American Dreamer

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American Dreamer
The American Dreamer is an essay written by Bharati Mukherjee in 1997. Bharati left Calcutta, India, in 1961 and migrated to the U.S. to study creative writing at Iowa Writers’ Workshop. During this time, immigrants were struggling with the issues of identity and racial profiling that were rife. As a naturalized American, she emphasizes the need to uphold equality for all Americans. She identifies the main struggles that immigrants go through that make them end up assuming hyphenated identities; the first one denoting their native origin, and the second recognizing the American culture they adopt. In essence, immigrants take an active role in branding themselves with mixed identities that are built on racial grounds then later find the identity that best describes their life goals and build their life around it.
Mukherjee’s main purpose for writing the essay is to address the imbalance and crises that were borne of the immigrants’ inability to establish themselves as pure citizens. Precisely, they fail to identify themselves as equal to other natives who take part in transforming the country. She decries the confusion in identity and the resentment that immigrants struggle with, failing to recognize their role in nation-building and the privilege they have of redefining the country’s cultural identity (Mukherjee para. 9). On her part, she terms herself an American citizen who has been transformed by the country she now calls home.

The writer uses several rhetorical elements in the essay. Some of these are Antistrophon where she counters the views of other Indian-Americans, diasyrm to condemn Americans’ self-righteousness, and euphemism to criticize the state of affairs in a politer tone. She also uses ecphasis where she explicitly declares herself an American citizen and gives her stance in building self-identity. Lastly, she uses analepsis by repeating the key words – identity and culture to help the readers to synthesize the essay.
Just as Mukherjee’s opines, it is apparent that globalization has converted the world into some small village. Therefore, one’s identity needs not to be defined by the country of origin but by an all-inclusive method that recognizes that cultural transformation is not the erosion of culture. As the author notes, ‘one’s biological identity may not be one’s only identity.’ Therefore, there is an underlying need to abolish racial and ethnic boundaries that disregard other people’s cultural tenets. As Mukherjee concludes, it is one’s duty to perceive migration as a gain rather than live their lives in foreign countries in resentment.
Work Cited
Mukherjee, B. American Dreamer. Mother Jones. 1997. Retrieved from http://www.motherjones.com/politics/1997/01/american-dreamer/