Being an immigrant
Have you ever thought about being an immigrant? Having to adapt to a new
environment, a new culture and a new life. It can be thousands of different
reasons for immigrants to move from their own country. Better education, better
jobs, war, political reasons, natural disasters, etc. However, many immigrants
have several jobs and they still do not have enough money to pay the bills and
support their family. No one said it was easy leaving a life to build a new one
in a different country. It’s been made several short stories, books and movies
to show how immigrants live and problems they meet. I have watched ‘’The
Reluctant Fundamentalist’’ and read an extract from the novel Honour by Elif
Shafak to get a better view of how it can be.
Having read the extract from the novel Honour by Elif Shafak I am starting to believe that immigrants have a strong wish that people could look at them and
think of them as they think of everybody else. As written in the extract,
Iskendar Toprak says ‘’but people like us would always be outsiders. We Topraks
were only passers-by in this city – a half-Turkish, half-Kurdish family in the
wrong end of London.’’ These sentences gives me an idea of what Iskendar as an
immigrant think that everybody else thinks of him and his family. This probably
seems like a small problem for many people, but if you try putting yourself in
a situation where people look at you like ‘’you are not from here’’ or ‘’you
don’t belong here’’ I think you will understand how annoying it can be from
time to times.
When I think about the movie we watched that is called The Reluctant Fundamentalist I mostly
think about Changez that in the movie is from Pakistan. Changes who was like
any other American, was a respected man in the society with a good job in New
York. That was before 9/11. When the tragic terrorist attack against New York happened,
people became more aware of Islamic immigrants. Changes who is from Pakistan
then starts to notice a change in his public treatment. I remember one incident
in the movie where the changes in his public treatment appear clearly. Changes
are going on a business trip with some of his colleagues when the police at the
airport stops him, and only him. Changes then have to go to a room and strip
naked in front of two cops only because they have to check him. That would
never happen before 9/11.
Comparing the extract from the novel Honour
and the movie The Reluctant
Fundamentalist, I think that the movie and the extract reveals that
immigrants don’t like to be treated differently just because of where they come
from and what they believe in. It also reveals that being an immigrant can be
very hard and challenging sometimes. As I said earlier in the text, having to
adapt to a new environment, a new culture and a new life can’t be easy for
anyone.