Immigration Project Reflection

Literature Circle Books/Blogs

The book that I had to read was Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat. When choosing my book this was my first chose and I am very happy that I was able to read this book. This book is a powerful book about the hardship that many people face when moving to a new country and leaving another country. This book also showed how hard it can be to get into this country, but how great it can be once you get in America. From reading this book I have learned a lot more about Haiti history and the many hard times the people of Haiti had to go through. I also learned about how horrible things that could happen to a person if the government of America believe that you are an illegal immigrant.

For this project instead of meeting in a group to discuss the book, we had to post what we think about the book in our blogs. There are many things that I really liked about this way of doing blogs, and there are things that I don’t like about working with the blogs. The things that I liked when working with the blogs, was that we got to focus on the two quotes that affected the book. The things that I didn’t like about working on the blogs was that we had all of our meetings online instead of in person, and I liked when we had in person meetings better then doing all of our meets online. When working with the blogs some problems that I had was that some people would write little posts and they didn’t add much detail when posting, so it was hard to really understand why they would like a quote and why they thought that it was significant in the book.

Art and Literature

When I was choosing what painting that I wanted to have, I didn’t know if I wanted to create a new cover for the book or create a important scene from the book. I liked both of these ideas because I was able to have lots of freedom when creating my paint, but finally I decided that I was going to create a new cover for my book. I decided that I wanted to create a book cover because I thought that this would be a good way of expressing what I thought about the book and I would be able to make something new for the book. When making my book cover I didn’t really know what to do at first. Then I started thinking about the different things that happened in the book, and what the author was trying to show in the book or how she felt in when immigrating. In the end I wanted to create a book cover that showed how the author felt when she was leaving.

When making a book cover you have to make a big connection to the book, so in my painting I thought that I made a connection through my painting because I created what I believed the author felt when immigrating to America. I think that because my book had such a big message and the author talked a lot about how she felt, so it was very easy to create a connection between my painting and the book that I read.

I think that my painting turned out okay because I think that I could have added more things to make it look more detailed, but I did what I wanted to do which was to show the two parents and the two countries that the author was caught in between. I think that I could have enhanced my final painting by adding more detail to the painting. I think that I could have also redone the America, because I feel like I could have redone it to make it look better and cleaner.

Interview Process with Participant and Gift

For my interview process I was given Mrs. Abbassi, which is Ms. Abbassi mother. Ms. Abbassi’s parents live up near San Francisco, I wasn’t able to have an in person interview, but one email interview, and two phone interviews. When interview Mrs. Abbassi, I think that I was able to get a lot of important information about her immigration experience. I think that our interviewing process went very well because Mrs. Abbassi was able to share a lot of information with me, and I really understood what she went through when immigrating. I also got to learn a lot about how she misses her home country of Iran, and how America has affected her life, and her children’s life.

I think that one of the reasons that my interview went so smooth was because I got to learn a lot more of Iran from the information that we had to collect about our interviewees country. When collecting the information, I learned that I really didn’t know that much about Iran, and because we had to fill out the fact sheet, I was able to learn a lot more about Iran. So in the end I was very happy that we had the many fact sheets, because in the end I learn more about Mrs. Abbassi’s home country, Iran.

When interviewing, I liked interviewing on the phone the best because when emailing sometimes the people wouldn’t elaborate on their answers, but when we were on the phone you were able to get a more detailed answer. I wish that I was able to have an in person interview because I think that I would have liked that even more, but I also liked doing my phone interview as well.

With this project we got to learn a lot about immigrants from reading about their experiences in books, but I think that because we were able to talk to an individual immigrant, each of us were able to learn more then any book could tell us. When interviewing our individual immigrant we were able to learn about their story and hear they have to tell us about their life and how it has been affected by immigrating. If each of our were to not interview an immigrant, I don’t think that we would have learn and get all the information that we now have.

