Cause & Effect Essay--Yaen Mei

 

Yaen Mei

ESLINTG 100

Draft3 (Final Draft?)

October 5, 2024

Changing Fate

      Immigration is very common in my hometown. My hometown is just a rural area near a small town in Taishan, Guangdong. Many people could barely afford their family’s life in the past. Thus, it’s common that only elders and children were left in a whole village because most of young adults immigrated to the foreign countries or cities to earn money. People in my hometown thought immigration could change their life, especially, when they didn’t have high education and had to work a hard job with low wages. Nevertheless, some immigrants would go back to their hometown to develop it. This behavior also made an impression on people who lived there—the immigrants are rich. All of these reasons caused the people in my hometown to be obsessed with immigration. Expectedly, these reasons have affected my family as well.

      My father’s little sister was the first immigrant in my family. As a part of the villagers in my hometown, she didn’t get a high education. She moved to Guangzhou which is the nearest big city and found a job. However, even though she worked diligently and had a long shift, she only got paid a little money. The wage couldn’t match the work she put in. My aunt was not satisfied with this situation. Therefore, she started to find another method to earn more money. In 2000, she decided to immigrate to the US. After that, she still worked a hard job, but then she earned higher wages. It was possible to afford the cost of living and support my grandparents. She said that immigrating to the US was a good decision for her. If not, she would still be struggling on a hard job with low wages. This choice changed her fate.

As time passed, my aunt got married in the US. She obtained a green card, and thought that it was time to bring my grandparents to the US. During this period of her life in the US, she realized that the welfare policy in the US is better for my grandparents. However, adapting to a different life was not easy. My grandparents had never learned English before and their age limited their ability to learn English. In the beginning, they needed my aunt to accompany with them for everything. Now, they are able to do most of things by themselves although they only know a little simple words, like ‘Hello’, ‘Thank you’, ‘Goodbye’. My grandfather found a job to spend time, and he met some foreign friends on this job. My grandmother always said that the US is better than my hometown. Because of the government policy, she could gain some free food and a cheap rental house. They adapted the US lifestyles so well. This year is the twentieth year of them living in Chicago. They are really enjoying their USA life. I think that immigrating has changed their life.

      At the same time, my aunt helped my parents and me to apply for a green card as well. My parents’ immigration reason was the US has better education and work resources for me. At first, I always resisted it. Moving to another country almost means restarting my life. In the US, my parents have to work at a hard job even though they are old enough to retire in China. Furthermore, I have to attend the university again. These things are very unacceptable and painful for me. However, there is no leeway. I can’t afford the price of regret. Dare or die, and I chose “dare”. Consequently, I live in Chicago now. This is a huge turning point in my life. Regardless if I take it or not, I already chose the option. I must follow the path to continue my life.

      Immigration has influenced my family so much. It’s inevitable. These stories are about my family trying to change their life or improve their lives better. I would never judge their decision because they already chose the best option in their horizon, and these decisions have changed their fate obviously. On the other hand, even if my family were not affected by immigration, they also might have found another way to change the difficult situations. Without a doubt, my family has controlled their own fate.

 

Cause and Effect Essay

Brave Woman

In many places in the world education is a luxury, not a right. In Colombia, the country where I am from, the educational system struggles to provide a good education to many children, especially those who live in rural areas of the country. The poor infrastructure, the dirt roads, the insecurity, and the lack of teachers, are only a few examples of educational problems. In addition, one of the biggest issues affecting the Colombian economy is corruption, which results in the wrong use of public money, making it harder to improve key sectors like education. My mother was born in Susa, a small town in Colombia. For her, studying was very difficult. Her school was very far from her house, and she could only get there by foot. Walking was the only way for her to reach her school. The lack of educational opportunities for my mother forced her to leave her hometown, and this completely changed her whole life.

