Identity Formation

Beginning a new life and forming a new identity in a foreign country is not an easy task, we as immigrants usually face challenges to identify ourselves in a new culture which is very different from our own. Identity formation is the development of one's distinctive personality due to particular reasons such as a new environment, a new culture, new language and new life style. During this process; we can either create or deny the bond with our own culture. Based on The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiris, this paper intends to explain and explore the process that we have to go thru in order to blend in the different culture when we come from a foreign country to the US, just like Ashima struggles through language and cultural barriers as well as her
We as English as second language students, frustrate at the beginning due to the lack of communication with others and for instance, most of the time, we feel the impulse to connect with other people that speaks our language. For some of us who came from countries where the Gregorian alphabet is not used, the learning process becomes even harder. Pronunciation or speaking is a challenge too because most of the time we are betrayed by our accent. However, once the English skills start improving due to the acculturating process, we assimilate that there is no going back and we look forward to master our English skills. Learning foreign languages opens our minds to new ways of thinking. While there are some people that learn a language because of interest or they want a challenge, we have to learn in this case English because of a practical need for
In the beginning, it’s all about missing the longstanding life and days. It is a process to start settling in the American life and for instance we have to adapt and learn new customs and new ways of doing things and follow different procedures that are completely different from where we came. Not to mention the pain that is generated by leaving family, home and the loved ones behind. The struggle has begun since most of the immigrants come from third world countries, adopt this new culture will be shocking, and the chief motivation is to achieve the goals that each one of us assume before making this kind of decision, by leaving our home country we realize we gave up on our old life looking forward to the better future, and just like everyone else we want to achieve our American dream in the land of the opportunity, the