When I was going to make my gift I was going to make a painting, a calendar, or a scapebook. Mrs. Abbassi ended up choosing a painting for her gift. When she was explaining what we wanted in a gift, she said that she didn’t want any flags in the painting, and she wanted something that was netural in both countries, Iran and America. So for my painting I choose to make two types of flowers that had to do with both places that she had lived in. The California state flower, Poppy and the national flower of Iran, which was the red rose. So in my painting I made one side of my paintings poppys, and the other side roses so that they come together in the middle. So I wanted to show that America and Iran can come together to create something new.

Final Post for Brother, I'm Dying

Quote 1: "Looking into my daughter's eyes, I thought of my mother, who had faced these first hours alone after I was born. She had been made no promises, been offered no guarantees that either she of I would even live past that night. If something had been ruptured inside of her, no one would have noticed. If something had been broken inside of newborn me, perhaps no one but my mother would have cared. My daughter's quiet yet well-monitored first night was perhaps the one my mother had dreamed for me, for herself, a dream of kind words, kisses, flowers." Edwidge thought this on page 255.

Significance: I think that this shows how different life was back then back in Haiti. I never would have thought thought that their would be a group of pregnant ladies ready to give birth on a stone floor. I always thought that most people would give birth in a hospital with a doctor helping them give birth, but for Edwidge's mother, she was all by herself when she was giving birth. So when Edwidge was giving birth I think that all she thought about was her mother, and how lucky she was to give birth in a nice place.

Character Judgment: I think that Edwidge mother showed a lot of courage to give birth in such a horrivle place. I also think that this quote shows how much Edwidge's mother loved Edwidge ffrom evey moment.

Question 1: Why do you think that in Haiti pregnant people give birth in groups like that?

Quote 2: "Look, Papa, I'd say. You've waited for her. You've lived long enough to see her. Today is not just her day, but all of ours. And we're not the only one who will cradle and protect her. She will also hold and confort us. She too will be our repozwa, our sacred place to rest. " Edwidge wanted to say this to her father on page 255.

Signifiance: I think that this quote shows that no matter happens Edwidge father will always be in her mind. That no matter how different or happy or sad or angry Edwidge get's she will always end up thinking about her father and her uncle.

Character Judgment: I think that this shows how much Edwidge loves and cares and thinks about her father. I also think that this shows how self-less Edwidge is and this quote shows that she doesn't what to think about herself, and she is always putting other people before herself.

Question 2: Why don't you think that Edwidge said this to her father?

LC #5

Quote: "This was the first time she'd been in Bel Air since Sunday's operation. She had never seen it so bad. The streets were cluttered with trash. There were empty tear gas canisters, hollowed grenades, spent cartridge and bullet shells and other garbage everywhere. Some house were missing entire sections from the bulldozing by the UN earthmovers." This was said on page 194 about Tante Zi.

Significance: I think that this quote shows how bad Bel Air has gotten, how horrible it is to live there and why so many people would want to leave Bel Air and Haiti. This quote for me made me think of a horrible place where there is only death and no life and where people live because they have no money to live any where else. I also see know why so many would want to leave Haiti because in this story there is a never ending war.

Character Judgment : I think that Tante Zi has not visited or saw Uncle Joseph in a long time and so when she saw what had happened she was so shocked and really couldn't believe how bad Bel Air had gotten. I also think that she wants to help Uncle Joseph leave and go to America because she knows and understands that an 81 year old man can't deal with all the wars that are going on in Bel Air.

Question: What was the war that was going on in Bel Air about?

Quote 2: "We only called to notify you that they're here," he said. "They're not being relased. They're going to Krome." This was said on page 211. An immigration officer said this to Edwidge.

Signifinace: I think that this is something that know one would never want to hear, and is the wrost thing that a person could hear if they were going to pick up someone from the airport. I also feel really bad for Edwidge, she waited for so long to get the call that her uncle was at the airport and just as she goes to get them, they end up being moved to an immgration station at Kome. I also think that this is one of the hardest things about coming into America, if you forget to bring one thing, they send you to be a prisoner in an immgration station.

Character Judgment: I feel really bad for Edwidge because she spent 2 days worried sick about her uncle, thinking that something horrible has happened to them. Then finally she gets a call telling her that they have arrived at the airport. Then when she gets there she finds out that something horrible has happened to them. I also think that when the people called her the first time to tell her that her uncle has arrived they should have also told her that they were going to Krome.

