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Jennifer Nguyen

Professor Lynda Haas

WR37

December 9, 2018

The Struggles of Becoming an American

On April 30, 1975, Vietnam ceased to exist as a divided country as it became a fully

communist one. After the war, the country was still trying to rebuild the economy, but it was still

falling apart as the government controlled every aspect of it. Many people starved as they were

forced by the government to “New Economic Zones.” According to an article from ​The

Washington Post​ by William Chapman, “​Hanoi Rebuts Refugees on ‘Economic Zones,’” ​These

“New Economic Zones” sounded like a great program, but in actuality, this policy uprooted

entire families including young children and babies deep into the jungle where the land was still

littered with unexploded ordnances (Chapman​).​ Vuong’s mother was also one of the children

excluded by society in post-war Vietnam. She was half Vietnamese, from her mother, and half

American, from her father. An article published by the ​Smithsonian e​ xplains that these children

were considered, “children of the dust,” despised by the new regime that saw them as the product

of American “invaders” that were drafted to Vietnam during the war. Vuong was in the same

position, as his father was also of white descent. For these people, they were excluded for the

education system and weren’t allowed to work and make a life for themselves (Lamb). Naturally,

Vuong’s mother along with her entire family had to escape the country at any cost for a new

start.
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Ocean Vuong uses his mother’s and grandmother ordeals of escaping from a broken

country, as well as his own experiences as an immigrant as inspiration for his writing. Despite

being too young to experience the Vietnam War himself, his life was still greatly impacted by his

mother’s PTSD that resulted from the war. His poetic essay, “A Letter to My Mother That She

Will Never Read,” was published in ​The New Yorker.​ This is a magazine widely read by

educated Americans, a group whose demographics mainly consists of white people. We can see

that this company targets the educated people by the way its articles are scholarly and somewhat

difficult to read through. The people reading ​The New Yorker​ want to be informed on topics such

as politics and culture. This paper company has been around since 1925 and has kept people

informed on “​politics, foreign affairs, business, technology, popular culture and the arts” (The

New Yorker). ​Published in May 2017, his cryptic letter addressed to his mother speaks volumes

about the polarized issue of immigration in America today. Many people from war torn and

corrupt countries, migrating from areas such as the Middle East and South America, try present

themselves for asylum at our borders to no avail. As a migrant caravan comes towards our

southern borders to find a better life in America, Trump claims that they are a danger to our

society, Vuong makes his readers question why America has suddenly taken away the American

Dream from immigrants when his own life story is a clear testament to fact that many of the

immigrants waiting at our borders today are just as innocent as he was when entering America at

the age of 2.

After the Vietnam war, there was an influx of immigrants that poured into the United

States. These immigrants were, for the most part, welcomed into our society and were able to
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slowly rebuild their lives. In the graph below, you can see that the immigrant to the US increased

greatly in the 1980s and 1990s after Vietnam had fallen in 1975.

Figure 1. Legal Immigration to the United States, 1820-2016. Migration Policy Institute.

Over the course of 2 years during the presidency of Donald Trump, immigration to the US has

changed drastically. In an article written by Catherine E. Shoichet for CNN Politics in September

of 2018, immigrants from Mexico today are being deported with urgency as our government is

willing to give Mexico $24 million to help Mexico buy bus and plane tickets meant to send the

people in the migrant caravan back to their countries of origin such as Honduras, Guatemala, El

Salvador, and Nicaragua. By doing this, “​37,000 people trying to cross the US-Mexico border

illegally . . . 12,774 of whom were members of family units,” will be deported as they cross
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Mexico’s southern border. In doing this, immigrants will not be able to present themselves at the

southern US border (Shoichet).​ This article was published when the migrant caravan began to

makes its way to Mexico, with some people already crossing into Mexico. Both Vuong’s and

Shoichet’s articles were written in the same period; after Trump’s election where he presented

his radical ideas against immigration such as building walls. Today, immigrants are being

refused the dream of a better life in America, a dream that allow Vuong to succeed and become a

writer.. Vuong’s story was much different from the immigration stories today as he and his

mother were transported with the help of the government, to “the rest stop in Virginia.” People at

our borders today no longer expect our government aiding their entrance into America.

Many immigrants want to come to America in hopes of receiving or seeing their children

receive an empowering education. Vuong writes:“That time, in third grade, with the help of Mrs.

