Theme Of Some Old Hmong Woman

Many minority cultures in new areas commonly struggle to find ways to fit in with the American world around them while also keeping their own traditions; these themes are apparent in the poem “Some Old Hmong Woman” by Mayli Vang and “Without Title” by Daine Glancy.

When groups of people move to different countries, especially America, it isn’t always easy to fit in. This theme is clear when comparing these two poems. Mayli Vang talks about some old Hmong woman who “lives in the yellow high-rise/projects of North Minneapolis.” This is a very big cultural shift due to the fact that she is used to living in a smaller community with fewer people and is more connected. When Mayli talks about this high-rise building the connection can be made that there is less interconnectivity between the people living in this area. She tries to fit in by going to the

Later in the poem, Vang explains the woman “eats in silence.” Based on this, the woman seems to be sitting alone, without her culture and the people she loves surrounding her. This is a very difficult shift that the woman faces as she assimilates to the new culture. In the poem “Without Title” similar connections can be made to the difficulty of assimilation to a new culture. Diane writes a poem that talks about her father and how he had to work in a packing house. This was unnatural for him because, in his Native culture, he is used to living off of the land by hunting and gathering. This is a massive shift for her father because the only thing he ever knew was being taken from him and completely changed. Another way her father had to assimilate was by making the change to more modern ways of transportation. In the poem, it talks about how the tire tracks of his truck were left in the snow like animal prints. In Native culture, horses are used for transportation, which is a big shift from a horse to a truck. It also mentions in