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What unique literary devices and writing style choices did you notice that Oindrila Mukherjee utilized in this story? Identify and interpret at least two specific examples. Use evidence to support your response.

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In this column, write about the ways in which "Us" is an immigration story. What was revealed to you about the immigration process or experience by means of this story? Use evidence to support your response.

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Do you have any personal connection or stories you've experienced, read, heard about that are similar to aspects of the story "Us"? Share your personal reflections here AND use story evidence to support your response.

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As you were reading "Us," did you think it was a piece of fiction or nonfiction? What aspects of the story led you to believe what you did? Thinking about it now, do you still think that? Use evidence to support your response.

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I think that I can relate in a way. When they arrived and went through customs, they expected it to be such a big deal, and it was kind of anti-climactic for them. I am definitely one to hope and fantasize things, so my expectations aren't always met or sometimes I am dissapointed as well. In the text, it says that the group can "feel the first stirrings of disappointment."  and that they feel like they are "a rubber stamp, a mug shot, a statistic."

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Something that was revealed to me about the immigration experience is that a lot of immigrant when leaving their home to go to another place for a better future "will miss home". Although they are leaving their home to go somewhere else they will still have "unbreakable ties to the homeland". They also before coming to the U.S. looked up place like "Indian grocery stores." so that they could go grocery shopping somewhere they were familiar with, which my parents also always do. Leaving the place you grew up in, the place where all your memories and family are at can be very difficult, like in this story they went to visit "relatives once" more since they were not going to be able to see them for some time.

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My parents, in fact, went through this same process! My parent's connected greatly with all the things that the author described here, especially the packing of "coconut hair oil, rubber flip-flops, Himalayan black salt, mango pickle, fresh-ground garam masala, sandalwood paste, a copy of The Bhagavad Gita." My parents even have a copy of The Gita from when they emigrated from India!

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I think that "Us" was a true story. There are so many little details that make me think this story is real. When they were at the airport they felt the "the first stirrings of disappointment." They realized that people don't care about them like they thought they did. There were so many emotions in the story that make it seem like it was a first hand experience.

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Overall the writing style of Us is very unique. The author uses first person plural pronouns and conjugations, and it is written in present tense. A good line of the story to show this would be: "stand in a line that is a kilometer long in a city that is still ours, in a time when we still use the metric system to understand distance." It makes the story seem as though it was written by a group instead of by one person, but it also makes it seem like the group of people act and speak and think as a whole, which is a very interesting perspective and gives a lot of different meaning to the story.

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Throughout the story the author uses the terms "we" and "us", using them to portray that many people are in the same situation. You can tell that the author is trying to portray this when they say multiple places at once, such as "We give them our addresses in Cambridge/ Ann Arbor/Gainesville/Clemson." Another interpretation of the use of "we" and "us" is that both the author and the reader are going through this experience together. The author makes it feel like the reader is actually there, feeling anxious, nervous, and hopeful. The author has very good imagery to assist in this aspect, such as, "A final wave, a glance back through the glass doors that slide shut behind us, something wedged inside the throat as the scene outside begins to blur, and then onward, as we are carried along by the crowd of people, through more doors and on and on and into the bright, cold lights of the departure lounge, into the sea of strangers, clutching tightly onto our bags and passports to keep from drowning." The author uses imagery to make the reader feel that we are in that position, as well.

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One of the most obvious aspects of the author's style is the use of "us" and "we". Along with that, they use lots of nouns as options based on each person, like a "choose your adventure" piece. Often this is done with places that differ for each immigrant, such as "There below us, laid out like a toy land, is New York/Atlanta/Houston/Detroit/Chicago". Referring to all the immigrants and their different stories collectively as "we" creates a sense of unity and a bond that all these people share, far away as they are.

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The writing style used in "US" is very unique. One thing that stood out to me was how the author would combine places and descriptions to enforce that the story was not about one person place or thing. This comes up several times throughout the story, such as when the author is describing the first setting, "The air in New Delhi/Chennai/Mumbai/Kolkata/Hyderabad is polluted/scalding/humid/wet/still...". Another is the narration. The narrator is not telling just her story, and the way she uses "we" instead of "I" enforces this. This can also tie back into the previous style choice mentioned such as in this line, "We give our addresses in Cambridge/Ann Arbor/Gainesville/Clemson".

