Blog Post: How does Lalami go about exploring the word she has chosen?

Right from the start of Lalami’s essay, she mentions the word assimilate when talking with her seat mate on the plane; mostly about Koreans. Her seat mate mentions that “they don’t assimilate”. Lalami only continued to listen to the conversation was to try and understand where the miscommunication was within the word assimilate. She goes on to explain the word as “meaning to make similar”. Lalami goes on to say, “By what criteria is an outsider judges to fit into such a diverse nation? For some, assimilation is based on pragmatic consideration.” She gives examples of stuff like education and economic successes. “For others, it runs deeper and involves relinquishing all ties, even linguistic ones, to the old country. For yet others, the whole idea of assimilation is wrongheaded, and integration-a dynamic process that retains the connotation of individuality-is seen as the better model”, Lalami says. Stating that there are different groups of people that have their own beliefs of what the word assimilate means. She goes on to say that no matter what the people believe, Americans will always pride on being a nation of immigrants. At the end of Lalami’s essay, she leaves us in a state of wonder and questioning when she asks, “Who is doing the judging here?”