In "Learning to Love America" by Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, the narrator talks a lot about how she defines herself. She became defined as a person because of her country and her choice to live and stay in America. Geok-Lin Lim writes,
"Because to have a son is to have a country
because my son will bury me here
because countries are in our blood and we bleed them
because it is late and too late to change my mind
because it is time."
I think it is interesting how the narrator makes the distinction that because we live in a certain place then that certain place it what defines us. No matter what we do, it is what we take pride in and we will sacrifice some part of us in some way or another and "bleed" our country. It sounds like the narrator is making a sacrifice: she is choosing to stay in America so she can give her son a good life in America. This raises the question of what would we as students sacrifice ourselves for? Or more importantly, what would we give our life to and what is worth "bleeding" for? What do we want to define us?
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