Question 2: How do you think that Edwidge felt when she found out that her uncle was going to Krome?

LC Meeting #4

Quote 1: "I was walking next to my father and uncle when three shots rang out in a quick secession. The mourners scattered in a nervous stampede, leaving us in the middle of the suddenly empty street. The flurry of people disappearing around street corners and alleys seemed hazy and unclear. My heart was beating fast, a pool of sweat gathering on my face. Was this how Marie Micheline felt before she died? Edwidge said this quote on page 155

Significance: I think that it was so sad that during a very sad day something as scary as a gun shots happens. Its also scary how everyone knows what to do when something, so it shows that gun shots are a common thing in Bel Air at this time.

Character Judgment: I think that this shows that Edwidge is not used to the gun shots and she doesn't know what to do because in America gun shots don't usually happen on the streets everyday. I also think that she was very close to Marie Micheline so when ever she hears gun shots she thinks of her because that is how she died.

Question 1: Did Edwidge grow up in Bel Air when all of fighting was going on?

Quote 2: "I was nearing the end of my first trimester and though I had no morning sickness, I felt fatigued and on some hot Miami morning found myself weeping uncontrollably when I woke up alone in bed after my husband had left for work. Suddenly being separated from others felt like a much more drastic form of isolation a sentence of banishment for not being near my dying father. So when Bob called to tell me that Papa was in the hospital, I leaped out of bed and boarded the next plane to New York. " Edwidge said this on page 156

Signifiance: I think that this quote shows how much Edwidge wants to be with her family and was used to living in a house with everyone and now she is living only with her husband and sometimes she is all alone. So living alone was something that she had to get used to when living in America because in Haiti everyone lived in one house.

Character Judgment: I think that this shows what a loving person she is and how much her family means to her because she is willing to just leave on the spot for her father. I also think that this shows that Edwidge is a person that hates to be alone and wants to be around people she loves.

Question: Do you think that Edwidge should move back to New York to be with her family?

LC Meeting #3

Quote: "Mira's daughter, Edwidge?" she said. Her lower lip was dropping, slightly slurring her speech. Tante Denise said this quote on page 142. 

Significance: When I read the whole page that this quote was on, I felt really bad for Uncle Joseph and Tante Denise. They live in a very bad part of town and it is possible that they could get killed any day, and I think that stress of being so scared has aged Edwidge's aunt and uncle so much that they are always tried and just out of it. I also felt really bad because at first Edwidge didn't really think that her aunt was the same person, the beautiful aunt that she had left in Haiti had turned into a thin small women.

Character Judgment: I think that Tante Denise had changed so much in the years that Edwidge has been away. I think that because of everything that has happened to Tante Denise (Marie dying, the violence in Bel Air) she has just wilted away to this small person that just stays in her home all day. I hope that because Edwidge has come to visit Tante Denise, Edwidge will somehow get Tante Denise and Uncle Joseph to leave Bel Air and move to a safer place in Haiti.

Question: Why do you think that Uncle Joseph won't move out of Bel Air?

Quote 2: "I only remember wishing as we soared into the clouds that my uncle had cried a torrent of tears, had thrown himself on the ground and made a scene, all the while forbidding us to go. He should have blurted out, in his old voice, the sudden revelation that I was really his daughter and that he could live without me."  Edwidge said this one page 109

Significance: I think that this shows how much her uncle has been a father figure to Edwidge, and how much she wished that she was able to stay with her Uncle Joseph in Haiti. I also think that this shows how much her father not being there for her has affected her. It has affected her in the way that she doesn't really want to go to America and spend the rest of her life in a new place with new people that she doesn't really know. 

Character Judgment: I think that Edwidge had a right to not want to live with her mom and dad because they weren't there for her when she was young and she had learned to love and live with her uncle and aunt without them. So I was a little sad to read that she didn't want to go to America, but it was also happy to see that her uncle had affected her life so much and how much she loves hims and wants to be with him.

Question: Do you think that Edwidge's little brother, Bob, felt the same way that she did? 

