Japanese-Americans Essay, Research Paper
Everyone has his or her own identity. Identity tells people [of ] who you are and what you are. For the past several decades, people HAVE TENDED TO DENY their ETHNIC identity, [of their ethnic], but identity is inevitable part of life in all societies. Identity is unperceivable because it can easily identified [in this modern world] today. [In] Bernard Malamud s story The German Refugee and Arthur Miller s play Incident at Vichy TELL ABOUT PEOPLE WHO EXPERIENCE IDENTITY CHECKS and SHOW how [does] identity GETS between us in life and how [did] THESE PEOPLE overcame [with] the difficulties.
In Malamud s story, Oskar Gassner was a Berlin critic and journalist, WHO escaped from GERMANY to the United States to serve as a lecturer. BECAUSE HE HAD DIFFICULTY writing and speaking English [was his problem] IT WAS HARD FOR HIM to convey his knowledge to the people in the United States. [His life had pushed him] HE WAS FORCED to learn English because his job required him to write a speech in English in a short time. [Therefore,] The story relates HOW HE LEARNED English with his tutor. There were times that Oskar wanted to give up, but he changed his mind. However, even though Oskar achieved his GOAL, he committed suicide [for self-punishment] in the end. [because] He regretted leaving his wife in GERMANY, and now he found out that his wife HAD BEEN killed by the Nazis because she HAD converted to Judaism.
Language is a form of identity to Oskar. Without knowing any English in the United States, HE could not get [him] anywhere. Oskar could not express himself well and [would not be] WAS NOT able to identify himself [with the] IN CONVERSATIONS WITH people. Language is a way to deal with people in the world, and language is [everything] AN IMPORTANT PART of who you are and what you are. In Malamud s story, Oskar showed a national identity. He found himself in the loss of his language. Oskar THOUGHT he was useless, [same as] JUST LIKE Karl Otto Alp, the ex-film star that Malamud tutored. Karl says, I felt like a child, or worse, often like a moron. I am left with myself unexpressed. What I know, indeed, what I am becomes to me a burden. My tongue hangs useless (Malamud 37). All immigrants have been through that situation. They feel like they are useless without knowing any English in the America. That is the same as not knowing your own identity.
While Oskar FOUND HIMSELF trapped by THE English language in [the] America [that he] AND had no way to IDENTIFY himself [as] until he learned his English, Arthur Miller presents a group of men, ALL OF WHOM HAVE something to hide from or deny [from], which IS their identity. [In a room sits] SITTING IN THE ROOM IS a group of men who have been pulled [off] from the street for possible improprieties in their identification papers. The place is Vichy, supposedly still under French rule but in practice IN COLLABORATION with the Nazis. A couple of people HOPE [the fact] that their papers will save them. But they were on the line not [because of] just FOR checking OF identification papers but BECAUSE they were all guilty.
[In] Miller s story [it] SHOWS that they all believed it was just a document check when Marchand says, It s perfectly obvious they are making a routine identity check (Miller 4). Everyone on the line was very nervous AND SUSPECTED THAT [if] it was NOT just an identity check EXCEPT Monceau. Monceau s [role in society] was very calm and had CONFIDENCE IN HIMSELF. He was very CAREFUL TO MAKE SURE that his words made sense and sounded like THE SPEECH OF an understandable and grown-up person. Monceau says, One must create one s own reality in the world (Miller 29). [Because If you begin a sentence with because, you must complete the thought; otherwise you have a fragment] Monceau knows THAT everyone [must have had] HAS something to hide [from realities]. As in Malamud s story true of, everyone was hiding something, which was [one single word] THAT THEY WERE JEWS. They denied that they WERE Jews because they WERE afraid that they WOULD get arrested [if they are] FOR BEING Jews.
Prince s character played the prince with unaffected elegance and grace, an aristocrat not merely of birth but of the soul. [It is] The prince s horrified anxious of the unapologetic Nazi will, of Nazi pride in unhypocritical brutality, that brings into the play of the view of man. The Old Jew was in part of Miller s story; the old guy has come cross over my mind with a word valueless. Miller s stance is sympathetic; he was not criticizing the man for misguided beliefs. IT seems AS IF the man [as] already [having] HAS one foot in heaven he faces the AGE-OLD PERSECUTION THAT every generation of Jews much face with as much dignity as he can be assemble.
[In] Malamud s story [he had gave] presents two POINTS THE FIRST IS THAT Oskar DESERVES HIS SUCCESS [his succeed] because he TRIES so hard just to learn [his] proper English from his tutor and finally [he passed] OVERCOMES all the difficulties to IMPROVE [complete] his English speech [and achieved certain level in English.] Therefore, he had the chance to identify himself and THE ABILITY to express himself with proper English SO THAT [and the stuff that] WHAT he wanted to say WAS not LOCKED deep inside his heart. THE SECOND, AS WE LEARN from Oskar s death, IS THAT people should not CREATE [themselves] too much pressure FOR THEMSELVES or INFLICT [themselves] [self-]punishment ON THEMSELVES as he did. [In] Miller s story[, he] tells us that people should not commit any crimes [otherwise he or she] OR THEY will end up in prison and THAT people should not discriminate AGAINST one another. People [happen to] SHOULD NOT deny their identity[, he or she] AND should be proud of their own ethnicity.
Identity is very important in life. It [not only] tells people NOT ONLY who you are but also what you are. Language is a very powerful way to identify oneself. Without language, people would not be able to identify themselves. I was once like Oskar. I could not understand or speak English when I [just] migrated to the United States. I felt AS IF [like] I WOULD GO nowhere without knowing [any] English; [therefore] I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE with others and [would not able] to let things out and would not be able to IDENTIFY myself. However, I went to school as an ESL student and [from then on] I have started to learn English and can [be able to] identify myself to others.
Both Bernard Malamud S and Arthur Miller s stories [had persuade or showed me] CONVINCED me that the stories WERE taking place at the moment when I was reading THEM THEY SEMEED real and interesting. Both stories have CHARACTERS WHO rejected their identities. IN MILLER S STORY THE CHARACTERS WERE not willing to face the fact that they are all guilty and have something to hide from, [in Miller s story] while Malamud DESCRIBES HOW [presented us with] Oskar s broken English [and he went through] CAUSED HIM an identity crisis when he lost his language in the United States and couldn t find himself anywhere else.