Compare and Contrast - Racial Discrimination among immigrants  

During the first half of the 20th century, immigrants arriving in the United States had very different experiences depending on their race, ethnicity and gender. The time of at which the immigrants entered the U.S. also had an impact on their experiences. The Jungle, a fictional story about the life experiences of a Lithuanian immigrant family based on true events, addresses the trials and tribulations faced by immigrants from Eastern Europe at a time of rapid industrialization early in the 20th century. Farewell to Manzanar, on the other hand, is a memoir of life in a Japanese internment camp during the period of U. S. involvement in World War Two. The experiences of American immigrants depicted in these novels serve as examples of life in America for immigrants and their families during the first half of the 20th century.

Life for immigrants in urban areas during the early part of the 20th century was incredibly difficult. Not only were working conditions horribly unsafe, but also the pay was minimal, forcing men and women, young and old, to work to contribute economically to the family’s survival. This necessity had a tremendous impact on the immigrants’ conception of age and gender roles.