California in Poem

What will you think of when people talk about California? Hollywood? Silicon Valley? Long Beach? California is a special place renowned for her richness in resources and opportunities, mostly made famous by the gold rush in the twentieth century, as well as the prominent film industry and the legend of the Silicon Valley in the 21st century. These anecdotes have attracted people from all over the world to start their lives afresh in the Golden State, thus creating a unique California immigrant culture.

Since the last century, the California dream has become a very common topic discussed worldwide, and has been mentioned on various sources including written articles, photographs and poems. There are various ideas about the California dream suggested in the book "California Dreams and Realities". The poems "Orange County Historian" by Michael J. O'Brien and "Yuba City School" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s were both written based on the problems Californian immigrants encountered in this foreign land. However, the two poets have their own approach to the issue, and both have employed different tones and expressions to provide dissimilar views on the difficulties these migrants faced.

The two poems were written about California immigrants with different backgrounds. “Orange County Historian” talked about the history of California with regards to traffic problems. A significant increase of immigrants led to a huge increase of vehicles on the freeways, adding to the existing problems of traffic jam. During the early twentieth century, the Pacific Electric Trolley Company encouraged people to live in countryside and work in the city, thereby greatly increasing the number of commuters on the freeways. Moreover, the speed of building new freeways was not fast enough to reduce the effect of the largely increase of the number of vehicles. Thus, the traffic problems were very common in that period of time. Conversely, “Yuba City School” was based on the history of immigrants from South Asia and Indian. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and her son Neeraj came to California in hopes of realizing their dreams. However, during those times, the immigrants who came from non-European countries were being stereotyped as strangers and outcasts. In the poem, the teachers allocated Neeraj to sit at the back of the classroom with a fat boy who drools, saying that he was an idiot. This illustrated how poorly the immigrants were being treated back then.

 

The two poems recorded the difficulties immigrants faced with a sad tone. In "Orange County Historian", there was a verse “After an hour of sitting anxiously, desperate commuters self-consciously….”. It talked about the uncomfortable feeling of immigrants to have to wait in the traffic. It was not something that they were used to and definitely something that they had to learn to bear with. Furthermore, this situation was an implication to all the uncertainties in the new life that these immigrants had to bear with. In the poem "Yuba City School", it recorded the reaction of the main character: “ Neeraj came crying from school.” This directly showed how he responded to the new study environment, explained that Neeraj is not happy with what he meet and experience in the Yuba City School. In the sixth verse it said: “He bites down on his lip to keep in the crying, they are waiting for him to open his mouth, so they can steal his voice.” This verse showed the emotion of Neeraj when he was being bullied at school, He tried to be tough as he bites down his lip in attempt to stop crying. It recorded the unpleasant experience of which immigrants were being discriminated in the new country. It was also very indicative of the mistreatments immigrants received back then. In the times where society placed huge emphasis on social hierarchy, the immigrants were at the bottom of the social ladder and were often being neglected and abused as they were seen as being inferior.

The hardship immigrants faced in pursuing the California dreams was the main idea shared in these poems. The two pieces talked about different problems these migrants came across in California. The "Orange County Historian” was based on the traffic culture of California. The problem of traffic congestion might be a new challenge to overcome. As mentioned in the poem: “Like bathroom drains, on-ramps and off-ramps got plugged tight, so the thousands who sought to get to work or school slowed to a crawl, then to a stop.”, congestions in California could be something that these immigrants had never seen in their lives. It might seem like a very common social hiccup in advanced countries, but for those arriving from other nations, it might be an unconventional phenomenon. On the other hand, "Yuba City School" talked about the mistreatment of Neeraj in school. It described how he was being disrespected and stereotyped by his teachers, especially through the incident in which his teacher called him “idiot, idiot, idiot”. This showed how remarkable and hurtful that experience was to Neeraj’s. It also implied how these immigrants were often being stereotyped and discriminated in a foreign country. During those periods when society placed a huge emphasis on social hierarchy, the migrants were at the bottom of the social ladder and had to endure much pain in order to live.In addition, thee same poem reflects how speaking English was a problem on these foreigners. The poet mentions: “ Tomorrow in my blue skirt I will go to see the teacher, my tongue stiff and swollen in my unwilling mouth, my few English phrases. She will pluck them from me, nail shut my lips.“ The verse, though comprehensive, did not make much grammatical sense. It suggested how children and adults alike had to overcome the language barrier in order to thrive and chase the California dream. They had problems in communicating with the natives, but the language was something they have to tackle if they wanted to be successful in the new land. The problems discussed in the poems were common issues California immigrants needed to overcome.

