Adapting to a New Culture

Brunetti 1 11th AP Language and Composition 09 December 2012 Adapting to a New Culture As an immigrant we are faced with the fear of forgetting our culture, it’s values, and the root or our origins. We have to deal with the guilt of leaving our beloved land of birth behind and emerging in a new homestead with all of its uncertainties and cultural changes. Empathy invading us as we fail to comprehend if these adjustments in our life will transform our identities as we strive to adapt and conquer this new journey. Most likely there will be a cultural-shock, but as an immigrant we must be willing to deal with the diversities associated with migrating to a new country, with all its indifferences. If we are not open to change, we will just make it that much harder on ourselves, as it is tremendously beneficial to accept this new experience and completely embrace it. Bharati Mukherjee, a Hindu immigrant from Calcutta, shares her story of migration on her article American Dreamer, articulating that she considers the arrival to a new country a gain rather than a loss as others may presume . Adapting to this unfamiliar ethnicity will have its challenges, however, if we persevere we will have gained an additional citizenship, with no loss or deterioration of our original nationality. We do not renounce our heritage simply because we assume possession of our new status; this simply makes us stronger. No one ever said it would be easy. Immigrants face many grievances as this country has its own standards and customs that we are not acquainted with. Even something as simple as our name can be a hinder to us when we migrate to America where as in our homeland it had a meaning. Firoozeh Dumas, an immigrant who came to America with her family at a very young

Brunetti 2 age, faced “the name” dilemma throughout her childhood. She endured endless humiliation, due to others ignorance, as her name would be pronounced wrong or changed for comical advantages not