For many years, America has been thought of as the land of opportunity and success. What is often overlooked are the challenges and discrimination immigrants received when coming to this nation. Education was an arduous goal to reach for many immigrants, and attaining it was rare. Following that, racing against the crowds of other people for dangerous and cheap jobs was also very challenging. Reconstruction was a rough period for many, including immigrants, who faced adversity and were challenged when coming to America.
Being discriminated against because of one's ethnic background was one of the most prevalent challenge immigrants faced. Race, gender, religion, or anything that was different from the populace they migrated to set off a reaction of animosity and prejudice. In the book My Antonia, after a conflict between an …show more content…
The American family loans a collar to the Bohemian family, and it is returned in poor condition. This causes a fight between the two families. Being angry about getting your property damaged and treated poorly is fair, but this passage from the book highlights the prejudice and discrimination."They ain't the same, Jimmy [friend of person saying this]," he kept saying in a hurt tone. "These foreigners ain't the same. You can't trust 'em to be fair." (64).The person saying this, Jake is being biased towards these immigrants, assuming all of them are to be dishonest and cheaters. In response, Jake’s friend Jim says “I’ll never be friends with them again, Jake, I believe they are all like Krajiek and Ambrosch [immigrants who have been dishonest or have wronged him] underneath”. (64) In spite of how awful this sounds, this is the discrimination that many immigrants faced. Another quote from My Antonia finalizes the fact that immigrants faced adversity and discrimination. It accentuates the fact the