Though the two poets wrote about different histories and issues, both tried to illustrate the discrepancies between the reality and the ideal California dream. The poem “Yuba City School“ brought out the problem of how pursuing the California dream came at a great cost. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni sacrificed both her and her son’s childhood in order to come to America. As she wrote in the ” Yuba City School”: “The earth, he knows, is round, and if one can tunnel all the way through, he will end up in a Punjab, in his grandfather’s mango orchard, his grandmother’s songs lighting on his head, the old words glowing like summer fireflies.” This expressed how much Neeraj wanted to back to the past, to have the comfortable and painless life he comfortable with. It contrasted with the horrible treatment he was given in California. The California dreams were not as easy and happy as it seemed. It was about chance and opportunities, but it was also about the pain and cruelty they had to go through in hopes of achieving big. The “Orange County Historian” discussed a more physical problem of traffic jam in California. The migrants were not expecting such problems caused by technology, and it surely was a factor they did not consider when chasing the California dream. To them, California was a beautiful place with temperate climates and beautiful landscape. It must have been quite a cultural shock when they realize the real California was a state with heavy problems on traffic. There were many problems that these immigrants did not foresee when they decided to try out their chances in California, and both poets tried to point out the different between reality and dream.

Moreover, the two poets wrote about immigrant problems and experience that are still applicable in present days. The story of “Yuba City School” is very common and similar to the experiences international students now face. Though much has been done to eradicate the issues of discrimination, the problem of language barrier still exists. New immigrants/foreign students still have to overcome the obstacle of communication with Americans, and they can be very easily discouraged in the same way Neeraj was. On the other hand, “ Orange County Historian” provided a relevant situation of traffic jams prevalent across California. It is a scenario that immigrants and Californians alike may face on a daily basis. Though the poem was written in the 90s, the same problem still exist in this state, if not worse. Many Californians have adapted to life and travelling in a vehicle, and most of them cannot simply go anywhere without a car. Although the issues discussed in the two poems were rather different, they were both problems that still existing in the present world.

The poems "Orange County Historian" by Michael J. O'Brien and "Yuba City School" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni introduced different histories of the immigrants, what difficulties they had to overcome, and how the California dream was rather different from how people imagined it to be. Both poems were written based on the themes of California dream and California immigrants, but the two took rather different approaches. They were derived from the different backgrounds: one talked about the physical circumstances in California while the other mentioned the history of South Asian immigrants. The two also discussed different problems these immigrants faced. However, both poets seemed to have a similar way of relating their view on immigrants to the California dream; both hinted that the dream was not as glamorous as it seemed and there were a lot of sacrifices made in the pursuit of success in America

Relfection 

As the second out class did not do any draft in class, I was a bit worry about my thesis statement and the supporting ideas. I found out that I am quite rely on people’s comment on my writing but not really believe in myself.

Furthermore, I think I am not creative enough on giving title to my essays. A good essay can give people some idea to know what is going about in the article, or even make a point to make the readers think. Unfortunately, I was failed to do this in the out class essay 2.

In this essay, I have changed my writing style, try to talk about the essay with some short paragraphs, I think it can keep readers clear with what and why I want to say. However, I think there can be more balance on the two poems, as I was doing the project on the poem Yuba City School; I am more familiar with the idea in it. I think the analysis on the Yuba City School poem is detailed. On the other hand, the poem Orange County Historian, I think I should have a deeper understand on the background before I analysis it. Different understanding on the background did many influences on the poem and would affect the way I construct the poem. Overall, I think it is a better essay comparing to the previous essay on writing level and style but not content wise.