Clay Walls
Some say that the United States is a salad bowl of race. People from all corners of the world have and will come to the United States, searching for freedom and opportunities. However, not only the good aspects of American life, but also the large, thick gwallsh which are the stern realities full of hardships welcome the immigrants. Koreans are no exception. Kim Ronyoung describes a Korean immigrant family in her novel, Clay Walls. Haesu, the protagonist of the novel, face numerous gwallsh while living in Los Angeles during the early 1900s. Integrating into the American culture is more difficult when there are significant gwallsh that immigrants must overcome. Characters in the novel have to experience and surmount cultural, language, and immigration barriers to live in the United States. Immigrants entering in the American society come face to face with many barriers, due to the difference between American culture and their home countryfs culture, that affect and change their values. The most notable gwallsh is built between Haesu and her children, Harold, John and Faye. Her children are all born and brought up in the United States whereas Haesu is born and brought up the Korean traditional mindset.
Clara dresses like an American by putting gwide-brimmed black straw (20)h on. When the novel opens up with Haesu working as a housekeeper, she feels that it is not her duty to do so and quits easily. h Haesu realizes Americanfs unreasonable attitude and unfair treatment towards the immigrants. To understand American culture, she keeps a gscrapbookh which is gscrawled in gold over the coverh with gpictures of movie stars (32)h inside. Not satisfied with the situation at the moment, Haesu decides to take an English class, sacrificing her precious time to do her work at home. For example, Haesu is often rejected by the landowners when she is house hunting just because they do not gwant eorientalsf (21). Cultural barrier make them difficult to adjust to the new environment. But since Clara is not a fluent English speaker, she must count on Mrs. She gput[s] Rudy Vallee on and [dances] around the parlor, gliding effortlessly on the linoleum rug (8)h like how Americans will do. But in the United States, the concept had died out, and there is a need for Haesu to work outside, helping the family financially. On top of those efforts, she even has gan operationh to peel her skin, making gher eyes and nose bigger (128). For example, they show little respect to Haesu. Language barrier sets hard circumstances for the immigrants to become part of the United States. Like all the other immigrants, Haesu experiences much discrimination.
Common topics in this essay:
John Faye,
Rudy Vallee,
United Language,
Clara Korean,
Military Academy,
Haesu Korea,
,
United Immigrants,
Integrating American,
Academy Haesu,
american society,
john faye,
immigration barriers,
american culture,
korean immigrant,
haesu experiences,
military academy,
cultural differences,
cultural barrier,
united immigrants,
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