Two Ways To Belong In AmericaThe topic that I choose is ?Two Ways to belong in America”. My personalexperiences with different culture and Bharati’s relationship with her sisterare very similar to my own; however I have different experiences in the marriageand feelings of belonging. Bharati and I have one obvious similarity, which iscoming from a different culture outside United States.
She was born and grew upin India. She came to the U. S. after she graduated from university of Calcutta. I was born and grew up in Egypt, and came to the U.
S. after I graduated fromUniversity of Alexandria. In India the maim language is English because thereare so many languages and the main custom in clothe is Sarie. In Egypt the mainlanguage is Arabic and the second language is English.
The clothes are very muchlike here on the U. S. except in the holidays most people like to wear thetraditional clothes. Bharati’s observation on the relationship between sistersis similar to my own experiences.
She states, ?Mira and I have stayed sisterlyclose by phone. In our regular Sunday morning conversations, we are unguardedlyaffectionate? (341). This is one of my main weaknesses. I have my sister wholives in Egypt and I always call her every two weeks.
We talk about everythingand anything. I like to know what is going on with her life and she likes toknow what is going on with my life too. Although my experience in the way I gotmarried is similar to Bharati, which is marrying the American way, my personalexperience with marriage is different from the author’s. She stayed happilymarried, maybe because she married a person who is on the same level ofeducation as her. She said, ?I married a fellow student, an American ofCanadian parentage? (341). For me I was not happily married and I am a singlemother now.
I think that is because I married a person who is different from mein so many ways. In the beginning I thought he was the one, but after marriagethe wax melted and the real him appeared. One of the main problem I could notget over was how he left five kids behind him and not even an ounce of guilt inhis consciousness. Another difference between the author’s experience and myexperience is the way of belonging. She said, ?I need to feel like a part ofthe community I have adopted ( as I tried to feel in Canada as well)? (342).
Bharati and I differ, because I have been moving around so many times it is sohard for me to feel connected and then move again. This feeling started in Egyptand I have had hard time getting over it. Although I was born in Egypt, theauthorities did not consider me as an Egyptian. So I had been always treated asan outsider even though I had obeyed all the rules, I had paid my taxes, and Iloved my work and my neighbors.
I loved my Egyptian friend that I made. Then Imoved to Yemen and I lived there for 6 years. I really loved the people their,and my best friend but I always had been treated as a foreign person. I thinkthat is why it is so hard for me to feel belong.
