Response Assignment 1

Kristin Scott

Ph.D. Candidate, Cultural Studies

George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

home

Adjunct Faculty,

Department of Sociology

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program

American University, Washington, D.C.

Adjunct Faculty,

Cultural Studies, New Century College, Bachelor of Individualized Study & Arts and Visual Technology

George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

Adjunct Faculty,

Department of Organizational Sciences and Communication

The George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Response Assignment #1:

Due: February 8th

Compare Chitra Baneerjee Divakaruni's “Clothes” (214) with May-Lee Chai's “Saving Sourdi” (110) and, in a minimum of two pages and in essay form, discuss how Nea and Sumita each deal with her process of immigration into the United States. See the following questions to help guide you through this assignment. You do not need to answer each and every question; but the questions below will help you explore the ways in which the two characters are similar and dissimilar in their process of immigration. You may also have many questions/thoughts of your own, which I fully encourage!

• How do Nea and Sumita differ in their approaches to adapting to life in America ?

• What are their feelings about immigration? (And think both about what they appear to feel versus what the text gives us to suggest how they really feel and why).

• How do their backgrounds affect their ability to adapt to the change? • What is the main conflict for each? And how does each deal with it?

• What is the resolution for each as a result of their individual approaches to immigration and/or the decisions they each make?

** ALWAYS, ALWAYS give textual examples to support your claims and make sure you properly cite quotations and paraphrased examples. You need to use a parenthetical citation at the end of every sentence/s in which you either cite a quote or paraphrase the author's words. Since you are using one source for this assignment, which is a compilation of other authors' texts (The Bedford Introduction to Literature), the citation would include the author's last name and page number; example: (Chai 112). For this assignment, I do not require a Works Cited page.