Comments on: Garland and Cahan

By: Patrick Boustead

Patrick Boustead — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:42:26 +0000

I think both stories showed the struggles that immigrants faced when first coming to this country. I also know that each stories isn’t nec. suppossed to be a feel good story but you as the reader definitely have to feel bad for some of the family members. I can’t even imagine putting everything on the line for my family to build up a farm from the ground up and then all of a sudden have it taken away from me due to some crappy loophole presented by a person who holds the ace over me.

By: Cory Haisch

Cory Haisch — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:36:40 +0000

Like Dr. Dudley pointed out, the settings and characters of Garland and Cahan are drastically different, but their messages and themes are quite similar. Both of the stories dealt with people being taken advantage of. Garland dealt with the working class individuals being swindled and mislead basically to the point where they are left no choice but to give into the richer individual that mislead them. While on the other hand, Cahan deals with an immigrant family simply trying to adjust to the city life and America itself. Another common theme is that both authors deal with the topic of adjustment. Garland seems to deal with people trying to adjust to the farming lifestyle and everything that goes along with that. While Cahan deals with customs that immigrants must get accustomed with, in this story’s case arranged marriage. One last thing that these stories have in common is the likeablity of the characters, as Emily pointed out. We, or at least I, seemed to sympathize and feel bad for these characters in all their endeavors. Those are just a few things that these two authors had in common.

By: Trenton Mendelson

Trenton Mendelson — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:50:32 +0000

Both Garland and Cahan do an excellent job of illustrating the various struggles that immigrants face when first coming to America. They struggle to adapt to the culture, laws, language, customs, religions, and countless more things. Both authors do a solid job of making relatable and believable characters. As a reader you get a good understanding of these characters very quickly. This helps to make them more likable and the stories more enjoyable.

By: Emily Finley

Emily Finley — Fri, 02 May 2008 03:46:09 +0000

I feel like we relate to these characters as we do characters in movies. We get attatched to the main characters and like Brittany said, want them to succeed. I know I would be very opposed to arranged marriages at first thought, but if I lived back then or in that part of the world, and there was nothing I could do, then I would have to accept that. It also depends how much you trust your parents, and if you would be okay with them making one of the most important decisions of your life for you. I trust my parents immensly, and if they picked a man for me to marry, I would probably totally agree. However, everyone has different views of the person they want to marry, and sometimes parents make different decisions for you, thinking they are the best for you.

By: Ashley Johnson

Ashley Johnson — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:16:05 +0000

Both these authors did a great job in portraying the immigrant lifestyles. They wrote about topics that everyone can relate to, even non-Americans. Each brought to the table a great way of showing the struggles immigrants face when coming to American. Primarily, the challenge of trying to balance a new culture while still keeping intact an old culture. It seemed to me that the older people in the stories had the hardest time with this. The younger people wanted to become Americanized. No one really tried to embrace keeping both cultures prominent in their lives and finding the balance between. I believe this is the biggest problem of people coming to a new country and both authors did a great job in getting that point across.

By: Ashley Schleusener

Ashley Schleusener — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:20:47 +0000

Both Garland and Cahan focus mainly on the difficulties of adjusting to a new culture and lifestyle. The characters of the stories both have similar goals of fitting into the “American” lifestyle, but they have different ways of achieving this. Cahan’s characters want to get accustomed to city life, and Flora hopes to achieve great success and status by marrying well. Garland’s characters take a different route by trying to make an honest living on the farm. Both books leak through traces of their old country in order to establish the difficulties and the homesickness they must overcome. The way the characters try to become accustomed to America gives us insight into their background of how they lived before.

By: Ashley Pearson

Ashley Pearson — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:32:44 +0000

Both stories are very similar. One siginificant similarity i found was that it was the fathers in both stories who were trying to make better lives for their families and they were the ones who seemes to struggle the most with the assimilation. Another similarity is that both families struggled to keep their own culture alive while living in America. They didnt realize that they still could hold onto their own cultures that they grew up knowing and still live in America. It is relly interesting and sad to see all of the things that immigrants had to go through just to live in America.

By: Everett Wall

Everett Wall — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:18:43 +0000

The first similarity that I noticed was the inclusion of the Yiddish language. Both authors utilize and reference the Yiddish language frequently in the text. I believe that this calls attention to tradition as well as allows the authors to show how their characters have been modernized and influenced by the United States. In some instances, the characters are rich in tradition while still struggling to find an identity in America. Can you live the American dream if you hold too tightly to traditional values, language, etc. of your native country? In the “Imported Bridegroom”, a man native to a country eventually feels as an immigrant would as he attempts to revisit his native city. He is viewed and treated as a foreigner. Immigration and the treatment of immigrants has not always been a glorious and aesthetic picture to paint. Immigrants struggle to hold onto what is familiar and safe while also gaining acceptance within a new country. Certain areas of cities and countries become inundated with ethnic groups for a reason. Safety and comfort are much needed as people begin new lives in a different country. I believe that these stories display the struggles that exist as immigrants attempt to assimilate into a culture while holding fast to traditional cuture,beliefs and values.

By: Kevin G. Myrmoe

Kevin G. Myrmoe — Thu, 01 May 2008 00:26:44 +0000

Garland and Cahan’s stories are important literary works regardless if the story is interesting to the reader or not. Immigration is one of or the most important action that has taken place in America. When immigrants moved to America, in most cases, they were forced to assimilate to the culture. Even though the settings are different, the storyline is similar in that they focus on immigrants who moved to America. When reading these two stories together, the reader realizes that immigrants moved to all parts of the country and faced similar problems no matter where they went and what situations they encountered. In both of these stories, the writers work to making the immigrants Americans, where they will share the same culture and values as everyoen else. The plot was different in the two stories, but the view of immigrants are similar. No matter where immigrants went to live, they would face similar problems, such as in the case of a rural area and in a city.

By: Alana Wolken

Alana Wolken — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:59:56 +0000

There are definately similarities between Garland and Cahan’s work. Both author’s write of assimilation, but in different forms. Garland writes of immigrants trying to conform to the American land and try to make a living off of what they can get. Cahan deals with immigration in a more cultural way by writing of immigrants who are trying to preserve their old ways and yet adapt to the “American Way.” Both Garland and Cahan show the price of assimilation, which is losing an old culture to be accepted into another. Both works of the authors have a common theme of Americanization which works toward the goal of making one, homogenious culture… the American culture. Garland and Cahan, being immigrants themselves, show the trials and tribulations of being an immigrant in America and how assimilation was more than evident.