Immigration not only happens when people leave their country, but also when people leave their own city or town. That is the case of my mother. When she was eleven years old, my grandmother decided to leave my mother in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, in an aunt´s house. Moving to the city to forced my mother to become an adult very quickly and take on responsibilities that were not appropriate for a child, including taking care of herself and others, cooking, and working. In her new life without her parents, in a new home, with new people and new rules, she had emotional challenges. She felt alone, and she missed her parents, her brothers and her friends. My grandfather also missed her a lot, not only because she was his only daughter, but also because he didn’t know that my grandmother was going to leave her in Bogotá. 

Despite the challenges, the move had a positive effect on my mother’s life. Thanks to the move, my mother was able to receive a much better education than she could have had in the town. Schools in Bogotá have better infrastructure, more experienced and better educated teachers, and many options for choosing a good place to study. After school, she studied in an institute and learned about secretarial work. These studies provided her with good skills that opened job opportunities. She gained confidence in herself, her abilities and learned how to navigate the professional world. My mother worked for twenty-two years in the same company. For her, that was the most important thing in her career, and that opportunity helped her to have stability for herself and her family. In that job, my mother was recognized many times for her abilities. I remember when I visited my mom at her job, and people told me how fortunate I was to have her in my life.

Another fortunate thing that happened with my mother's move was that she met my father in Bogotá. My father lived in one of the apartments in my aunt’s house. At first, they were just friends, but with time, they fell in love. They got married and a few years later I was born and then my brother. A curious thing about my parent’s relationship is that my grandmother didn´t like my father very much at first. However, my mother met him thanks to her. Finally, she was the one who decided my mom’s move. After twenty years of marriage, my parents decided to divorce. At that moment, it was difficult for them. I remember seeing my parents so sad, but it was a smart decision. The beautiful thing is that they continue to be friends and they help each other all the time.

                                         

Today, when I feel sad about live far from my family, I think about everything that my mother had to go through when she was a child. She left her town to have better opportunities, just like me. She felt alone and had many challenges that helped her grow as a woman and as a person, just like me. Finally, she managed to build a beautiful family, just like me. When I want find courage about something, I think of the most brave and incredible woman that I have met, my mother, and I feel grateful to be her daughter.

Cause and Effect -- Shanshan Li

Towards Spring 

COVID-19 is like a demon that took away the happiness from many people. At the end of 2019, the arrival of COVID-19 disrupted people’s lives, and the world changed. In my hometown Hunan, the subway was not crowded, the streets were not lively, and people no longer saw the bustling city center. My family was affected in a way it had never been before. The sudden outbreak of the pandemic caused my family to suffer economically and affected the standard of living. My depressed emotional problems finally led my parents to decide to go abroad to make a living.  

Due to the pandemic, my family was in financial trouble. In China, my father acted as the breadwinner, and my big family depended on his salary. Because of COVID-19, my father was stuck at home and could not work for about two months. The family’s only income started to disappear. My parents felt huge pressure. The family’s spending had to be controlled because of the fear that our family would always be in such a situation. Less money for the family means a poor quality of life for us. My two sisters and I were all in school, and we were all in the stage of using money because we had to take a lot of after-school classes, which was a big expense. During that time, my sisters stopped all the after-school classes. No one in my family had as much pocket money as we used to have before. 

In addition, the epidemic aggravated my emotional problems. I was in high school and was experiencing a lot of pressure and anxiety, which is typical for high school students. In China, a high school student’s score in the National College Entrance Examination determines whether a student can go to a good university or not. The epidemic’s arrival made these worse. My high school was in a small town and far away from my home, so I went home less. My only way to escape from stress was gone. It was a boarding school, and the school was not close to my home, so I had very few opportunities to go home each semester. Because of the epidemic, I was forced to stay at school and breathing fresh air outside the school became a luxury. I have always been a person who likes to daydream, but at that time, my mind went out of control. I became unable to concentrate in class, thinking about what my future would be like and worried about if the world would always be in that situation. 

