Julian Torrecampo
9/9/14
ENG 1101
Pg. 77 #1-9
- Danticat’s parents had trouble making money in order to support the family. Her father constantly being laid off, and having to become a gypsy cab driver. Having no health insurance.
- The “Faustian bargain” was a plan for Danticat’s parents to immigrate to New York and then send for Danticat and her brother when they found jobs and settled there. I think that it was a fair offer, because the parents were planning a better future for their children. They wanted them to have the things that they wanted and also to get a proper education.
- Uncle Joseph thought that for poor people, the future was not a given, but in America, the parents will be rewarded for their efforts. The children thought of New York as a haven. They thought that it guaranteed a “struggle-free life”.
- The first lesson that Danticat learns is that if immigrants were poor, they were likely to be working more hours than anyone else, for less money, and with few benefits. I think this lesson is commonly shared because many immigrants give up a lot of things to come to America.
- The quote means that each generation has to either fulfill the dreams of which the past generation has been working in order to achieve or to discontinue that goal and go a separate path. I think children owe parents more than what they have given up in order to give the children a better life.
- An immigrant is someone who has citizenship in one country and enters another country. A transnational is someone who has citizenship to more than one country. One advantage of immigrants is having more opportunities to a better life. A disadvantage of being an immigrant is the process of becoming a citizen. A transnational has privileges in two countries. Danticat’s parents chose to stay as immigrants.
- After the events of 9/11, Danticat’s father became ill with pulmonary fibrosis and was also blamed for those events. I think that he was treated that way because of his physical appearance.
- Trying to escape problems in Haiti, Uncle Joseph ended up dying where Dantycat described as a haven.
- I think that the past tense was used in the title because expectations of New York didn’t turn out what they were supposed to be.
