...Summary and Personal Response to Tanya Barrientos’s “ Se Habla Espanol” Honey Jupiter Strayer University English 115 Professor Charles Bretan 01/15/15 Abstract This essay “Se Habla Espanol” by Tanya Barrientos really expresses her struggle with being a Latino who does not speak Spanish. Barrientos was born in Guatemala. At the age of 3, her family moved to the United States. When Barrientos got to the States, she immediately stopped speaking Spanish. Now living in Texas, her parents decided that she could only speak, read, and write English. Barrientos made it a point to fit in with Americans. She hated didn’t like being called Mexican and hated what it seemed to mean to her. She stated, “To me, speaking Spanish translated into being poor. It meant waiting tables and cleaning hotel rooms.” (Barrientos) Barrientos saw it as a compliment not be considered Mexican. Her father wanted to show her that Mexican culture is beautiful and she should be proud of her heritage. Barrientos father sent her to Mexico for the summer in hopes that she would learn to be proud of being called Mexican. Surprisingly, her pride emerged and she wanted to learn to speak Spanish. Over the next couple of decades, the worlds’ view toward different cultures changed. It was okay to be of a different race. No one was associating Mexicans with just being waiters or housekeepers. Barrientos started taking classes, listening to tapes, and even hired a tutor. She even asked her parents to only speak...
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...“Facing Poverty with a Rich Girl’s Habits” Suki Kim Nov 2004 a Rich Girl’s Habits” In this essay I will be discussing “Facing Poverty with a Rich Girl’s Habit” by Suki Kim (2004) In the essay Kim talks about how her childhood went from having everything to barely surviving. During the essay Kim will compare the battles of herself and family when forced to move from Korea to America. Kim was born in South Korea in 1970. She was from a wealthy family where she lived in a mansion on a hilltop that had ponds and peacocks. Kim’s dad was a millionaire. Kim’s world came crashing down as her millionaire father lost everything in a blink of an eye. Kim’s dad shipping company, mining business and hotels all tanked which caused the family to go bankruptcy. In Korea bankruptcy is punishable by a jail term. The family fled to America penniless. Once in America Kim’s family called Queens their home. They lived in a two story brownstone that was owned by a Korean family that ran a local dry cleaner in Harlem. She was forced to be friends with the Korean family sons due to Kim’s language barrier. Kim didn’t understand how the kids called her F.O.B “fresh off the boat” when she actually flown on Korean Air to Kennedy airport. {Kim, 2004} At the age 13 Kim was taking public transportation instead of being driven to school by a driver. Kim now had to do homework alone and noticed the house would get messy without any maids around to clean up. Kim felt humiliated by carting the family...
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...Suki kim is the author of the essay “Facing Poverty with a Rich girl habit. The main focus within the essay, Kim wants to describe her struggles as a young Korean exchange student adjusting to life in the United States. The essay discusses the struggles she had as a child being in the 7th grade and moving from South Korea to Queens, NY. She went from being rich to being poor almost overnight. Her world as she knew it was changed in an instant and it became hard for her to cope. Her father went from being a billionaire to having nothing. As a result of her father going bankrupt her family was forced to leave Korea and her father faced jail time. Her main purpose is to describe what she faced while trying to adapt to different beliefs and cultures. She recalls their first home of a two-family brownstone in Woodside (Kim page 62) owned by a Korean family. When she came to America her lifestyle changed in a major way. She went from having a chauffeur to taking public transportation. She had to get used to being called an Asian when she had only heard that term in school in South Korea. She no longer had a maid and she was forced to take her clothes to a laundromat to wash them on her own. In South Korea, she had the assistance of a governess helping her with her homework. She now had to do homework by herself. She wanted to explain what she went through relocating to the United States and becoming accustomed to the American lifestyle she now had to live. She adjusted...
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...Striving For the Better Shelly Rucker ENG 090- Writing Fundamental Professor Courtney Wooden March 14, 2015 The reasons for deciding to return back to school are financial, personal, and emotional reasons. Being financial stable plays an important role in their life because being able to take care of their own bills and not worry about how bills are going to be paid while maintain going to school every day and also being able to work a full time job with little help on the outside. Working for minimum wage with no raises or bonuses can put a dent in their pocket. Being able to be the second person out the family to actually finish college overcomes joy in a person life. Walking across the stage receiving their diploma and furthering the education to earn a master’s degree to be able to make twice as much as an average person that makes a regular salary of 45000 a year. Lacking where they want to be in life and where they are at now I see that they have a long way to go in order for them to finish and be where they want to be in life. Going back to school is a wonderful opportunity to enhance knowledge, understanding, and apply wisdom. Learning to educate and enrich a better educating and understanding of different concepts of modern living. As of going back to school are very challenging and hard, but with a right mind and a strong drive anyone can make it. Having the opportunity to return to school open up doors that the world would thought that was not possible...
