Thursday, August 23, 2007

Two Ways to Belong in America

How do you belong in America? That was the first thing that popped in my head when I saw Bharati Mukherjee’s essay Two Ways to Belong in America. This essay was about the differences between Bharati and her sister Mira’s views on immigrants. Throughout the essay Mukherjee used rhetorical devices such as: compare/contrast, fluency, and tone. She used these in such a way that it was both interesting and easy to read.

“She, for the lack of structure in my life, the erasure of Indianness, the absence of an unvarying daily core. I, for the narrowness of her perspective, her uninvolvement with mythic depths or the superficial pop culture of this society.” (Page 273) The difference in what Bharati and Mira pity in each other is one of the many ways the girls are compared and contrasted. Bharati made it really easy to understand the uniqueness of each sister. It was also really interesting to see how different two sisters can be that are raised in the same house.

I originally thought that the continual use of the mixing sentences of different lengths choppy and hard to read. However, I found it an enjoyable essay. The sentences were smooth most of the time, but sentences that listed hampered the ability to read the essay fluently. “I’ve obeyed all the rules, I’ve paid my taxes, I love my work, I love my students, I love the friends I’ve made.” (Page 274) Some of the sentences such as that one were a little choppy, but others were smooth which balanced the essay. Such as, “I am moved that thousands of long-term residents are finally taking the oath of citizenship.” (Page 272)

The tone in this essay really stood out. It was really easy to understand the emotions that were going between the two sisters. Mira, you could tell, was upset that immigrants needed to be a citizen. “This is such an unfair way to treat a person who was invited to stay and work here because of her talent.” (Page 274) Bharati embraced the idea of becoming a citizen. “She is happier to live in America as expatriate Indian than as an immigrant American. I need to feel like a part of the community I have adopted...” (Page 275)

The rhetorical devices that Baharti used is kept me interested: the comparisons and the contrasting, the tone, and the fluency. After reading through the essay my question was answered and the answer was of course, obvious. In Baharti and Mira’s opinion, the two ways to live in America was either as a citizen or as an immigrant.

7 comments:

kelsie said...

Kyla, I like your use of quotes in your essay. It really spiced it up. You took a different approach in presenting it and it turned out succesful. Especially how you used a quote to describe and further emphasize a point. Good job it turned out well.

michellek said...

Hey Kyla,
I really appreciated that you gave the reader of your blog an idea as to who the characters in your essay were, since I haven't read it yet. I really enjoyed the small details you were able to pick out, such as sentence lengths and tone. Tone is often overlooked but it's so important!

Hattie said...

Hey Kyla,
I like how you talked alot about compare and contrast. I skimmed this essay in my book before writing this comment and I think that compare/contrast was the most frequently used device in this essay. I also like how you talked about the tone! Not many people think to write about how the author uses his words. Great job!

Rachelle said...

Kyla,
I really liked the part of your essay where you used quotes to further explain what the two sisters were feeling. Also, the way you talked about compare/contrast was great. Like Hattie, I read the essay and also found that compare/contrast was used a lot in Mukherjee's writing. Great job!

Hansen said...

The compare/contrast style of writing was important to point out. And you analyzed the tone, which was a large part of this essay. Yet the sentence that you quoted about listing on page 274, I wouldn't exactly call that hampering the essay but only the use of anaphora. A good analysis overall, Kyla.

Eric Pena said...

good shit kyla

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