Assimilation

Assimilation means to absorb and learn new ideas, techniques, and ways of life from another group of people. In a Raisin in the Sun the character Beneatha worries about assimilation when she is speaking to her friend Asagai. The play shows assimilation as a weakness because Beneatha is trying to gain ideas from both groups. She is trying to become a doctor and succeed like the rich white people in the play but yet she still wants to learn her African heritage which is the exact opposite. Assimilation can also be a strength.

Many people around me assimilate. There are always people striving to achieve certain goals and these goals might not be the same as their group so  they learn the ideas and ways of another group of people. People assimilate by studying others and learning how they behave and what they say and how they do certain things. People choose to assimilate because the certain culture or group of people have the same interests as they do or want to reach the same points in life as they do. I would say yes I am a person who assimilates. Many people still view minorities as people with little education and not very many goals in life. I am the opposite. I plan on going to college and getting my education and have very many goals I would like to reach. As the writer Eric Liu would say it, I am trying to achieve "whiteness." Eric Liu went from his Chinese culture to the white or American culture. He was made fun of and considered a traitor to his culture. His view on assimilation was that it created a new life and opportunity for him, but it also hurt his history and knowledge of his Chinese background. Assimilation can be viewed different ways by people, both in a positive and negative way.