Callahan, my E.S.L. teacher, I read the first book that I loved, a children’s book called “Thunder

Cake,” by Patricia Polacco.” His readers can see how Vuong beings to thrive on his love for

words and literature because he was given an opportunity in America. Many immigrants wish to

come to America for its opportunities in education. ​The article titled, “How Undocumented

Students Are Turned Away From Public Schools,” published by neaToday on April 22, 2016, the

story of Juan, ​“​a 16-year-old who fled violence in Honduras to travel alone to Texas, ” was told.

Juan was “​initially turned away by the school principal, who believed Juan would not pass the

state test” (Walker). This magazine, neaToday, is published mainly for the educators in our

country. In this article, readers can see how undocumented students with the drive to find their

own success in America today are deterred from our school systems as “ICE raids to detain and
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deport families who crossed the border . . . fostered a climate of fear and anxiety that has

prevented many children from even attempting the school enrollment process.”

According to the Pew Research Center, second generation student “have higher incomes; more

are college graduates and homeowners; and fewer live in poverty.” This can be seen in these

graphs that look at the the 1st generation and 2nd generation immigrants and how they compare

to the rest of the U.S.,

Figure 2. Comparing 1st generation immigrants, 2nd generation immigrants, and the US adults.

Pew Research Center.

By making it difficult for immigrant to receive an education, our government has also effectively

barred the American Dream from these immigrants as a large amount of successful 2nd

generation immigrants are college graduates. Vuong’s story also stands as proof that immigrants

can succeed in the US, but they need to be able to access education in our country first.
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Another hardship of being an immigrant that Vuong also mentions is the existence of

white privilege in our society. He writes, “I didn’t quite understand until, weeks later, I visited

you at the nail salon and watched as you knelt, head bent, washing the feet of one old white

woman after another.” In this excerpt readers can see the great divide between White people and

everyone else in the US. In an article from ​Success​, Sam Solakyan, a child of Armenian

immigrants to America, writes about “What Being An Immigrant Taught [Him] About Success”

He writes, “The impetus for immigrating to America is traditionally rooted in a desire for a better

life.” This article was written in September of 2016 not long before Vuong’s article was

published in the ​New Yorker​. Both articles explore the roles of an immigrant parents and their

“sacrifices . . . made in an effort to provide a better life” and also look into the children and their

role of “. . . ensuring their sacrifices were never in vain. . .” (Solakyan). Immigrants today work

multiple jobs for minimum wages in order for their children to have better lives. In the case of

Vuong’s mother, she bent down at the feet of the privileged “old white women” each day to give

Vuong a chance at success in America. When Vuong integrates these stories of his mother’s

hardships after their immigration, he helps his readers on all sides of the political spectrum, put

themselves into the shoes of the immigrants. By doing this, Vuong is able to make his readers

become more open minded to accepting those who are still trying to immigrate to the US and the

people who have just arrived in the US and are trying to make a life for themselves.

Vuong also talks about the difficulties of assimilating into American culture. As he looks

back into his memories, he writes, “​Do I look like a real American?​ [my mother] asked, pressing

a white dress to [her] length.” At the same time that Vuong writes his piece to his mother, our

American society is also beginning to wonder if his text probably had an effect on the white men
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reading his text because they can now see to individual cultures can contribute to American

society. Vuong’s ability to use his Vietnamese culture and his immigrant origins to fuel his

works shows that American culture isn’t being ruined by immigrants as president Trump fears

when he says, “​They’re sending us not the right people . . . The U.S. has become a dumping

ground for everyone else’s problems​.” (Trump qtd. Hayes) In ​the Atlantic​ article, “Should

Immigration Require Assimilation?,” Tom Gjelten quotes Harvard professor Robert Putnam,

“My hunch, is that at the end we shall see that the challenge is best met not by making ‘them’

like ‘us,’ but rather by creating a new, more capacious sense of ‘we’” (Putnam qtd. Gjelten). This

thought provoking article was published in 2015 by ​the Atlantic, ​whose readers are mainly

educated white men. This audience demographic is also similar to the readers of Vuong’s article

published in the ​New Yorker​. The authors of both pieces write about how immigrants feel the

pressure to fit into American society and strip away their cultural origins to assimilate into

America’s melting pot. By using a story where his mother asks if she looks more American,

Vuong shows his readers how immigrants feel the need to become more “white” to become a

normal American.

