Essay Summary
Marie Myung-Ok Lee’s Eat Turkey, Become American describes the life of Korean immigrants living in the USA and embracing the American culture during Thanksgiving ceremonies. The family celebrated the Thanksgiving ceremony by eating a Butterball turkey, which they learned from a neighbor. Despite being of Korean origin, the parents never spoke about the past because their lives in Korea during the Second World War and the partition of Korea made them undergo numerous pains and sufferings. The assimilation into the US culture and eventual immigration laws that gave the family citizenship ignited hope for a peaceful life in Minnesota without discrimination.
Author’s Ideas
The author argues that political instability is one of the main reasons people flee their homes and seek asylum in peaceful countries. Immigrants are, however, prone to suffer discrimination, especially in nations where the asylum laws are strict, such as the USA before 1965, when the regulations were loosened and allowed the family to be citizens (Myung-Ok Lee, 2014). The family escaped from Japan to the USA because of the political tension caused by the brutal Japanese regime and the partitioning to form Korea.
Once the family landed in the USA, they had to embrace the culture of Thanksgiving, which was fundamental as it gave them an embryonic American lifestyle and a sense of belonging (Myung-Ok Lee, 2014). The persona’s father, a medical doctor, played a significant role in saving people’s lives, but the family always lived in fear because of the continuous deportation threats. The family had to start eating turkey during Thanksgiving to make their family look like Americans and avoid racial stereotyping.
Articulation of Response
The source further explains that a family is the medium for cultural preservation. The family celebrates the Thanksgiving ceremony annually to associate it with American culture. The father remembers with nostalgia that he almost starved to death in Japan because of cultural intolerance, as all American customs, like eating turkey, were prohibited. The family appreciated the favor done to them by the Americans by assuring their safety, and they considered themselves Americans and not Koreans (Myung-Ok Lee, 2014). Migration laws must therefore be accommodative to ensure that asylum seekers get a safe place to live with their families.
Reference
Myung-Ok Lee, M. (2014). Eat Turkey, Become American. The New York Times. Marie Myung-Ok Lee. Web.