Our Feet Walk the Sky

The fuchsia nail polish reminds me of the "Blue Jeans."  For children of immigrants who disliked their parents' values, icons of American culture seem to have held quite an attraction from them.  Could have been viewed as an "escape," or more simply, "the thing that DOESN'T represent my parents' cultural values."

The trouble that Chitra Divakaruni has with writing the note to her parents suggests that she isn't sure herself why she's running away.  I bet that this was common among second generation immigrants who were trying to find a balance between their own values and their parents'.  The American society and the old traditional ways of their parents, two very different sets of values, and them being stuck somewhere in the middle.

Another instance of "imported culture" not working well in the United States.  Nargis and Sabeena quickly realize that the traditional model of the father as being the "breadwinner" would not serve them well under the conditions they were living with in the United States.  The incompatibility of American society with Asian cultures would negatively impact immigrants and their children, severing families, friendships, and hopes for a better life.  (Or something like that.)

A common pattern: the child of an Asian immigrant in a predominately white school will be more inclined to befriend a non-white individual.

The opposite of the "perpetual foreigner:" "I hate it when people…think of me as a totally assimilated American because I'm not."  Some wish to assimilate, and others wish to remain tied to their ancestry.

Racial differentiation leads to perceived separation on other terms, such as what one eats for breakfast.  Self-discrimination?  "My ethnicity is different than everyone else's, therefore I must not have much if anything at all in common with them."