Summary Of Ronald Takaki's A Different Mirror

Reader Response of Chapter 2 of A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki In the book, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America, Ronald Takaki gives an anecdote about how the lives of both the Indians and the Irish were dramatically destroyed and how they were even almost extinct because of the violent and corrupted acts of the English. Moreover, the English expansion led to the “making of an English-American identity based on race” (Takaki 26). Furthermore, the Irish were the first people to be considered as savages. The English felt as if the Irish did not have any respectful manners or obedience to God.

The fourteenth chapter of Ronald Takaki's A Different Mirror briefly covers American dilemmas during the Second World War. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaiian military governor General Delos Emmons declared: "We must distinguish between loyalty and disloyalty among our people"(Takaki 342). At first, this assured faithful Japanese citizens and aliens of Hawaii that the government would not produce mass concentration camps due to their ethnicity. President Roosevelt eventually settled for the internment of 1,444 Japanese after his original demand for 20,000 following Emmons' argument claiming that "such a removal of Japanese would severely disrupt both the economy and the defense of Hawaii" (Takaki 342). Meanwhile, on the west

Ronald Takaki a renowned pioneer in the field of ethnic studies has over the years authored numerous books on diversity in American society. As a grandson of Japanese immigrants who became the first black studies professor at UCLA, Takaki for many years has continually tried to bridge cultures and ethnic groups in the United States. In his book “A different mirror: A history of multicultural America”, Takaki addresses the idea of multiculturalism in our society, and also talks about how for many years we have been told to acknowledge the notions that the core principles of our nation uprooted only from one group rather than a contribution from other various cultures as well. The ‘master narrative’ posed by Takaki describes the growing

With the speedy advancement of the American nation, there were several issues that arose and were left to develop and make the city life something to be astonishing to those who were not accustomed. In New York, the cities were contaminated with sickness and filth on every corner and these problems were left to the poor to figure out and solve. However, with the invention of the camera and a man named Jacob Riis the issues at hand were displayed for all to see and better understand the struggles that poor immigrants and citizens had come accustomed to during the 1800's. "The article The Mirror with a Memory" by James West Davidson and Mark Hamilton Lytle takes place as a biography that traces the life of Jacob Riis and his work to improve the

From 1880 to 1925, an era deemed New immigration, vast numbers of foreigners sought better lives as Americans. However, rather than a welcoming embrace, the expanding populations of immigrants were confronted with growing disdain of immigration. Many Americans assumed immigrants came to America as the poorest and most vagrant people of their country. Thus, many worried that immigrants would pollute America’s genetic stock and become financial burdens to the country. In response to growing anti-immigrant sentiment, Nativists demanded that America belong to “natives” and advocated restrictions on immigration to keep jobs for real Americans.

Irish integration to America was a very important part of the immigration history of this nation. James R. Barrett, professor at the University of Illinois, writes The Irish Way: Becoming American in the Multiethnic City, an account of the story of second and third generation Irish immigrants whose experiences in America changed their lives in more ways than they could have imagined. The book primarily focused on the social history through; their shaky relationship with African Americans, politics and “The Machine”, religious opposition from other immigrants, and their strife in the workplace. Thoroughly developed with illustrations and facts, this book provides new insight into the topic of “Americanization” among immigrants coming to our nation.

From 1800 to 1916, Ireland and England’s relationship consisted of many controversies due to their different cultural and religious practices, and their different views on the rightful governmental authority and economic equality. Culturally, the Irish were more mythical, folky, and spoke different languages; the English looked at these under developed cultural characteristics and believed that the English culture was superior and that it was their duty to enforce their ideas, language, technologies, and hierarchy over the native Irish cultures. Many Irishmen and women completely revolted against the English-superiority mentality and continued to fight for their native customs. Additionally, Roman Catholicism was still the Irish’s national

He had been contemplating whether to start gathering a search party to find them, held off for now. The Spirit of the Mirror had reassured him several times that Emma and the rest of the group were completely safe. They were busy with a group of Indians who were willing to listen to their teachings on Christianity, while trading furs and other goods. Leon knew he should have faith in the mirror, even though the mirror had expressed disapproval over his relationship with Emma. Leon did find that The Spirit had been willing to help locate her, and from what he had been told she was perfectly safe for right now.