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...“Facing Poverty with a Rich Girl’s Habits” KHADIJAT NAFIU Strayer University “Facing poverty with a rich girl’s habits” Suki Kim appeared in the New York Times on November 21,2004 where she wrote an article on “Facing Poverty with a rich girl’s habits”. Kim was raised by wealthy parents in South Korea who lost everything overnight and became bankrupt. In South Korea bankruptcy is punishable by jail time so they fled to America. Kim and her parents moved in an meteocre house where the people who owned the house had two sons who became her friends. She wondered why she was called F.O.B. (fresh of the boat) when she flew from Korea to the U.S.. Kim never did anything for herself or on her own such as homework, dishes, cleaning, washing clothes etc... All these things were new to her so she didn’t like doing any them. Kim realized that do to the color of her yellow skin tone she was now labeled Asian. Kim noticed that in Korea Schools were different from American Schools. She asserted that slippers were worn in Korea to keep the floors clean why graffiti were on the walls of American Schools. In Kim ESL (English as second language) class, she hoped to find others like her but the rest of her race had nothing in common because they were poor when they came to the states. Kim learned that her and her fellow F.O.B.’s were separated by generations. According to Kim, coming to America as a teen she felt she was in the middle of the two generations...
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...‘Facing Poverty with a Rich Girl’s Habits Reshonda Faulkner Strayer University April 16, 2012 ‘Facing Poverty With a Rich Girl’s Habits’ The main topic of this article is about a South Korea girl name SUKI KIM who was use of being a millionaire in South Korea with her father‘s own his on business and living in a mansion.’’ Kim father had lost has business. Because of bankruptcy, bankruptcy in South Korea was punishable by jail term, so they were force to flee without any money to America and forces to live in poverty’’( Suki Kim,2004, p1). Kim was force to take the public transportation to school not a chauffeur. She had to do her own work not with a governess helping her. Kim did not have a maid, so she had to do all her cleaning. When Kim came to America she and her “family first home was upstairs of a two-family brownstone in Woodside.” Queens Boulevard was F.O.B: short for “fresh off the boat” (Suki Kim, 2004, p.1). She had to learn how to adjust to American school because in Korean schools they were taught to how to teachers at every turn. When she came to America she had to have E.S.L. English as a second language. Kim “watched reruns of Three’s Company” in attempt to learn English” (Suki Kim, 2004.p.3). Before the year was over, her parents moved them out of the neighborhood in search of a better job, housing and education. In a conclusion, this article was about a women named Suki Kim, a women forced to move to America and learn how to live in poverty as...
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...Facing Poverty with a Rich Girls Habits Summary of "Facing Poverty with a Rich Girls Habits" Christy G Phillips Strayer University English 115 Alene Morrison 04/17/2014 The essay that I am summarizing is "Facing Poverty with a Rich Girls Habits" written by Suki Kim. Suki tells us how her life changed dramatically overnight. She lived in Korea until her seventh grade year when her father who was a wealthy business man lost everything they had in the 1980's. Her family moved to Queens New York where she was having a difficult time adjusting to her new life in America. When she was 13 she realized how much things to change she no longer had a chauffeur to drive her around so she had to ride public transportation to and from school. She no longer had a governess to help her with her homework, nor a maid to clean up after her. Things are a lot different in school here in America she no longer has to bow to her teachers and the dress code is a lot different. She could not speak any english so in school she took a class called English as a second language. She met other Korean student's, but it did not take her long to realize they had very little i common. She also tell us she would watch the television show Three's Company to help her learn english as well. It was not until years later that she learned that their was a difference in the American-Korean students and the Korean students. In the essay, she explains how quick a person's...
