Li-Young Lee’s poem “Immigrant Blues” presents the psychological effects of immigration on both immigrants and their dependents in a complex yet realistic manner. There are many words, lines and stanzas that easily could fill up an entire post or posts, but I am choosing to focus on the very first line of the poem, “People have been trying to kill me since I was born.” Lee claims in “Immigrant Blues” that this line has been passed down from father to son including from his father and to Lee’s own son as they try to achieve racial assimilation in American culture.
I don’t think that this line is literal, although many Chinese and other Asian immigrants did face mortal danger in the journey to acceptance in American culture. What I think Lee is referring to his identity. In the United States, we seem to want our immigrants to immediately learn English, pay taxes and act as model citizens. On the other hand we don’t want them to “move up.” It is much easier for us to accept them if they have to struggle as launderers or servants (as we imagine our forefathers did.) These two opposing forces tear Lee, his family, and his people apart. For them the United States is/was the land of opportunity but at the cost of an agonizing journey of cultural identity.
