SUMMARY AND PERSONAL RESPONSE Introduction Suki Kim is the of Facing Poverty with a Rich Girl’s habits. The of the piece is arguably from the life trials that she faces. It is evident that her parents are wealthy but as life goes on; her father is faced with an imperative tragedy that leaves him bankrupt. According to the societal standards in their country, it is illegal to become bankrupt and one faces possible criminal charges. In this piece, she illustrates that wealth and poverty are two different extremes.
These two types of societal status define the social and economic life that people experience. She also uses the societal status to illustrate the thinking capacity that subsists between the wealthy and the poor in the society. In this piece, Kim shares her childhood events and experiences as her family is faced with poverty. This paper will briefly analyze Facing Poverty with a Rich Girl’s habits and establish important aspects relating to the piece.The main purpose of the author in writing this piece is to explain the challenges she experiences in living between two different countries.
She articulates her emotional state to the cultural hardships that she has to adjust after her family moved from South Korea to Queens New York. These two countries also have different cultures and beliefs. Her friends go ahead to describe her experience as being ‘fresh off the boat’ (Roen, Glau & Maid 2010). She, however, fails to understand why the kids call her F.O.B while she flew in to the United States with their family. She is coupled with stress as she tries hard incorporating another way of life that she has no experience or accustoms in beliefs.
The overall genre of this piece is a narrative essay. The whole piece illustrates her learning process in transforming from a wealthy girl to a poor girl. It also illustrates the challenges coupled with her transformation to different lifestyles as a teenager. Kim uses a variety of tones such as grief, confusion, as well as frustration. The main overall tone in the piece, however, is frustration. The author is experiencing mental shift and alterations in the societal outlook due to immigrating into the US.
The author in fact describes the immigration experience as ‘the great equalizer’. She describes the 1.5 generation issue in which she identifies with due to the adjustment crisis that she faces. However, as time goes by, the tone changes to achievement. She gets comfortable in speaking English as her second language. She also finds out other Koreans like her that faced the same challenges that she had. She adapts fast and illustrates her love for hip hop music apart from Korean music (Kim 2003).
After reading the piece, I was deeply touched and inspired by the piece. At first, the author has to adjust in terms of the current social status of their family. Current trends in the modern world prove that a lot of great and wealthy people began from scratch with no resources. However, it is sad that their social status is retrogressive. Her father becomes broke after being declared bankrupt. Since it is a crime when one gets bankrupt, they decide to flee to Queens and start a new life. Even though the author faces great challenges in adapting to her new environment, she does not give up trying to fit in.
she even adapts her new transport system from being driven by a chauffeur to using public transport to commute.ConclusionThis piece illustrates how hard it may be to accommodate a change in lifestyle and culture. The story also depicts clearly how hard it is when a person changes his or her social status due to financial liabilities. The story, however, depicts that change is inevitable regardless of any situation.ReferencesKim, S. (2003). The interpreter. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. Roen, D. H., Glau, G. R., Maid, B. M. (2010). Handbook for the McGraw Hill guide: Writing for college, writing for life.
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
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