Chapter 13

     While reading this chapter, I was really interested in the lives of the immigrants. When they first decided to come to America, they thought of America as an Utopia where they could have better job opportunity and lifestyle. However, they were really shocked after coming here how difficult it was to even acquire land and be landlords. It made me think of how my family were immigrants that was looking for a better life when in reality it was hard to live in a new environment and in an unfamiliar territory. It mentioned how the Germans were secluded within their own neighborhood because they had their own doctors, lawyers, teacher, and merchants making it hard for them to be influential politicians. It reminded me of how as Asians, we would gather in groups, see doctors who can speak my language, and shop in supermarkets that sell the food I am accustomed to.
     I was also surprised that it the Irish would actually have to compete with the free blacks for jobs. I would of though that since they are Europeans that they would have some kind of advantage over the blacks. It seems like the Irish were the poorest because even if they were skilled, they still had to compete with other Anglo Americans. They ended up working for the lowest paying job because no one else wanted to do them. Then towards the end of the chapter, it also mentioned about how Chinese were disliked as immigrant workers. However, after residing in San Francisco, Americans did not stop hiring the Chinese as workers. That really troubled me because if they really disliked the Chinese flowing into America, the Americans should stop hiring them to stop the immigration. However, it did make sense that the Chinese were probably
 the only ones that would want the kind of job that was offered.