As a result, my parents decided to take me to Chicago to make a better living, and my life changed once again. Although my father could continue working when the epidemic got better, his income was much lower than before. My uncle and aunt already worked in the United States for few years, and they said the quality of life was particularly good, so my parents also decided to go abroad. After I came to the United States, I was like a kindergartener who must learn everything again. Due to language, living styles and cultural differences, I began to explore this new world that I have never experienced before. Even though it was difficult to adjust the life here at the beginning, life got better and less stressful once it got on track. I continue to study in the United States, and the study pressure is not as great as in China. I work part-time job, and I use the money I earn to buy things I like. 

The winter when COVID-19 began was the coldest. It was cold to the heart of my family. Fortunately, winter is gone, and warmth and hope continue in spring. The world is slowly returning to its original state. My family came to the United States and started our new life. Life is getting better every day, and I am content living my life where I am. No one knows what the future will be like, but a good life for me is to rely on my own hands to create. 

 

cause and effect

                                        

                                                                          Outcast

          Living under a false identity and among merciless people is a difficult challenge that life imposed on my family. In the beginning of the Algerian Revolution, in the mountains of Tizi Ousou, Algeria, a conflict in my clan over money and inheritance led to the death of my great-grandfather due to a fight, he was shot and died. Consequently, my great-grandmother fled with her only son, my grandfather, so they don't kill him too because if he is still alive he will take his part of the inheritance. Fate took them to another city, Bouira, where my great-grandmother built a new life as a widow escaping murder. Her actions saved my grandfather's life, but they cut him off by roots.

          Initially, my grandfather was the first biggest victim of my great-grandmother's escape. As a child, he suffered from bullying. Children his age tormented him based on what they heard from their parents while gossiping about him. They didn't play with hi m and always ignored him  as if he were an outcast who had no right to live, just because he had no family except his mother. Worse than that, they called him the son of a runaway widow and never stopped reminding him that he was an orphan. I feel sad whenever I remember my grandfather, with white hair and wrinkles around his eyes, talking about how he lived his childhood. Twenty years later, he became a victim of racism, envy, and hatred. His fake friends never stopped causing problems for him, and they rejected the idea that he could be successful despite what he went through. In addition, some accused him of taking bribes, neglecting his work as a school principal, and putting pressure on teachers. Others filed false complaints that he was harming his students. Despite all this, the truth appeared and everyone who slandered him received the punishment they deserved after he proved his innocence, they were punished for defamation.

          Years later, after my father was born, he also suffered as people around him considered him a stranger. Throughout his life, he was an intelligent person who focused on his studies and graduated as a state engineer in physics. Following in my grandfather's footsteps, he ended up wounded and in pain. He made sincere efforts to fix the relationship with our clan, but my family relatives responded with violence and rejection. Moreover, despite his university degree, he struggled to find job opportunities due to my family's past. People who barely knew him judged him based on an old incident. Furthermore, his kindness was often taken advantage of because people deceived him and stool his money. My father is my hero. I see his strength fading as he grows older. His dreams and youth are slipping away, and his intelligence wasted.

          Finally, I would not call myself a victim because my family protected me. Even though I was not directly bullied and was able to live a normal life with friends, there was always coldness. They would make provocative remarks under the guise of joking and ask embarrassing questions in front of others to mock me. I never felt felt like I belonged to the city where I lived for seventeen years and eight months. People saw me as the daughter of a family with no roots. I still remember children who wanted to befriend me out of curiosity about my family's secrets. I despise the fact that I don't have my real last name because after my great-grandmother fled with my grandmother, she changed his last name given that it was possible at that time during revolution, and cannot visit my hometown, but I believe everything happens for a reason.

          Today, my parents, siblings, and I are far from home. My father no longer has to deal with those who treated us poorly. My grandfather now enjoys farming after spending most of his life in hardship. In fact, my little family is so wonderful because they give love to each other. They do not seek love and acceptance from strangers. This experience showed how a family can unite against every challenge. In the end, we are all happy in my family because we have each other.
 

