When considering immigration to America, the Whittaker family has a story to tell which as interesting as it is complex. My partner, Sasha Whittaker, does not consider herself an immigrant. Born and brought up in Westchester, New York, she has very little trouble finding a niche in the society she knew her entire life. However, Sasha is exposed to and has learned from the trials and tribulations of immigrants due to the experiences of her family. On her father’s side, Sasha’s paternal grandmother immigrated to the U.S. from Italy, and ended up marrying Sasha’s grandfather in Massachusetts, making Sasha a third generation immigrant. However, on her mother’s side, Sasha’s mother was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia. She had moved to the U.S. only after marriage, making Sasha a second generation immigrant at the same time. When considering the Whittaker family’s relationship to immigration, there are actually two stories to tell, the stories of Sasha’s mother and grandmother. The two stories reveal the different choices that each made when faced with similar immigrant problems.
Immigrants have to face many of the same challenges and situations when adjusting to life in a new country – the language problem, the culture shock, the food, etc. – but the way these immigrants respond to these challenges and carve a place for themselves gives them individuality. Sasha’s paternal grandmother emigrated from Italy, a primarily Roman Catholic nation, to live in Brooklyn, where her father worked as a consul. She later moved to Massachusetts and married Sasha’s grandfather, an Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an American for many generations. In response to the new environment, Sasha’s grandmother changed herself to fit in to American society. She replaced Italian customs for American ones and even changed her religion from Catholic to Protestant. This decision was probably due to the fact that back in the day, there were very few Italian communities in Massachusetts for her to connect with her Italian traditions after marriage and derive from them a sense of pride. Since she was surrounded by Anglo-Saxon Protestants during her time with her husband, she found it much easier to fit into the community by changing herself and becoming one of them.
Sasha’s father was born in New Hampshire to the two grandparents and lived a life as an American, since both grandparents considered themselves Americans, even though the grandmother was foreign-born. Sasha’s father later moved to Indiana for university, where he majored in Slavic studies. For his research, he traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia where he worked with an editor of a publishing office to study Russian literary criticism. Within that time scope, he met the editor’s daughter, fell in love, and married her. Both of them left Russia to settle in Westchester, NY.
Sasha’s mother was born and brought up in St. Petersburg under the Soviet Union regime. During her school days, she was a top student in English and she went on to get a doctoral degree in American Literature. Her concept of the American way of life came from the works of American authors like Hemmingway and Fitzgerald, and her attraction for literature was her attraction to America. It was also a well-known secret that the Soviet youth coveted the American way of life. Therefore, when she moved to America along with her husband after the Soviet regime, it felt like a fantastic dream.
The reality of the situation only struck her when she began to live in Westchester. Sasha’s mother had to get used to a lot of American customs she didn’t anticipate. For example, after decades of living in a communist system, where supplies such as food were rationed to everyone in a centralized manner, Sasha’s mother had to get used to a world that was prolific with different brands, different stores, and different choices. This liberal capitalism that was characteristic of America was strange and confusing to a person who has long since had only one place to go for milk and Sasha’s mother was very flustered trying to memorize store names and the items they sold. Her career opportunities were also a problem, since as an immigrant, she had to start relatively low on the socioeconomic ladder. With a postdoctoral degree in American Literature, one of her first jobs was to scoop ice-cream at Häagen Dazs. It took a long time to move back into a career befitting her education. Another problem she had adjusting to American life was driving. In the U.S.S.R., cars were very expensive; therefore cars were rare – only people who had high paying jobs could afford them. From that state of affairs, the world she lived in now was one where driving was not only very common but very essential. Therefore, she had to learn how to drive with the help of New York State Drivers Education, but driving did not come easy for her. Finally, she felt overwhelmed with American mainstream popular culture, for which she had an excessively high regard for. Needless to say, she struggled a lot.
However, due to the excellent combination of courage, dedication and hard work that is characteristic of all successful immigrants, Sasha’s mother overcame her obstacles and went on to lead a successful life. Now a professor at Lehman College, Sasha’s mother teaches Russian to college students, a career that does befit a PhD. She is now much more comfortable with American popular culture and has lost her abnormally high regard for it, seeing pop culture for what it really is. Driving and shopping in many different stores are no longer issues for her, as her daily routine iterates these actions over and over, stamping away her fear and discomfort. However, unlike Sasha’s paternal grandmother, Sasha’s mother, in her adjustment to American life, retains many Russian customs and traditions. Sasha’s mother still fundamentally considers herself an immigrant. For example, Sasha’s mother had kept her Russian last name after marriage instead of Whittaker, making her Russian connection known across all legal documents. Furthermore, Sasha’s family takes regular trips to Russia to connect them to their heritage. Yet, Sasha herself and her father consider themselves Americans because they are not foreign-born and did not themselves face the same difficulties.
Sasha’s connection to immigration and the lives of immigrants comes from the experiences of her mother and grandmother. Although parts of her family lived in the states for generations, Sasha still feels a connection to Russia because of her mother. However, she does not feel Italian, due to her grandmother’s choice to completely change herself. In this way, these two stories deeply affect how Sasha perceives herself. These two different stories add an interesting insight to the types of problems immigrants can face and the types of ways they can respond to these problems.
