Piano is a Ph. D. candidate in English at Bowling Green State University. In the following essay, she analyzes how cultural identity is transferred from generation to generation through the act of remembering.

Historically, the United States has been a place of new beginnings for millions of people from Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. In fact, the "immigrant experience" is part of our cultural heritage as Americans. With its promise of economic prosperity, personal liberty, and upward mobility, the United States offers many immigrants the chance to make their lives, as well as their children's lives, better than it was in the "old country." Yet, as much as America has been described as "the land of the free and the home of the brave," expatriation, along with its attendant assimilation into an alien culture, can be a difficult experience, especially for those who...