Cause and Effect

Haobin Ruan 

ESLITNG 100 

October 4, 2024 

Final Draft 

                                                                      Red Sun 

        My family has been working in China for many years, and they have experienced some crucial historical events. In 1966, Chairman Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution. It was a national movement followed communism. Mao believed individual property should not exist, so some rich people had to share their wealth and land with the common people.  The goal was for everyone to be equal. To reach that goal, the government used Red Guards who were basic common people, who believed very strongly in communist ideal of equality for all. The Red Guard did all the dirty work. They closed businesses, took always land from landowners, closed universities, burned books, sent intellectuals to work on farms and killed everyone who tried to stop them. One branch of my family was protected from this by the British government because they lived in Hong Kong, which had been a British colony since 1842. Another branch of my family was harmed by the Chinese government because they were teachers, and lived in Guangdong, which is on the mainland. Mao was against universities elite and Western thought, and ideas, and the government thought many teachers were too intellectual. The Cultural Revolution put my family through a lot of difficulties which were hard to survive. 

          The problem began when my family lost their business in their lives. Before the Cultural Revolution, my great- grandparents had a high social position as business owners that was based on their wealth. They ran a business, which sometimes required them to borrow money from the bank. They were able to pay off all these loans easily until 1966, when the Red Guards took control of society and claimed everyone should be equal. My maternal great-grandparents and great-grandmother lost business as a result and the bank required them to pay their loans. However, because they lost their social status, money, house, and lands, they didn’t have any income and were unable to repay their loans.   Then, the government put the names of mainland branch of family on a list of people who were not allowed to do many things that they need to survive such as they need to have a job. Their name stayed on this list, called the blacklist for years. Their children, my grandparents, lost their chance for education. The Red Guards forced them drop out of school. They had to work on a farm as laborers to earn food stamps, which they could exchange for food.  

         Nevertheless, my grandparents did their best to survive. My grandparents had to pay off their parents’ debts after the Cultural Revolution. The government was punishing my great-grandparents because they were considered intelligentsia. Therefore, they pushed a lot of problems on my great-grandparents, which involved punishing their children, my grandparents. In addition, my grandmother had to work a second job making baskets at home while she was pregnant to help pay off her parents’ debts. My grandfather attempted to go to Hong Kong, where some of his relatives lived. He did this in secret, so he would not get in trouble with the government. First, he hid in the bottom of a truck. Second, he swam across Shenzhen Bay, which separates the mainland from Hong Kong. 

      Moreover, the Hong Kong branch of my family helped the mainland branch of my family rebuild their lives. Many years later, the new Chairman, Deng Xiaoping, corrected the mistakes of the Cultural Revolution, and then he launched the Economic Opening Reforms to improve living standards of the Chinese people. In 1980, Shenzhen became one of the special economic zones. After that, people in Shenzhen and Hong Kong were free to enter and exit mainland again. My great-grandfather was one of the relatives who was forced to stay in Hong Kong, yet he returned to his hometown and reunited with his family. My great-grandfather used his savings from his doctor's salary to pay off the rest of his family’s debts. For that reason, my family was no longer on the government's blacklist.  My father and uncles could have the opportunities to learn skills from proficient construction workers in Hong Kong, which was a British colony with capitalist economics that provided many opportunities. When the Chinese government relaxed travel restrictions between Hong Kong and the mainland, my father and uncles went to Hong Kong to make money with the Hong Kong branch of the family. Many years later, my father and uncles earned some money through building houses, so they decided to return to their hometown on the mainland and use their savings to buy back their house and land. 

       Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution, which changed life in China for my family, making it difficult for them to survive and develop.  The government controlled every aspect of Chinese society, and the Red Guards had destroyed my family’s lives. After twelve years under Mao, Deng Xiaoping was appointed to lead the country and open up the economy. Achieving equality for everyone is like a mother telling a bedtime story to her children, it is warm and sweet, but eventually, which waking up from the dream is a necessary consequence. Many years later, even today, there are many people in China who still praise Mao’s advantages yet overlook his mistakes. Despite all the destructors were liquidated by Deng, the negative impacts continue to affect the families of the victims. The old generations, of my family had to focus on struggling and survival, but development and growth will be my family’s younger generation’s main themes in the future.