Assimilation

Andrew Vo

913132984

One of the hardest things for immigrants would be trying to adapt to a new way of life from the one

they had originally known. A new system, style of life, foods, clothing, climate, language, and so

many more things to overcome all the while retaining their own cultural identity. With the idea of

assimilation comes the idea of being white-washed. Is there a point where a person becomes

completely white-washed and loses his/her cultural identity? But cultural identity, by Lowe's

definition, depends on the person's circumstance during a given time. However, where do we draw

line for generations that are born in the western world? The new generations are born directly into

Western culture and their sense of cultural identity would be Western, but most parents do not seem

to agree. The adult figures tries to retain the culture they once knew in their offspring who are

growing up in the western world. From the offspring point of view, he/she has to assimilate to

the culture his/her parents are trying to teach from the western culture they know. But it is difficult to

learn of the parent's culture having not live in an environment of that style, system, foods, clothing,

climate, language, and etc. So as the generation continue, the values of each offspring changes.