Culture/Belonging

             The authors purpose in both of the stories, "My Favorite Chaperone" by Jean Davies Okimoto and "The Latehomecomer" by Kao Kalia Yang were are portraying how it can be difficult for new immigrants to come to a new world in the United States. They show some challenges immigrants face and how they have to get used to this new lifestyle that they are not used to. In "My Favorite Chaperone" the author writes about every day problems and challenges faced by people like Maya and her family.  Maya family have come to United States from Kazakhstan a country central Asia that used to be probably Soviet union for a new life. Compared to Kazakhstan America is very different so Maya‘s parents are more strict in than the other parents in the US and they have their own culture that they still follow that used to be back and when they were in Kazakhstan. In the story it says how Maya wants to go to the school dance so she can fit in to show that she is just one of the other students, but she doubts she'll be able to go because its not related to academics and that's what her parents are focused on for her. In the story it states, "Everything about Shannon’s family is very American. Her mother has a red coat with gold buttons from Nordstrom, and her father cooks and sometimes even washes dishes! (I couldn’t believe this when I first saw it; no Kazakh man would do kitchen work.) " this tells me how the Kazakhstan culture is and how its different than ways in America. In "The Latehomecomer" which is a memoir about how Kao Kalia Yang and her family face challenges and obstacles with their new life. The Hmong (hmông) are an ethnic gathering from southern China, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. In the 1970s, war also, struggle made a considerable lot of the Hmong individuals in Laos escape to refugee camps in Thailand. Creator Kao Kalia Yang ( was conceived in one of these camps. She moved with her family, including her more developed sister Dawb, to Minnesota in 1987. Four different kin were conceived in America, where all the Yang children received their education. Yang’s book chronicles show the struggle of the Hmong to find a new place to settle and to forge an identity for themselves.In the end, however, the Hmong were able to find something on which they could establish an identity as a people: their willingness to help each other and make sacrifices for the good of the group. Both of the stories give off the ideas of trying to belong and still stay true to themselves. These narratives both use figurative language to show emotions and give pictures for the reader to interpret in their mind. In the story, "My Favorite Chaperone" it states, "I was so happy to see Daniel, even though I was embarrassed about my face, which I knew was once again the deepest red, like borscht." This shows imagery, with a simile with it. It gives the reader of how red her cheeks were because she was nervous to see Daniel and it also compares her cheeks to the color of borscht which is a type of beet soup. The narrative, "The Latehomcomer" gives off this same sensation. It states, "The authors purpose in both of the stories, "My Favorite Chaperone" by Jean Davies Okimoto and "The Latehomecomer" by Kao Kalia Yang were are portraying how it can be difficult for new immigrants to come to a new world in the United States. They show some challenges immigrants face and how they have to get used to this new lifestyle that they are not used to. In "My Favorite Chaperone" the author writes about every day problems and challenges faced by people like Maya and her family.  Maya family have come to United States from Kazakhstan a country central Asia that used to be probably Soviet union for a new life. Compared to Kazakhstan America is very different so Maya‘s parents are more strict in than the other parents in the US and they have their own culture that they still follow that used to be back and when they were in Kazakhstan. In the story it says how Maya wants to go to the school dance so she can fit in to show that she is just one of the other students, but she doubts she'll be able to go because its not related to academics and that's what her parents are focused on for her. In the story it states, "Everything about Shannon’s family is very American. Her mother has a red coat with gold buttons from Nordstrom, and her father cooks and sometimes even washes dishes! (I couldn’t believe this when I first saw it; no Kazakh man would do kitchen work.) " this tells me how the Kazakhstan culture is and how its different than ways in America. In "The Latehomecomer" which is a memoir about how Kao Kalia Yang and her family face challenges and obstacles with their new life. The Hmong (hmông) are an ethnic gathering from southern China, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. In the 1970s, war also, struggle made a considerable lot of the Hmong individuals in Laos escape to refugee camps in Thailand. Creator Kao Kalia Yang ( was conceived in one of these camps. She moved with her family, including her more developed sister Dawb, to Minnesota in 1987. Four different kin were conceived in America, where all the Yang children received their education. Yang’s book chronicles show the struggle of the Hmong to find a new place to settle and to forge an identity for themselves.In the end, however, the Hmong were able to find something on which they could establish an identity as a people: their willingness to help each other and make sacrifices for the good of the group. Both of the stories give off the ideas of trying to belong and still stay true to themselves. These narratives both use figurative language to show emotions and give pictures for the reader to interpret in their mind. In the story, "My Favorite Chaperone" it states, "I was so happy to see Daniel, even though I was embarrassed about my face, which I knew was once again the deepest red, like borscht." This shows imagery, with a simile with it. It gives the reader of how red her cheeks were because she was nervous to see Daniel and it also compares her cheeks to the color of borscht which is a type of beet soup. The narrative, "The Latehomcomer" gives off this same sensation. It states, "I could hear the pounding of my heart in my ears, very loud and deep, like a hollow cry from my chest." This can be a simile and imagery at the same time. It gives that reader to hear that loud and deep pounding of her heart, but also compares how that loud and deep pounding is like hollow cry from her chest.