LC Meeting #2

Brother, I'm Dying

Quote: "Papa," she whispered, her mouth now so close to his ears that her breath burned his lobes. "Papa, even though men cannot give birth, you gave birth tonight. To me." Page 86 Marie Micheline said this.

Significance: I think that this quote really showed how bad Marie's life was with her husband and how free she felt when her father came and saved her. I think that when she say that her father gave birth to her tonight, I think that she meant that by taking her away from her horrible husband, he is giving a whole new life with her, her father, her family, friends and most important, her baby Ruth. 

Character Judgement: I also think that this shows how great full Marie was to her father. I also think that this shows that Marie is really ready to start a new life with her family by her side. I thought that Marie was a very foolish girl for marring the man that she never knew before and just getting pregnant in the first place, but now I think that when she got pregnant she thought that she would end up marring the father of her child, but she quickly learned that life isn't prefect and just because she wanted something, doesn't mean that she will get it.

Question: Why do you think that Marie's mother kicked Marie out of their house?

Quote 2: "Then please, father," my uncle pleaded while trying to maintain his calm, "don me only this favor. Forget you ever saw me, but I'm not leaving without my daughter and her child." Page 84, Uncle Joseph said this. 

Significance:  I think that this shows how caring Uncle Joseph is because he travel all over to find his daughter. I think that because he loves each of his daughter's and son's so much, that when Edwidge and her brother must leave with their parent's to go to New York, Uncle Joseph will feel like part of him is missing.

Character Judgment: I think that this shows how much he loves Marie, and that he is willing to go to great lengths to find her and get her somewhere save. I now think of Uncle Joseph as being a very nice, understanding, caring man who loves everyone no matter what they might have done in the past. 

Question: Why do you think that Uncle Joseph had to pay this man to tell him where Marie was? 

Field Trip Reflection

From Haven to Home: The purpose of this exhibit was to show other what life was like for a Jewish person who came to live in America. From this museum I learn many things, such as many important people in America that were Jewish. People such as Hank Greenberg, Albert Einstein, and Ruth Handle, all these people helped contribute to America's Society. We also learned about Jewish people's rights in American from 1790-1823. We learned that each state was free to discriminate Jewish people as they wished and that back then Massachusetts was the state that most discriminated Jewish people. In Maryland and Massachusetts, the government made everyone who was elected into office take an oath on a Christian Bible, and this made the Jewish people not want to be in office, which was what Maryland and Massachusetts wanted. This was the same until 1825 where Maryland passed what was known as "The Jew Bill" which allowed Jews not have to take an oath on the Christian Bible. I also learned that how the Jewish people affected the Civil War and that about 9,000 American Jews fought in the Civil War for the Union, while about 3,000 fought for the Confederacy. I also learned that Judah Benjamin became the first Secretary of State for the Confederacy, but soon fled to England to escape false accusation that he plotted President Lincoln's assassination.

Between Cultures: I chose a picture of a mother and a daughter that were from Thailand and came to America in 1998. This photo was taken at the O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. In this picture the little girl is laying in her mother lap. I liked this picture because I think that it shows what most immigrants feel when they first come to America, fear and happiness. In this picture the mother shows the happiness because she is smiling down at her daughter. The daughter, shows the fear because she looks scared because she in a new place which she is not familiar. So I think that most immigrants feel happiness because they are in a new, better place. I also think that they feel fear because they are in a place which has a different culture then their own. I chose the quote "America has everything we need: technology, goods. At least one person from every nation lives here. People immigrate to America because they know it's a land of freedom and a better life. I see America as the land of opportunities" from Tamara Frank from Poland. I really liked this quote because I think that this is what our founding father intended for this country. They intended this country to be the land of the free and the land of opportunities. So I think that this person really understands that America is really a great place to live. I chose the personal essay called The Untold Story of a Chinese-American. In this essay the person tells the life of his father who immigrated to America from Vietnam. In this essay it tells the story of how he got to America and the many hardships he had to go through in order to get to America. I liked this essay because i think that it shows that being an immigrate was very hard, but in the end it is great to be in America.