This week we began to watch the film “Dirty Pretty Things” while I haven’t seen much of the film yet, one of the details that I really wanted to talk about was how Okwe was trained to be a doctor but because he was an illegal immigrant he was forced to work as a cab driver and hotel worker. While I do not know the specific circumstances that lead Okwe to flee to London, immigrants not being able to practice what they are trained to do seems to be a common theme in both this movie and Brand’s novel. Like Tyuen’s parents Okwe is unable to help the community as large because of circumstances. The fact that so many immigrants are not allowed to continue to be doctors or engineers, just because they were not trained in American or European schools has always seemed bizarre to me. If people have the ability to make the society they live in better should they government not allow this and help this people in order to reestablish themselves. For example in the case of Tyuen’s mother being unable to become a doctor again because of the language barrier perhaps the government should put in place programs that help immigrants learn to speak English so that they can pass their equivalency exams, and began helping their communities and contributing to society.

Another thing that I would like to bring up in relation to Dirty Pretty Things, is the issue of illegal immigrants. In the movie Okew is clearly not a bad guy he has a pretty strong sense of right and wrong and seems to be pretty respectful and kind. Howeveer because of the laws in Britain he isn’t actually allowed to be there forcing him to participate in illegal activities such as identity theft or swapping and not alerting the police to illegal ongoings at the hotel. He also gets pills from his friend who works at the morgue and gives them to various people. Because he has very little power, people who are in higher up positions are able to exploit him into keeping their shady secrets and giving them free medical care. This shows the inherent flaw in the immigration system. I’m not saying that there should be no vetting process I do believe that the government must be careful in who they allow to take up residence in the country, however obviously they aren’t stopping anything instead the system is set up so that people may enter the country illegally and then be exploited because of their precarious situations as well as get taken advantage of. The governments need to find a way to protect not persecute these people as they are often the most vulnerable and in need of aid.

This week in class we began talking about the novel “What We All Long For”. The experiences of Tyuen and her friends were very interesting to me, as my mothers immigration story is quite different from theirs. The characters in the book feel resentful towards their parents culture, however they also reject “Canadian culture”, Tyuen in particular makes an effort to reject her culture by refusing to incorporate aspects of Vietnam into her art, as well as refusing to speak Vietnamese. This angered me slightly as when my grandparents immigrated they made the choice not to teach my mother and her siblings Dutch or anything about their culture, so that it would be easier for them to assimilate into “Canadian culture” while I understand why my grandparents made this decision its always made me and my mother a little sad that we know nothing about my grandparents culture or our own. This refusal to teach my mother and her siblings about their culture lead to both of my mothers siblings anglicizing their names in order to avoid             being on the outside like Tyuen, Carla and Jackie were. I think this is a major problem in Canada that despite the fact we pride ourselves on being a multicultural nation, you still have to fit into a certain mold in order to be considered a real Canadian. This idea of being a real Canadian even extended to my fathers family who have been in Canada for around 100 years, however my grandfather always felt like he was disrespected in their town because he was of Irish descent not English. This shows that you can look like a stereotypical Canadian but still not feel like one.

But going back to my main point while I understand why Tyuen and her friends are so hesitant about accepting their culture I couldn’t help but feel resentment towards them because they have no idea how lucky they are to be able to learn about their culture. This is one of the drawbacks of the novel because it only speaks to the stories of a certain type of immigrant, Brand seems to ignore that even if you look “Canadian” immigration still isn’t easy.