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...Assignment 1.2: Summary and Personal Response The essay written by Kim called “Facing poverty with a rich girl’s habits” was a very sad but everyday living style. Kim came from a rich family that had everything and in a flash everything had changed. They moved to East Village in New York City and Kim struggled with the new language barrier. She was called names like fresh of the boat and she never understood why she was called that and why those of her nationality looked down upon her has if she bought shame to them. Kim had to watch Reruns of Three’s Company just to learn the English language. Kim was facing something more then just fitting in and learning the English language she was facing poverty and never knew how to. She had a rich girls soul and can’t handle being poor. In my opinion Kim wrote this essay wanting to explain her struggle and how she faced poverty when coming from so much. She wanted those who are going through what she went through feel better about change. She showed it is light at the end of the tunnel and that what those people are going through she went through it so they aren’t alone. To change people ways showing them those who aren’t familiar with different countries and are new to certain things help them instead of giving them their back. Kim explained her story with a settled tone but used pain to help make her essay loud. She was hurt by the way things changed and how to tried to fit in but her soul was somewhere else. She couldn’t...
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...Assignment 1.1: Summary and Personal Response “Facing poverty with a rich girl’s habit” By Suki Kim Lashanti Brown Professor Maria Allegra, MS ENG. 115- English Composition July 10, 2012 Assignment 1.1: Summary and Personal Response- Draft Version 1. Identify the source (writer and title of essay) and state his or her most important point in your own words. The writer name is Suki Kim. Her title comes from her own life trials. This essay comes from her book that she wrote titled, “Interpreter.” She lets the reader knows that she was born with the silver spoon in her mouth. Her father had lost everything in bankruptcy and in her country that is a crime a person can be put into jail. So her family had come to Queens, New York. They didn’t have a penny to their names. She had to learn how to transfer from a little rich girl to a poor little girl. This essay also shows us how she dealt with the changes and how others saw her and what she calls the 1.5 generation. Ms. Kim also lets us the reader knows that it was hard to transfer to a new lifestyle especially in the 1980’s as a teenager. 2. Summarize the other main points and their supporting details in separate paragraphs. One of the other main points in this essay to me was her first English words in junior high were F.O.B., short for fresh off the boat. She didn’t understand why other kids called her that because she had flown Korean Air to Kennedy Airport. The second main point is one of the where she had to...
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...Essay summary: Suki Kim’s “Facing Poverty with a Rich Girls Habits” Facing Poverty with a Rich Girls Habits is an insightful essay published in New York by the author Suki Kim. In this essay, she shares various challenges that she had to overcome in order to adapt to a new life of poverty and cultural diversity in New York after leaving behind her affluent and luxurious life in South Korea. This article discusses the author’s point of view as 13-year-old Korean immigrant who moved to United States out of desperation and financial tragedy rather than in search of a better life. The author’s main idea in this essay is to convey the message that the foundation of divided immigrant groups, cultural differences and generation gap are so deeply rooted even in the United States that it is impossible to eradicate them from the mindset of people. The author emphasizes on the fact that her wealthy and sheltered background in Korea created confusion. Thus, making it difficult for her to identify with people’s perception of her race in America “One new fact that took more time to absorb was that I was now Asian, a term that I had heard mentioned only in social studies class”, stated author Suki Kim in her article. She continued, “In Korea, yellow was the color of the forsythia that bloomed every spring along the fence that separated our estate from the houses down the hill. I certainly never thought of my skin as being the same shade.” The author struggled to accept the fact that...
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...The article that I chose to summarize is “Facing Poverty with a Rich Girls Habits” by Suki Kim. I feel as though the main point in this essay would be the difficulty in transitioning from a rich girl in Korea with limos, maids and a governess, to living in the U.S poor. Not speaking the language and having to do everything for themselves. In Korea the Kim family had wealth and all of the luxuries that came with it and we forced to flee to the U.S when the father went bankrupt because bankruptcy was punishable by jail time. The author took public transportation for the first time at 13 years old. This was strange for her because before she was driven to school. She also had difficulties understanding some of the terms used here such as “fresh off the boat” when she had in fact flown to the U.S. In her English as a second language (E.S.L) class she now has to interact with kids that she would have little to no contact with in Korea. The class division is even more pronounced because she knows that the wealthier Korean immigrants migrated to Westchester or Manhattan whereas she and her family were in Queens. Suki Kim stated that she was a part of the 1.5 generation. She stated that “Many of us came to America in our teens, already rooted in Korean ways and language” Kim, S. Facing rich poverty with a rich girls habits. In The interpreter. This generation clashed with first generation immigrants who barely spoke the language they also clash with second generation who were more...
