Immigration and Cultural Conflict

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Immigration and Cultural Conflict

Immigration and Cultural Conflict
Immigration has its fair share of challengesfor the immigrants who are coming from one cultural
background to another. For the case of the Chinese and the Irish, the fact that they are from two
different races makes the two groups have striking differences in the culture especially regarding
gender roles; child up bring as well as marriage. As opposed to having a structured culture
whereby, the man is the head of the family, and all other people look up to him, the Immigrants
moving from an Asian region where there is strict observance of discipline for children, with the
ladies being the home makers and their men breadwinners; these people are likely to get into a
culturalconflict when they move to the American setup. Thisisdue to the difference in cultural
practices thatoften result in disagreements andfamily break-upsespecially for the elderly.
Critical Analysis
ReversalofFamily Roles
Career women in Ireland are quite aggressive and most of the times have a responsibility
oftaking care ofall the family needs. On the other hand, men in Ireland have a right to be treated
as the head of the homes regardless of whether they take care of the needs. From the short story,
Who’s Irish, Natalie, the Chinese, who is married to John, the Irish, is a career woman having an
executive position in a big company. However, it is interesting to observe that Natalie is the one
financially supporting the family and she has no right to challenge her husband to look for
employment. The cultural conflict regarding gender roles comes in when John as an Irish man

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reserves the right not to be questioned about his non-employment and should be supported to
keep his manly fitness, yet according to Natalie’s mother, the Irish men should be aggressive like
the Chinese. John had no job and he, therefore, could not take care of Sophie (Jen 1). Based on
the Chinese culture, John, as a head of the family was responsible for putting meals on the table
as well as taking care of his daughter, Sophie. However, for the Irish culture, John was
considered superior even without a job and the defense used for him because he was a man (Jen
2). There is a cultural conflict as to who should take care of family responsibilities as well as the
credit, despite Natalie working so hardto support his jobless husband, he stilltakes the creditand
does not take up the role ofsupporting his family asChinese fathers do.
In the Chinse culture, when children grow up, they are responsible for their aging
mothers and should take care of them to return the favor of being brought up. However, there is a
cultural conflict in the reversal of roles between the mother and the child when the Irish culture
is compared to the Chinese one. In China, the daughter take care of the mother, while in the Irish
culture, it is the other way round (Jen 2). However, for the Irish culture, Natalie’s mother is
surprised as she becomes the babysitter and takes care of the daughter’s family. The cultural
conflict is further evidenced when Natalie’s mother states in that in China, there is no word like,
“supportive.” An aging mother cannot be ‘supportive’ of her young daughter since such a
terminology does not exist. However, having mother’s ‘supporting’ their children in the Irish
culture is quite normal (Jeffers 12). Therefore, there is a reversal in the role that elderly parents
have to play when a comparison is made between the Irish and Chinese culture, which results in
a conflict, especially from Natalie’s mother perspective.
Talent Nurturing vs. Facing Reality
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