In the early 19th century, millions of immigrants from Europe had traveled to the United States to escape difficulties faced in their native lands such as poverty and religious persecution. Italian, German, Irish, and many other eastern European immigrants sought the prosperous and wealthy lifestyle advertised in the land of opportunity, the United States. However, after settling down they often faced the difficulties they had fled from as well as sentiments of prejudice and mistrust from the American people. Most immigrants were discriminated against due to their religious beliefs as well as their language barriers which fostered the beliefs that they were intellectually inferior to Americans.

The mid-19th century saw an unprecedented wave of immigrants coming into the country. At its peak, Ellis Island, the main processing station for immigrants, handled an astounding 5,000 people every day. Because of the language and culture barriers faced by each group of people, they often settled amongst themselves. Very quickly, country-specific neighborhoods began popping up throughout New York and the surrounding area. This helped to alleviate the stresses with moving to a new country; however, most immigrants came to the United States penniless and lived in low-income housing as their jobs rarely supported themselves let alone their families.

In comparison to German immigrants, the Irish fared better in every city, and especially in San Francisco. Second generation Irish men found themselves at a higher social and working class, but second generation Irish women did not see such a change. Women eventually accounted for half of the Irish immigrant population in the U.S. by the end of the nineteenth century, and most of them were young and single. Marriage rates in the U.S. were higher compared to those in Ireland, but Irish women in America were seen as strong, aggressive, capable of providing for themselves, and as opportunity seekers. Although many Irish women in America appeared to have many more freedoms than those in Ireland, they did face setbacks as well as work in the domestic service industry was often tainted with sexual harassment and other such issues, despite its seemingly safe and secure appearance.

As Miller states, “by the early twentieth century Irish-America was a relatively mature and exceptionally diverse society, enjoying some real prosperity, far greater security than in 1850-70, and inordinate influence in politics and organized labor” (Miller 1985, p. 492). Also, the children of Irish immigrants had better access to education, which helped them to become more assimilated into the American culture. Regardless of this upward movement in American society, Irish-Americans still felt a disconnect with mainstream America and they still felt as if they were forced out of Ireland, even though some had never set foot on the island. Even with this progress in social structure, “as late as 1904, Irish-Americans still made up a disproportionately high percentage (11 percent) of the nation’s casual laborers” (Miller 1985, p. 499), confined to heavy labor jobs like plumbers, roofers, mining, and iron making. Some Irish-American men were able to get managerial jobs as foremen and pit bosses, as other immigrant populations arrived and took up the lower status

Known as the "Polka dot Queen ", Kusama started using polka dots and nets as motifs and created fantastic paintings in watercolors, pastels and oils as early as about ten years old. In 1957, she left Japan to the States and she exhibited large paintings, soft sculptures, and environmental sculptures using mirrors and electric lights in Seattle and New York. Yayoi Kusama is also good at using mirror and water to express her idea of Infinite propagation. From the time of her New York resident period to the present, mirrors have become one of the integral materials that she has used repeatedly.(p114, We love Yayoi Kusama) One of her early example is the Infinity Mirror Room（1965）这一个作品介绍不够Though

The Irish in America: Alienation and Assimilation Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the greatest wave of Irish immigrants made a transatlantic journey to America in the hopes of starting a successful life abroad. The post-famine era brought not only physical change as mass exodus occurred, but also social, economic, and political change that had never before been observed. Colonial, Pre-famine, famine, and post-famine immigrants all made the same journey with comparable intents of improving their socio-economic standings. However, the attitude and demographic of post-famine individuals differed in that they were all self-determined and self-sufficient individuals, whereas the majority of pre-famine and

The Irish wanted to escape from English rule, so what better way to escape from English tyranny and landlords by coming to America where America won against Britain by gaining their own independence. This gave the Irish a chance to be independent and on their own to be successful. Once the Potato Famine occurred in Ireland, millions of Irish immigrants finally migrated to America, overwhelming nativists with the competition of labor increasing. Factory owners knew Irish immigrants would do anything for work so they reduced the pay compared to a nativist and would give them more rigorous tasks. With this, nativist would envy these workers and would create stereotypes by their appearance and behavior.