This paper is an interview with a man who relocated to the United States because of the uncertain conditions of his homeland, Palestine. It was a ten-minute interview in which the brief introduction was that the person interviewed explained about his childhood as poor compared to today’s children’s childhood in the United States. He elaborated that he didn’t have all the current facilities and the conditions were not pleasing at all. He worked for his family at an early age, which is why he didn’t regret anything.
The interviewee discussed his memories, explaining that he used to go to school until the 7th grade, and then he left. Among his best memories was helping his father in his work. The interviewee relocated to the US when he was only 16 and came with his family. He felt good to get out of the war state and used to work hard to handle himself and his family financially. The families of the immigrants suffered a lot in the past in their homelands as well as in the United States.
The foremost goals of his family and himself were initially to make money and to sustain, but now the priorities have changed. He changed, and now he works for his kids, lives with his siblings, spouse, and family and doesn’t want to return to Palestine. The best moments in his life are spent with his family. An example of the Vietnamese community moving to the US and providing interviews could be considered here as the content is highly similar to that.
His beliefs are firm about God, and in his innocence, he has said that the most important person in his life is God. (God could not be called a person, but still, it is accepted in many ways). If the time could come back, he would retain everything back which is lost3. This interview is a bit similar to a lot of other oral compositions available on the internet about immigrants in the United States.
He has the greatest memory of when his father was sick and was taken to the hospital. The interviewee wanted to say that it was one of their worst memories in which he tried a lot to save his father, but everything was so certain that nothing stopped his father from dying. In the interview, many of his answers were admiring his father, but on the other hand, he also didn’t regret his past at all, which was beautifully questioned by the interviewer, and they were answered in a very nice way2.
The interviewer was the daughter of the interviewee, and when she asked him about his father, he explained that she would have loved the time if she had spent a little time with him. His father was a kind, patient and generous. He could have done a lot to make her happy. The interview is a story of every immigrant who has travelled through the sea to the United States1. Most of them are included in the American Yamp, where people share their oral interviews in the form of narrations5. There are many other painful stories about people that could cause tears in the eyes of the readers.
End Notes
- Hareven, Tamara K. Families, history, and social change: Life course and cross-cultural perspectives. Routledge, 2018.
- Perks, Robert, and Alistair Thomson, eds. The oral history reader. Routledge, 2015.
- Bakalian, Anny. Armenian-Americans: From Being to Feeling American. Routledge, 2017.
- Kavanagh, T. W. (1996). The Comanches: A History, 1706-1875. U of Nebraska Press.
- Blair, S. (2000). Home Truths: Gertrude Stein, 27 Rue de Fleurus, and the Place of the Avant-Garde. American Literary History, 12(3), 417-437.
