In Caramelo, The Namesake, and In America, the authors/filmmakers are doing some of the interpretation of
history for us, by showing us how the past has influenced the present of their protagonists in very explicit ways.
Both Sandra Cisneros and Jhumpa Lahiri (author of the novel on which The Namesake is based) seek to
understand the world in which they live by exploring the lives of people like their parents and grandparents and
how the events of history pushed and pulled these “ancestors” to make new lives in new lands. We can see
that Jim Sheridan and his daughters similarly used their life experience to create a commentary not only on the
inescapability of history but also on the human necessity to face the past and move forward.
Prompt: What do we learn about immigration to the United States in the 20th century from our sources? You
might consider questions such as: Why do people leave their homes in other countries? What do they gain?
What do they lose? What is the impact on children of immigrant parents? What important insights about the US
might be revealed to readers/viewers of these materials in future decades?
PS. Try really hard this time to organize your essay’s body paragraphs around ideas so that each paragraph
can incorporate information from all the sources. This will help you 1) write a better thesis, 2) avoid summary,
3) gain insights, and 4) prove something! Remember to think of your thesis as provisional–meaning, you’ll go
back and adjust it after you’ve discovered what you think by writing.
What do we learn about immigration to the United States in the 20th century from our sources? You might
consider questions such as: Why do people leave their homes in other countries? What do they gain? What do
they lose? What is the impact on children of immigrant parents? What important insights about the US might be
revealed to readers/viewers of these materials in future decades?
Sample Solution
