American Lit Final Essay. Challenges Faced by Chinese Immigrants in the United States

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Challenges Faced by Chinese Immigrants in the United States
Gish Jen’s typical American novel follow the lives of three Chinese nationals living in the United States and how they take the culture change. In the beginning of the story, Yifeng Chan relocated to the United States to pursue college education after which contact with his family breaks when the communist party takes over in China. Like many other immigrants who move to the United States hoping to find a better life, Yifeng struggles to get used to the American culture and even gets a new American name (Ralph). The United States is known as the home of immigrants and the most diverse country. However, Gish Jen’s novel illustrates the struggles immigrants undergo on their arrival in the United States, issues such as discrimination, culture shock among other challenges.
Some of the immigrants who move to the United States in search of greener pastures are initially not fascinated by the American culture or typical Americans. However, along the way they become typical Americans and abandon their native cultures for lack of choice. Jen’s novel focuses on the lives of three Chinese Americans between 1940 and 1950 and their transition from individuals who despised typical Americans to becoming typical American (Jen & Gish 02) . Disillusionment of the American dream is one of the most critical theme in the novel since most immigrants are surprised on arrival to find the American life they have either watched on television is nothing close to reality. Ralph moves to the United States to continue with his electrical engineering PHD. However, he gets trapped in the United States after the communist party takes over power from the National party in 1949. Ralph is forced to stay in the United States, something he had not anticipated. The inconvenience indicates how much things can change upon arrival in the United States.
Quick integration of immigrants into the United States culture means faster economic vitality for the country. Although immigration laws have changes over the years and enabled more immigrants from different parts of the world to move to the United States, there are still critical challenges faced by the immigrants. When Donald trump got elected in 2016, immigrant families in the United States feared for the worst as Trump’s main agenda was to tighten immigration laws to curb the high number of immigrants moving to the United States and punish those who were already there but had not documentation papers. When Ralph tries to leave the United States, the government announces a new directive that prohibits Chinese students from going back to China. Since he only visited the United States to complete his PHD degree, he had not planned to work for survival but he ends up doing odd jobs to make ends meet (Jen & Gish 02). Since the United States is a diverse country, rules can change drastically and affect people directly and for long periods. Ralph’s suffering sheds light on the struggles faced by immigrants in the United States.
There are thousands of Chinese-Americans and immigrants from other countries who ended up living in the United States for ...