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...Strayer University ENG 115 Professor: January 15, 2016 “Facing Poverty with a rich girl’s habits” Identify the source (writer and title of essay) and state his or her most important point in your own words. The title of the essay was, “Facing Poverty with a rich girl’s habits” written by Suki Kim. Suki main point of the essay was to explain to her readers that she had experienced some challenges adapting to the beliefs and cultures living in America, versus living in Korea. Summarize the other main points and their supporting details in separate paragraphs. “I thought because in South Korea I had been raised in a hilltop mansion with an orchard and a pond and peacocks until I entered the seventh grade, when my millionaire father lost everything overnight (Suki Kim).” Another main point that Suki was trying to make was challenging accepting a new way of living compared to how she was raised to living in Korea. Also Suki, felt it was important for the audience to know that the way she looked at life had changed since she moved from Korea. Finally, a point of the essay was that she was still the same person and that her culture and beliefs did have to change because she lived in a different part of the world. Discuss the (1) writer’s purpose, (2) genre, (3) audience, and (4) tone (attitude), The writer’s purpose would to tell her audience how she adjusted to life as a rich girl to living in poverty barely making ends meet. Suki’s genre could be classified...
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...Facing Poverty With A Rich Girl’s Habits By: Kim Darrell Carter Lindsay Ludvigsen English Composition 115 April 20, 2014 The essay tells about a family that was once rich and they went bankrupt overnight. Her father lost everything he had and everything that they owned. The author Kim is the voice throughout the story. She was mainly talking about herself so it is told as an autobiography. One of the most important points in the girls life is when she was in middle her father lost everything that mattered to them. She then moved to Queens, New York where she had difficulty adapting to the American culture since she was from Korea. She didn’t even know how to speak English. She watched “Three’s Company” in attempt to learn English. She also stated that attempting to learn English was more brutal than facing poverty with a rich girl’s habits and memories. At the age of 13 she had to take public transportation instead of being driven so that was something that she was not used to. She had to learn how to do her own laundry and also needed a tutor throughout school. I’ve learned that she is now learning to be independent and experiencing being a middle class teenager since she is no longer rich. The story’s genre and purpose is to show readers of this story the difference between the Korean culture and our American culture. The author also shows how hard it is for someone to adapt to such modest living conditions after living such a wealthy lifestyle...
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...Facing Poverty With A Rich Girl’s Habits By: Kim Darrell Carter Lindsay Ludvigsen English Composition 115 April 20, 2014 The essay tells about a family that was once rich and they went bankrupt overnight. Her father lost everything he had and everything that they owned. The author Kim is the voice throughout the story. She was mainly talking about herself so it is told as an autobiography. One of the most important points in the girls life is when she was in middle her father lost everything that mattered to them. She then moved to Queens, New York where she had difficulty adapting to the American culture since she was from Korea. She didn’t even know how to speak English. She watched “Three’s Company” in attempt to learn English. She also stated that attempting to learn English was more brutal than facing poverty with a rich girl’s habits and memories. At the age of 13 she had to take public transportation instead of being driven so that was something that she was not used to. She had to learn how to do her own laundry and also needed a tutor throughout school. I’ve learned that she is now learning to be independent and experiencing being a middle class teenager since she is no longer rich. The story’s genre and purpose is to show readers of this story the difference between the Korean culture and our American culture. The author also shows how hard it is for someone to adapt to such modest living conditions after living such a wealthy lifestyle especially for...
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...Daryl McDowell “Facing poverty with a rich girl’s habits” by Kim Mrs. Shannon O’Stricker ENG115 4/14/2012 In “Facing Poverty with a Rich Girl’s Habits” by Suki Kim, Suki talks about how a Korean girl went from being wealthy to her family going bankrupt. I think that her most important point is that she is now a Korean-American who once lived wealthy in Korea and then moved to the big city of Queens, New York in the 1980’s. Dealing with economic hardship, Kim had to adapt to the situation. The audience is anybody who reads her story. I think that her life story is for everyone of all ages. Because of her tone, I felt she was composed about the situation. I feel that she seemed to adjust very well in her new environment. For the first time Kim had to do her own laundry and take public transportation to school. After her father loses his shipping company, mining business and hotels, things started to fall apart. The author, Suki Kim is being described in this essay. This is her life story. The most important change in her life came when she started middle school; her father went bankrupt and lost everything that mattered to the family. Because bankruptcy was punishable by a jail term, she was then moved from her hilltop mansion with an orchard, pond and peacocks to Queens New York. Suki had difficulty adjusting to the American culture. At age 13, instead of being driven by a chauffeur she took public transportation to school for the first time. She never had homework...
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