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this story revealed the emotions that the immigrants face when they are trying to go to another country for work or education. They will be nervous and have envy for the ones that get their visa while the ones that don't get approved. One man in the beginning of the story had to be dragged away after being denied and made them "filled with dread". Even after they had gotten approved and on the flight, they began to miss their home and recall past memories like "How we celebrated Diwali with fireworks on the roof, and Holi with colors that were impossible to wash off". the story gave an insight to the feelings and experiences that an immigrant goes through just to get to another country.

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I believe that Us is most definitely true and known to the millions of immigrants every year. Every specific detail pointed out to really have others understand the struggles and difficulty. Sure, a non-immigrant could write a story quite similar, but far less compelling; why would a domestic college applicant ever need to think twice about the TOEFL's, travelling to US, leaving their family in a different country, and nailing the english part of the SAT when it's not even their first language? This quote, "We find roommates and apartments online through the Indian Students’ Association. We buy sweaters and jackets for the coming winter. We pack coconut hair oil, rubber flip-flops, Himalayan black salt, mango pickle, fresh-ground garam masala, sandalwood paste, a copy of The Bhagavad Gita." is clearly quite personal to many people (an oxymoron, I know), but the common denominator is that these people are immigrants, living the true story of 'Us".

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I think this story is a true story.  This work was written with so much detail and feeling that it is the type of thing you have to experience firsthand in order to feel and know what it is like to go through something like this, and it would be hard to make up if you had not done it.  quotes like¨ There is only sorrow.¨ and ¨ It takes a moment to realize that for months, no years, we prepared ourselves for this arrival¨ are some examples of something you would have to feel firsthand because of the emotion and dedication involved.

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The author creates a unique perspective by acknowledging the reader as if they are there in the story. By using pronouns like 'we' and 'us', I could imagine being right there with he author. Another unique part of the story is that the author does not specify what event is happening, as well as who is there, or when this is happening, but with context clues the story is well told.

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I believe that the story "Us" was true. While reading there was so much information on the process of immigrations. It went into all the kinds of struggle that was gone through. The feeling of being less important than everyone else, but I do think some information came from other true stories too.

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I think that this story showed some of the worry that goes through an immigrants mind as they are going through the process of immigration. It portrays the mental aspect of immigration and shows what one thinks/how one tries to fit in when going through a process like immigration. The text says, "When they say they will keep our passports for a few days we want to laugh with relief but instead we just say Thank You." This shows the buildup of worry that they get, and the relief of their anxiety at each step of the way, as they get closer to immigrating.

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I actually don't think the story "Us" is true, but only bits and pieces of it are. A lot of details are a bit too specific for the story to be wholly true, for example the description of the man: "One man in his thirties gesticulates wildly to make his case. He wears a cream shirt, a brown striped tie, black boots. His hair is slicked back, and he holds a brown folder." Rather, I think it was written to summarize the whole experience. It almost seems like the author took bits and pieces from other stories people told them about immigration and pieced them together to create a collective memory type thing, something that is not too specific in some areas and just specific enough in others that everyone could relate to it and find their own story in it.

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This story showed me other sides of the immigration process. When they were at the airport they realized that they "are a rubber stamp, a mug shot, a statistic." The immigration process can make people feel unimportant. The process is also very long just for some people to be rejected.

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I think "Us" is based on a true story, maybe borrowing different people's details and experiences and forging them into one. While a story like this could very well happen, it might be a little different for many people. That's why the author uses "we" and gives different options for specific things and places. Some more specific ideas and places with concrete numbers, places, and times are borrowed from different people,  like "We focus on the girl standing in front of us in the line. Her hair is long, black, and so straight that we can see each strand and how it ends in a point."
This is a bit from one person's experience that is added to other people's collective story.

