America. For the children, the American culture may be the only thing they are familiar with, whereas the parents try to keep their native culture and find that assimilating into and adapting the American culture to be very difficult. Gish Jen’s work, “In The American Society,” discusses a Chinese-American family and how they try to adapt to the American culture. Edwidge Danticat’s short story, “New York Day Women,” discusses the story of …show more content…
“By juxtaposing Suzette’s opinions about a topic with quotes from her mother about the same topic, Danticat illuminates the generational gaps that can exist between a mother and her daughter,” (“Krik? Krak! Summary and Analysis of ‘New York Day Women’”). Suzette follows her mother down the streets of New York because she is surprised and does not expect to see her mother out by herself. She states, “I have never seen her in this kind of neighborhood… she has never seen the advertising office where I work. She is afraid to take the subway,” which shows that her mother is not as comfortable walking around New York like she is, illustrating that the mother is not completely assimilated into the culture (Kirszner 349). “While her mother’s body might have reached America, her heart and soul never made the trip,” which explains her apparent incomplete assimilation (“Krik? Krak! Summary and Analysis of ‘New York Day Women’”). Suzette’s mother appears to still be “deeply connected to her Haitian roots and Haitian culture,” (“NY Day Women Character Analysis”). Her connections to her roots can be seen when she insists on saving old clothes to give to relatives in Haiti instead of just giving them to