Vuong continues to illustrate the difficulties of immigrating as he uses the symbol of the

delicate Monarch butterfly to illustrate the process of immigration and the fatal risks immigrants

take when escaping their own countries. “It only takes a single night of frost to kill off an entire

generation. To live, then, is a matter of time, of timing,” he shows how people immigrate here

with a chance of a better life in mind as they risk everything they have including their lives to

enter into the states. Vuong imagery of fragile monarchs freezing to death can be seen today as a

migrant caravan travels towards the US border from South America. They are willing to go
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through the “route of death” in order to see that their future and their children’s futures are

secure. (Simpson) This excerpt is from the ​Daily Mail​, a newspaper company, mainly read by

people involved in politics and business, based in the UK. Since it is not an American paper

company, it can give us a more unbiased look at America’s immigration issue. Most of its

readers are also educated college graduates. Both of these pieces shed light on the situation at our

borders that many of us forget about. Texts like these two articles keep Americans thinking about

these immigration issues and help us continue the conversation on how we can become more

open-minded and accepting towards immigrants as a nation.

Vuong’s essay not only illustrates the difficulties of immigrating to America, but also

relates to the issues we are discussing today. In a country that pushes away the idea of sharing

our American Dream, Vuong’s text that illustrates the hardships of growing up in America as an

immigrant shows that many other immigrants at our borders today are probably just like him and

his mother. The immigrants at our border today are not walking into our country to harm us. At

some point in our lineage, there was a time when our families were also immigrant to the United

States. We were once here, like Vuong and his mother, to seek an opportunity to rebuild their

lives and escape from our broken countries and broken past. Today, when people come to our

boarders in search for a better life, we should also give them a chance to rebuild their lives and

help them create a better future for their families.

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Works Cited

Chapman, William. “Hanoi Rebuts Refugees on 'Economic Zones'.” ​The Washington Post,​

WP Company, 17 Aug. 1979,

www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/08/17/hanoi-rebuts-refugees-on-economi

c-zones/a26c10ab-3791-4d76-9c4a-db4f7d48be32/.

“Children of the Vietnam War.” ​Smithsonian.com,​ Smithsonian Institution, 1 June 2009,

www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/children-of-the-vietnam-war-131207347/.

Gjelten, Tom. “Immigration, or Assimilation?” ​The Atlantic,​ Atlantic Media Company, 5 Oct.

2015,

www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/should-immigration-require-assimilation/40

6759/.

Hayes, Christal. “Here Are 10 Times President Trump's Comments Have Been Called

Racist.” ​USA Today,​ Gannett Satellite Information Network, 15 Aug. 2018,

www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/08/14/times-president-trump-com

ments-called-racist/985438002/.

“How Undocumented Students Are Turned Away From Public Schools.” ​NEA Today,​ 23 Apr.

2016, neatoday.org/2016/04/22/undocumented-students-public-schools/.
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Leah Simpson For. “Migrant Caravan Nears the Mexico 'Route of Death' Where Hundreds

Have Been Kidnapped by Cartels.” ​Daily Mail Online​, Associated Newspapers, 5 Nov.

2018,

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6352527/Migrant-caravan-nears-Mexico-route-death-h

undreds-kidnapped-cartels.html.

“Second-Generation Americans.” ​Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends

Project,​ Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project, 13 May 2014,

www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/02/07/second-generation-americans/.

Shoichet, Catherine E. “US Plans to Pay $20 Million to Help Mexico Deport Migrants.”

CNN​, Cable News Network, 14 Sept. 2018,

www.cnn.com/2018/09/13/politics/mexico-deportations-funding/index.html.

Solakyan, Sam. “What Being an Immigrant Taught Me About Success.” ​SUCCESS,​

SUCCESS, 23 Sept. 2016,

www.success.com/what-being-an-immigrant-taught-me-about-success/.

“The New Yorker – Condé Nast.” ​Condé Nast​, www.condenast.com/brands/the-new-yorker/.

“U.S. Immigration Trends.” ​Migrationpolicy.org,​ 13 Nov. 2018,

www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/us-immigration-trends.

Vuong, Ocean, and Ocean Vuong. “A Letter to My Mother That She Will Never Read.” ​The

New Yorker​, The New Yorker, 20 June 2017,

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www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/a-letter-to-my-mother-that-she-will-never-r

ead.