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I feel as though this story comes from someones truth, even if it was not the authors. I think it is the truth or someones life and what they went through as an immigrant. The story gives a short timeline of ones life. It shows and describes what it's like traveling somewhere for the first time, or coming into a different country for the first time and how difficult it may be, "The line at immigration is two miles long. We stand for hours, inching forward ever so slowly," "Do you know what it took for us to get here, we want to say to the Customs official and to the hundreds in line behind us. But on each of their faces there is only a look of indifference." It may not necessarily be about one person and their life, it could be built on many different lives/truths of immigrants.

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My parents are both immigrants from Vietnam so I got to hear a lot of stories from them and what they went through, and if they were to read this story they would most likely be able to relate to the struggles listed in the story.

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First off the first paragraph made me believe it was real. It was just so descriptive and I felt like there was a lot of imagery there. It so descriptive to the point where it made you think it was true. Yes because all of the things she mentioned I think there real problems in the world. "We stand patiently because the street is dotted with security guards who wear AK-47s on their backs".  These types of situations happened.

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Oindrila Mukherjee clearly is a phenomenal writer- she cultivates the essence of immigration from her own first hand experiences- the detail she puts into explaining every object and concept in moving is exquisite! We can see here, "We wait in new lines, sign forms, sit in upholstered chairs like an audience waiting for a play to start. We hold on to our numbers and wonder which of the counters we will get. We hope it is the one with the Indian agent because we expect him to be more sensitive to our needs." that these are definitely authentic stories that many people have already lived. I love her use of pronouns, that put it as if she is telling us her own story (again, constructs the narrative of authenticity.

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I think that 'Us' was not only a true story, but a variant of a common experience that many immigrants have. The author talks about what life in America will be for them, which is synonymous to the American dream. The author mentions several colleges in America, as well as, "How we will eat pancakes for breakfast.". This story holds many similarities to other stories of immigration.

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I think that "US" is based on the true stories of many different people in a similar situation. The story is clearly not told as one persons story, but rather a group of different people. "We are a mixed bunch." the narrator says, to let the reader know that the story is not just about them.
So it would be fair to say that "US" is a work of fiction that draws from the real experiences of many different people.

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My parents are immigrant from Mexico and one of the things they did and still do when going places is going to areas where there are a lot of hispanic people since they feel most comfortable like that, just like in this story when they googled "Indian grocery stores." in the area they were going to.

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She always uses the Us/we pronouns, even though this is all from one person's pov. Even in the beginning she keeps using "we think of ourselves as a group with a shared destiny is on a weekday morning in the middle of June." I believe it signifies how all immigrants are tied together, that they experience similar things, and that they are all "in this together"

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The writing style sticks to one perspective, her perspective. It's a clear written story with a first hand account written thoroughly through one person that describes it for everyone.  In the story she repeatedly uses "us" and "we" to exaggerate the fact that many people went through this too. She goes into detail of this difficult journey, like how she states in the story "We stand patiently because the street is dotted with security guards who wear AK-47s on their backs. We stand quietly because we fear retribution if we make sounds. There is a system here and we know better than to question anything." and "We move in different directions, scattering like seeds in the wind. We are stars that explode into a thousand little fragments." Clearly stating and going with the flow of the theme to show that she and many other people experienced hardship.

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They use the words ¨us¨ and ¨we¨ a lot which become the main words said in the story, I think it is trying to show how this is an experience a lot of people have to go through in order to enter america and how they are not the only one doing this.  It also shows how much they want to do great in america and how they are constantly seen as ¨a statistic." one more person who no one notices and how they want to fit in as much as anyone else and how they deserve to be American as much as anyone else.

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I think that the story “Us” is mostly a true story because it has a special personal touch, but there are also insanely specific details, like “One man in his thirties gesticulates wildly to make his case. He wears a cream shirt, a brown striped tie, black boots. His hair is slicked back, and he holds a brown folder.” It seems unlikely that the author would remember such a fine level of detail, especially during such a stressful situation. She probably made up some details to provide imagery for the reader.

