Artifact One

My first artifact for the Honors English 10 summer assignment comes from an online newspaper-type website, immigration.net.in. In this article, called "Top Seven Reasons Why People Immigrate," the main reasons that people immigrate are discussed.

The reasons are as follows: Financially Secured Future, High Standard of Living, Education, Start of a Series, Political Reasons, Needs of Different Personalities, and Soul Mate.

Financially secured future is what it sounds like, people immigrate so that they can have a better chance of having a "financially secured future" in a more economically powerful and stable country, and less chance of falling into poverty or homelessness, which might be common in their homeland.

A high standard of living is also pretty self-explanatory. Some countries that don't have public services such as running water, a working sewage system, or health care may see their citizens immigrate to countries that do have those public services. Many times parents are immigrating so that their children won't have to go through what the parents went through as children, so that the children can live happier, healthier lives.

Education is simply immigrating in order to attain a higher level of education. This can be an adult that migrates so that they can go to a better college or university, or parents migrating so that their children can have access to the better school systems and have better prospects of having a financially adequate life themselves.

Start of a series is similar to chain migration. Immigration.net.in does a great job of explaining this, simply put, "The first person immigrates and sends “Happily Settled” information to his loved ones living in the native country. And then what… others also immigrate to the same country (or probably a better one) to enhance their future prospects." Paraphrased, one person migrates to another country, sends word back that they were successful, and others like them migrate to join the original immigrant, seeking the same prosperity.

Political reasons are some of the most important reasons. This is based on a push factor of political unrest, and a pull factor of political stability. The immigrant sees their country having political problems and thinks that it might lead to rebellion, war, ethnic cleansing, etc.. They know that there are other countries that have political stability, and migrates to that country in order to escape the political conflict, possibly as a refugee or asylum seeker.

Needs of different personalities states that some people are extroverts, better at putting themselves out there and making friends, so they migrate alone. Other introverts, who are better with the friends and family they have, will tend to migrate with their friends and family, rather than by themselves.

Soul mate says that people migrate simply because they find the idea of falling in love with a someone in a foreign country appealing.

This contributed to my thoughts on self, others, and immigration because I've never really put much thought into things like overseas political unrest or conflict, and, as many people, I take my life for granted. I've never had to think about immigrating somewhere to better my financial prospects or join a loved one, I've just been happy where I was. This article helped to better my understanding of the many reasons why immigration takes place.

This article didn't really make connections to my past experiences, goals, readings, etc., but it definitely had a big connection to The Distance Between Us. In the book, Reyna's father migrates to the U.S. in order to make money and build themselves a real house back home in Mexico. That is, in a way, a twist of the "high standard of living," reason. Rather than having that higher standard of living in America, however, Natalio aims to have the higher standard be back in Mexico. Juana, Reyna's mother, also migrates to the U.S.. This can be for a few reasons. Start of a series and soul mate can both say that Juana migrates to rejoin Natalio, both because she may want to rekindle their marriage, and she got a letter back saying that he wanted her with him. High standard of living can also apply, as she went to help him raise the money for the better house. Finally, when Natalio takes the children back to the U.S. with him, the reasons for that can be start of a series, as they will join their father; a higher standard of living, though this time it will be in the U.S., not a better house in Mexico; education, because Mago, Carlos, and Reyna can receive a much better education with better opportunities later in life; and financially secured future, going alongside the education and the better prospects of a brighter, more financially stable future.

Before really thinking about the reasons for immigration, and when I was first reading the book, knowing that Natalio and Juana, as well as other parents, such as Cousin Élida's, had left their families behind as they went to the U.S. had struck a chord in my heart, as I have never really been without my parents for very long, and for these children to miss their parents for years upon years, it was sad. Not to mention that in my life, even if my parents are gone I can do pretty much everything that I could do when they are here, even more once I can drive. We have houses full of food and entertainment whenever we want it, and Reyna and her siblings were left to stay with their grandmother, who wasn't very nice to them, and they got little good food to eat. From all this, I kind of thought of the parents as mean and uncaring, though if you really think about it, which I did when I saw these reasons and made the connections, the parents might not have been all that uncaring after all. They did what they did because it offered better opportunities for their children, and themselves, to have better lives, and that, I think, is at the core of pretty much all reasons for immigration.