Personal Narrative: Coming To America

Jason Iloulian
Professor Labalsamo
Written Expression I
7 December 2014
Rough Draft As I came to America at the age of six, I had no idea what I was going to get myself in to. I thought America was just like they said it would be, beautifully paved streets, amiable people, jobs, nice weather, and so on. But, my first experience of America didn’t involve any of those things. I went into America with the attitude that my friends and family set for me: “America is the best, There is no place like America” All of these sayings were in my head as I began my experience. I do believe that my experience was tainted and that I didn’t really gain the real experience of what America actually is because of what everyone told me. Personally, my experience …show more content…
When we first moved, my parents worked seven days a week to support this new American Lifestyle. I would barely spend time with my parents because I would stay in the afterschool program until they were finished with work. At that age, I thought that was normal. I didn’t know anything better because everyone told me “this is the lifestyle.” My brother at the time was in high school, doing his own thing and trying to fit in with everyone. Basically, it was just me myself and I during this new experience. My parents were too busy working to support this new lifestyle, my brother was in high school doing his own thing, and I was stuck in the middle. During my childhood, I thought that this was normal. Everyone said to me that this is the “American Lifestyle.” But as I grew up, I realized that I shouldn’t have listened to what everyone said to me. As described in Walker Percy’s “The Loss Of The Creature”, he discussing the Grand Canyon—he says that, whereas García López de Cárdenas, who discovered the canyon, was amazed and awed by it, the modern-day sightseer can see it only through the lens of "the symbolic complex which has already been formed in the sightseer's mind" (47). Because of this, the sightseer does not appreciate the Grand Canyon on its own merits; he appreciates it based on how well or poorly it conforms to his

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