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this is an immigrant story because it is about a person moving to America from india. They are moving for education and job opportunities which is the definition of an immigrant. They are getting checked and are made sure they are safe to go to America, which happens a lot in immigrant stories

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When I first started reading the story, I thought it was realistic fiction, but as I continued reading, there we so many things that no one would know unless they themselves had been through this exact process. Because of the writing style, in that it was so inclusive of many people. The story the author told, and the way they told it, leads me to believe that this is a true story, if not for the author, then for many other students going to America. They include many places a person could come from, when they say, "The air in New Delhi/Chennai/Mumbai/Kolkata/Hyderabad is polluted/scalding/ humid/wet/still and the sun is beginning to shine on tops of gulmohar trees." They also include many places a student could be going to such as when they say, "We give them our addresses in Cambridge/Ann Arbor/Gainesville/ Clemson." Because of the inclusiveness of the story, it makes me think that this is a true story.

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they use "/" in place of "," like in the sentence: "New Delhi/Chennai/Mumbai/Kolkata/Hyderabad" instead of using commas
and "Cambridge/Ann Arbor/Gainesville/Clemson"

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I believe “Us” is a true story she puts so much imagery into her words it feels like we are there with her waiting in line to be either accepted or denied, seeing the other people be rejected one man who “looks around the room, pleading with us to help. In his eyes is a look of desperation.” It shows how real this was it makes you feel pity and sorrow for him because many people have had to go through that experience before and feel even more embarrassed when “The next number flashes on the screen over his head, and someone walks up, forcing him to move away,” he must have been in such pain.

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Us as an immigration story is perfectly described. The fear, the hardship, and the thoughts that go through ones mind. Immigration is something very hard to overcome and "Us" perfectly shows that. The story gives he expectations of what it is like to leave everything behind, like how she states "We visit each of our relatives once, to be fed and to receive unsolicited advice about snow, mass shootings, and the danger of falling in love with white people. We see each of our friends once, to make a toast to our past and our future, and promise to stay in touch and disclose all details about our life, especially if we fall in love with white people." as a last goodbye to everything her and her family are leaving behind. It is hard and many immigrants go through this whether they like it or not, sadly.

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This story reveled to me how challenging it really is to renew a visa, or just simply traveling somewhere as an immigrant, "We envy the continuing student who is simply renewing her visa and gets done in a few minutes. Not everyone is so fortunate." But this story also showed me how exciting but also how exhausting it can be, "We belong here. We are the blessed ones." "We do not know whether to feel excited or tired, and so we feel both."  The whole process is much longer than it may seem to some people, "The line at immigration is two miles long. We stand for hours, inching forward ever so slowly. It reminds us of traffic jams back home."  It is not quick and it is not easy

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in the beginning, the story did not seem true but later on it did. the author  had many experiences  listed that most likely wouldn't be known unless you were an immigrant. in the story there were even many different options listed to fit many different immigrant experiences. for example, when the author was talking about family weddings she wrote "How we dressed up in expensive saris/sherwanis/lehengas/suits to attend our cousins’ weddings" which includes many different cultures. with how inclusive the story is and how detailed the experience of an immigrant was explained, it makes it seem like the story is true.

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The authors writing style is very unique it makes you feel like you are there with her every step of the way because she uses “us” and “we” so many times. She tells us this experience as if its a story as if its something to share because it helps us to understand so many peoples experiences how “Some of us are lost already, still in our own country” when we feel like us being somewhere is a mistake or as if we suffocate in our own lives and words how life its self is suffocating for refugees and immigrants.

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Some parts of this story remind me of “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan. The way that all her mother wanted was her success with piano, and she was willing to work hard for it. I noticed that many immigrant stories are very centered around success, and making your parents proud similar to how she says; “We assure our parents we will work hard, make them proud, call home every week, and wear our new jackets every time we go out. We spend hours perusing university websites...”

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A lot of immigrants will leave home for a better future for themselves and there kids. So they can get out of poverty. I thought they had it a little easier before we started the whole unit. But they could have possibly have a better life where they started at because so many immigrants here about the american dream and they fall for the trap.

