(Imagine that the bear is an immigrant dressed as an American, and the word "bear" was substituted with the word "immigrant")
For an assignment I recently interviewed a friend who came to America as a refugee from Liberia. When I asked him about what the differences in America and Africa he told me that he loved his culture and tried to keep it as much as possible; he also told me that he had a hard time in his new school because people were not that friendly. Last year I interviewed another friend for another assignment, and she told me about what it was like moving to America from Slovakia. She said that her boyfriend (who emigrated from Poland) did not want to assimilate in and did not have the need to fit in as an “American”. This was hard for her because she wanted to fit in as an American and live the “American dream”. He eventually learned English and they have assimilated in to American culture, but while doing so they lost a lot of their own culture.
For an assignment I recently interviewed a friend who came to America as a refugee from Liberia. When I asked him about what the differences in America and Africa he told me that he loved his culture and tried to keep it as much as possible; he also told me that he had a hard time in his new school because people were not that friendly. Last year I interviewed another friend for another assignment, and she told me about what it was like moving to America from Slovakia. She said that her boyfriend (who emigrated from Poland) did not want to assimilate in and did not have the need to fit in as an “American”. This was hard for her because she wanted to fit in as an American and live the “American dream”. He eventually learned English and they have assimilated in to American culture, but while doing so they lost a lot of their own culture.
Comparing the two of them, I asked myself whether or not a person needs to assimilate to become an American. While my one friend has tried to hold on to his African culture, he has not completely assimilated into America. On the other hand, my other friend assimilated but lost a lot of her culture. It seems that to become American it needs to be all or nothing with assimilation. This is clearly not the case for all immigrants, but for many that I know it is. To be able to fit in with their new country, they need to sacrifice a lot. Becoming “American” comes at a cost.
The question now is whether or not it is worth it. Everything comes at a cost, but the trouble is deciding whether or not it is worth it. Is losing your culture, your old life, worth making a new one? Exactly how much of your culture must you lose before becoming an assimilated American? There are too many questions that can be asked, and the answers are never clear cut, but in the end it really comes down to how much a person if willing to give up to get their new life.
In many countries Americans are seen negatively because they expect everyone to speak English when they come to the States, but when we go somewhere else we still expect them to speak English. For the most part Americans don’t have to worry about losing their own culture, and that makes it difficult to see the impact it can have on a person. The price of being American is a high one to pay, and assimilation may be the price.
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