The Message in Girl in Translation
There always have been immigrants since the early days in the United States. The number of immigrants continues to grow throughout periods of time. “As in 2006, the number of immigrants is 37. 5 million. After 2000, immigration to the United States numbered approximately 1,000,000 per year. A recent survey by Gallup showed that there are about 165 million adults worldwide named the United States as their top country where they would like to migrate permanently” (Immigration, Wikipedia).
What is the reason why there are such a large number of people wanting to go to America, even though they are well aware of the difficulties awaiting for them there? Girl in Translation is one of the books that can help to answer the above question as it tells the story of Kimberly, an immigrant in America. Through Kimberly, I can see that despite many hardships, an immigrant can still achieve the American dream of a better life through hard work, persistency, and determination. Like most of the immigrants, the first difficulty Kimberly and her mother encountered in America is the language barrier and the culture shock.
They arrived from Hong Kong with little English which became a serious problem for Kimberly when she started school. On her first day at school, she could not understand what Mr. Bogart was saying, he was angry at the things she did not understand, he thought she was a cheat and gave her a zero (25-27). Kimberly must have been very afraid and humiliated. Back home at Hong Kong, she had been the top student of her class, she was used to receive praise and prizes from her teacher, but now, she thought that she was “a stupid student with a weight on [her] heart”. The American culture was a far cry different from Kimberly’s culture.
She was taught to show respect to the teachers by sitting straight with hands folded behind her backs, standing up when spoken to and addressing Mr. Bogart sir. However, these gestures are not common in America and they seemed to make Mr. Bogart think that Kimberly was mocking him. The other hardship Kimberly and her mother had to endure in their first years in America was their living condition. They arrived from Hong Kong with nothing but debt. That debt was to no one else other than her aunt Paula. There was a saying: “Blood is thicker than water”, but unfortunately, this saying was not true in Kimberly’s case.
Her aunt thought that Kimberly and her mother owned her a life debt that could never been repaid, because she had brought them to America (256). She gave them an illegal place to live. The author described the way they lived so vividly that filled the readers with emotion. Their apartment was in a terrible state. It lacked heat and real furniture. The wind can blow through the windows where “the windowpanes were missing or cracked” in the middle of New York City winter. They had to live under the same roof with roaches and mice running around. They had to keep the oven on during the winter days as it was their only source of heat.
They had to cover their body with layer and layer of clothes but still, that was not warm enough. What really helped her family survive that winter was the cloth used to make stuffed animal in the toy factory trash. They wanted to take the warm material home right away but they were afraid of being late for work. It is very emotional when they kept worrying that other people might take it, that it might not be there when they finished their job. The material, which only was trash to other people, was really a treasure to them, made them “laugh with joy”.
I could not help feeling sad for them when reading this scene: We must have been a funny sight, dressed up at home as tow large stuffed animals, but we didn’t have the luxury of minding. Since then, I have wondered if we would have survived the winter without that gift from the gods. The material was heavy and carpet like, not having been intended as clothing, and when I slept under our new blankets, I woke with my limbs aching from the weight. However, at least they covered our entire bodies at once, unlike the piles of clothes we’d used in the past, and they were warm (77).
To earn a living, Kimberly and her mother worked at the clothing factory managed by Aunt Paula’s husband. Due to the author’s superb description technique, readers can imagine and have a clear image of the factory and feel the need and desperation from the people who work there. The immigrants were working in an unhealthy environment, they are always covered with sweat and fabric dust, they were “deafened by the roar of a hundred Singer sewing machines”. They had to stay all night when there was a shipment going out. They were paid 1 to 2 cents a piece, which is illegal.
There were other children like Kimberly working at the factory, they all hoped to help their parents finish their work earlier and earn some more money. Some of these children would finally end up replacing their parents to work in the factory while their children, like them, would come to help. It was the circle of the factory life that many immigrants could not escape. Kimberly’s mother did not want this to happen to her child, she said to Kimberly: Most people never leave this life. It’s probably too late for me. My days of being a refined music teacher are over.
That’s what a parent is for, to do whatever is necessary to give her child a good life. But you, don’t forget you were the smartest student our primary school in Hong Kong had ever seen. Nothing can change how bright you are, whether your current teacher knows it or not. Most important, nobody can change who you are, except for you (48). Then, Kimberly said: “I’m going to get us both out of here, Ma, I promise. ” (48) She had a great desire to save her mother and she from this miserable life filled with backbreaking labor. She decided to use her talent for school to make that dream come true.
First of all, she needed to perfect her English. Therefore, she bought a dictionary, which cost a fortune, and “try to memorize all the words”. She borrowed books from the library, began with “the embarrassingly thin ones for little kids” (86). She was good at math and science but she had to struggle with other subjects that contained too much English. While the other kids in her class were giving up when they had trouble with Mr. Bogart, Kimberly tried harder at school because she wanted the accomplishment of a top student again as well as she realized that education was the only way to escape the factory life.
Her hard work resulted in her scholarship to Harrison school, where she could develop her learning ability to the fullest. And finally, she was given a full scholarship to Yale. Kimberly was a strong girl. This side of her personality was proven when she fought Luke, the bully in the sixth grade. She did not run, instead she strengthened her mindset by thinking that her ancestor was one of the greatest warriors and so was she. Besides, she thought that if she did not solve this problem right away, it would follow her day after day (90-91). This was exactly the way she fought against her situation.
She did not run from it and give up. She would go to school and tried to be an exceptional student, regardless of her weak English and being out of place with other students. Then she would go to work at the factory and do her homework at night. Kimberly was very tolerant to these hardships. There is no success without any sacrifice. Kimberly’s greatest sacrifice was giving up Matt and raised their son alone. It was selfish of her when depriving her son of the right of knowing his father. However, I cannot blame her. Matt could have been a block to her success as he did not share Kimberly’s ambition for a brighter future.
Matt told Kimberly to stay in China town and not go to Yale. Matt was old-fashioned and he thought that the man was the person to support the family, not the other way round. He just cared about the present when he and Kimberly were happy and that was enough (266-67). Matt said: “Kimberly, my climbing can’t reach your heights (226). ” Matt seemed tough on the outside but he lacked the fighting spirit, the willpower to fight against his situation. He accepted his life in China town even though it is a not very good living condition. He already gave up school to work full time.
Matt could not look far into the future; he did not have Kimberly’s ambition for a better future and her desire to get out of their poor life. Through Matt and Kimberly, readers can see that while many immigrants are caught up in the challenges of cultural and financial difficulties of life, the one that are able to get out of their situations is achieved through education and hard work. Kimberly took a better choice of working toward her long-termed goal. She sacrificed her love, and was able to overcome that through determination and great willpower for the hope of building a better future and getting out of her current situation.
Girl in translation is a typical story of an immigrant. Just like Kimberly, many immigrants have a great desire to become successful, as they know how it is to live in poverty. As long as they work hard and have determination, they can make that dream come true as America is the land of opportunity. Education was the way Kimberly chose to get out of the hardship. The other immigrants can also choose this way to become success since America has one of the best education systems in the world.