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The "US" writing style is beautiful and very descriptive. Mukherjee used the plural personal pronoun "we" to describe the collective experience of the Indian graduate students in their twenties who were going to graduate school in America on student visas. They are the main characters in the story, and her writing draws everyone into their feelings and experiences as they prepare for and journey to America. Mukherjee describes the students' fear and anticipation as they "oscillate between excitement and terror." She talks about homesickness during their last night at home as they "lie in the dark, listening to the sounds of the street - a dog's bark, the screech of car tires - and we memorize the contours of the room."  Despite the anxiety, the students are happy to arrive in America because "what matters is that we have arrived." There is a kinship between all the people in the airport immigration line because "for in this moment our foreignness unites us." Mukherjee ends the reader and the graduate students' journey when they leave the airport and Customs, and each become an individual instead of a collective group as they "move in different directions, scattering like seeds in the wind" and become "stars that explode into a thousand little fragments."

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"US" is an interesting immigration story because it reveals the hopes and fears of Indian graduate students coming to America on student visas, and shows a glimpse of the immigration process. It was interesting how the graduate students were very proud of to be of "New Delhi/Chennai/Mumbai/Kolkata/Hyderabad" but also felt the "American flag keeps watch over us all" when they were at the US Consulate. This idea was also shown when they talk about returning home and say, "we belong here...of course we will be back." Even though, they will feel homesick, studying in America took "months, no years" as they "prepared ourselves for this arrival, this entry, this beginning." They love their homeland, but America represents educational and job opportunities. It shows the reasons many people leave their countries to study or work in the U.S.

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I feel like this text really shows the difficulty of immigrating, how mentally taxing it is, as well as just how hard the whole process is, and it also shows multiple peoples views and how it feels to be them. It also really emphasizes the difficulty of choices that are made and the hopes for what they will be able to do in America. It shows the struggles and difficulties faced by people even trying to go to America let alone the struggles they will face once there.

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i feel like it is not one true story but rather, a composition of many peoples true story's. i feel like this is the case because it lists multiple different people's point of views or experiences (ie: it lists schools and instead of a single school one person would be going to) but it seems to show how similar some of the experiences are such as how they all seem to feel the same way about how the immigration process happens, i believe this because instead of giving multiple views of how the process goes it gives one view and seems to imply that the other people also feel the same way about it

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The author uses the simplistic words, like "we' and "us" in phenomenal ways. She limits her writing to further it. She uses "we" and "us", in place of personal pronouns to emphasize they are one united group, as well as to emphasize the idea that they are different people experiencing Different things in different places. The author get's descriptive with the setting listing and emphasizing the setting and all of it's general characteristic but never once lists something unique about anything, that ambiguity and openness to interpretation lets the story and setting become more authentic in our own minds as our brains fill in the gaps with our own personnel experiences.
The author never dwindles on a single thought for too long, she leads one thought into author never letting a single thought snowball into something too large. while in the airport leaving India the author is on the thought of being "lost already, still in our own country, but in unknown territory", and then leads that thought into the thought of "The familiar beginning to look unfamiliar", these two thoughts are connected through feelings of familiarity maturing into new emotions, the emotions of loss and naivety
What i'm trying to get at here, is that the author of "Us", has a writing style that is both ambiguous and concise(comprehensive), And I know ambiguous and comprehensive are both close opposites(oxymorons even), but the story is just that! its both broad and general but also personal and particular(specific). So much so to the point were not one person, nor thought, nor even setting is truly kept focused on, yet the story attaches itself to you, the story with it's many balled up thoughts becomes an endearing peice of art. These Stacked thoughts and Ideas forming an endearing snowman

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The specific section that I can truly relate to myself without divulging too much, is when we see/observe/analyze the mandarin immigrant, "We"can inference that she is also student and a foreigner, in that "we" are already making connections as we can both sympathize with each other, "our foreignness unites"is a lovely oxymoron, in our contrast we are drawn together, opposites truly attract(well not quite).
I have my own story, where I was at this church event where teenagers are supposed to hang out and have fun playing games with each other(because they want you to attend their church), but I had never been to this church before, ever. The majority of the attendees of this event were regular attendees of the church, of course there were a lot of people who weren. The black, white, and Hispanic teenagers who regularly attended this church had no problems intermingling with the each other but of those who weren't regular attendees,like me, we grouped with each other because we didn't drop want to drop ourselves in between a group of people who already a close friendship, although we were naturally intermingling with everyone by the end of it all the non'regulars started off pretty awkwardly even with, and only approached each other because we had the commonality of being strangers