A Rough Life

The United States has always been a place that “welcomes” immigrants however, that does not means that immigrants have always had an easy time adjusting to their new lives in America. In the book “The Best We Could Do”, Thi Bui describes her rough life in America particularly because her parents struggle to fit in with American culture or rather American culture does not easily allow immigrants from a war torn country to become successful. This can be seen on page sixty seven when a young boy spits on Thi’s father and calls him a “gook”. Thi Bui’s situation is not helped by the fact that her father is a grieving man dealing with trauma that few can imagine. But, even with all of this against her Thi is still able to live a pretty successful Life and become a national bestselling author. Her story is undoubtedly inspirational, yet countless immigrants in a similar situation never gain half of her fame or fortune. What about the young immigrant who has left their home in South America and legally entered the United States but is still forced to work back breaking hours for a fraction of what they should be making. Should we not welcome them as immigration serves as the only reason that the population of the U.S. is not falling like China. Adjusting to this new life is difficult and it does not help that there is so much against them. But even take the story of some polish immigrants who came to the United States after World War One not able to speak a lick of English. They were immediately sent to the coal mines of West Virginia where some would be sent off to fight the axis powers in the Second World War. This was the reality for my great grandparents which shows that nothing has really changed with regard to the attitude towards immigrants and how hard it is for them to survive and prosper in the U.S.