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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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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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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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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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I'm not really sure what I would call this as a literary device, but I noticed something reoccurring throughout the story. The author talked about the characters, but they were never really their own characters, it was always 'we'. It was like they put this whole group of younger immigrants together to exemplify the immigration story and process for them. Like here, "We file one by one through the entrance into the small room where we deposit our cell phones before being frisked" this is what the whole story uses, this pronoun of we instead of diving into character. Another way I can show this is at the very beginning, "The air in New Delhi/Chennai/Mumbai/Kolkata/ Hyderabad is polluted/scalding/humid/wet/still". This shows that the author is talking about people from all around India and not following one or two characters.

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I think some unique literary devices and writing style choices did you notice that Oindrila Mukherjee utilized in this story is when she is telling the story she doesn't speak for herself, she speaks for everyone. For example, "The first time we think of ourselves as a group with a shared destiny is on a weekday morning in the middle of June. We 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." when she startes talking about something that involves people she uses plural pronouns like "we".

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I noticed that the author is always talking about a group of immigrants. She repeats we and our and to refer to herself and all the immigrants also coming in with her. For example, "We file one by one through the entrance into the small room where we deposit our cell phones before being frisked. Without our phones we feel detached from our loved ones, as if we are rehearsing how to leave them."

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Oindrila Murkerjee writes this story in a unique way, where there is no main character. Rather it is portraying an experience of a collective. You never see her use personal singular pronouns, the entire piece is written in second person pov. She describes this group as "We are shy, reticent, uncertain. We are dressed in formal clothes: shirts with collars, ties, boots that have been polished to a shine, salwaar kameezes, black trousers, blouses with buttons down the front." Oindrola Mukerjee is describing the characteristics of this entire group. She also lists several places one member of the group could go, using slash marks as a way of inserting multiple similar senerios. This is not an individual immigration story, rather one many share.

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While I was reading "Us" I thought that either this story was non fiction or realistic fiction. For example the things that Oindrila Mukherjee would talk about seemed like stuff that could or has actually happened like, "The stakes have never been higher. The last few months have steadily built up to this date. We have collected documents, sought advice from those who have gone before us, made appointments, filled out forms, drawn money order drafts, and prepared answers to imaginary questions.", this sounds like they are waiting to get their citizenship, or waiting to cross the border which is stuff that actually happens.

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I don't think that this story is a true story for a few reasons. First of all the events that happen are pretty generic of what you would expect from an immigration story and there are not a lot of specific details. Secondly there are not any real characters it's just "we" when referring to their group and if it was a real story I feel like they would talk more about the people who went through the process with them. Instead we know nothing about them, we don't even know how many people there are.

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I don't think that it was a biography story, but I think it was written in a way that showed what it was like to be a young 20ish immigrant. Since this story is about such a broad group, this 'we' it is hard for it to be completely true, but I'm sure that this isn't just a work of fiction because there is real emotion and vulnerability like here "We oscillate between excitement and terror." and here " This is neither past home nor future home". When I was reading I think I thought at first that it was an almost autobiography of a family, but now I think that it's a bigger picture that includes shared experiences from many Indian immigrants.

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I think that immigration is no easy feat achieve. But the characters from Us were determined "By the time we board the plane it is after midnight, but even though our families are exhausted and in need of sleep, they have not yet left the airport." They continued to push on until they left the airport.

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I dont think that Us is a true story. I think that it was written so that it feels true, I also do not think that is completely made up. It is based off of many events and emotions that immigrants felt and things that they had to go through. An example of this is ¨Some of us are lost already, still in our own country, but in unknown territory, not knowing which gate to use or what line to join or what papers to flourish¨

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I wasn't born in this country and I know the things one has to go through to get to their other destination. I have known people have lied or snuck into the country. I've heard stories of people telling lies to make it into the US, just like the group in US did in the story. They admitted it later in paragraph 5 "We do whatever we can to indicate that we are not looking to sneak into their country and never come back." People will do anything if they are desperate enough, I see this story %100 as an immigration story.

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The story seems to be about the process in detail of everything. From getting a passport and being legally able to immigrate to the flight to America. Every single step seems to be an important part of this process. Though I never knew about how stressful it is to register for an immigration passport. In paragraph one it states, "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." It is a tense place to be where you need to be extremely careful to not step out of line.

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I bevel the story "Us" is a work of non fiction. This story is unique in that it does not focus on a singular experience, rather a shared one. The author talk about this group as, "The first time we think of ourselves as a group with a shared destiny is on a weekday morning in the middle of June." Throughout the story we get a sense that these events are ordinary and routine to people experiencing them, in the way that those in this group the author writes about are not special. Their immigration stories are shared within their demographic, and represent multiple ways of life.

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In my opinion, the story "Us" appears to be non-fictional, or at least heavily based upon a true story. The level of detail the author writes in seems too real to be a work of pure imagination. Especially in the part where the author writes "Where are we, what are we doing here? This is limbo like we have never known and never will again. We are passing through, airplanes that fly in the night. We will never be here again. We will be here again and again and again." This does an excellent job of encompassing the feelings of newness and confusion that, at least I think, would accompany one into a new world.

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Immigrating can be a very difficult thing. I know people who have legally enter the U.S. and people who entered illegally. Many people are willing to do whatever it takes to get into the U.S. even risking their lives. "We do whatever we can to indicate that we are not looking to sneak into their country and never come back." People just want to have a better life and that's why many people come to the U.S..

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Immigrating can be a very difficult thing. I know people who have legally enter the U.S. and people who entered illegally. Many people are willing to do whatever it takes to get into the U.S. even risking their lives. "We do whatever we can to indicate that we are not looking to sneak into their country and never come back." People just want to have a better life and that's why many people come to the U.S..

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I believe that the story "Us" is fiction due to the author saying we a lot and having multiple things separated by slashes. I think that the story is a mixture of a few stories that the author heard and combines through the use of we and multiple things with the slashes. It says here, "The air in New Delhi/ Chennai/ Mumbai/ Kolkata/ Hyderabad is polluted/ scalding/ humid/ wet/ still"showing how the author is combining different stories from different places with them all ending up in the same situation.

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I heard a story of a group of people trying to get to the US from a different country. They made fake documents and other things to helpfully make it in. Just like the group of people trying to sneak in, they hoped and prayed to be let in. The made it through and just like the group of people in the story they were relief that they made it. You could tell how happy the group of people in US by reading this one sentence from paragraph 5. "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."

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The author seem to relate multiple events or important things to a different thing. In paragraph sixteen they state, "We never leave the airport. But we don’t need to because the airport is the whole world."  They relate the whole world to be like an airport. The author speaks that events that occur in the airport are almost the same occurrences or exactly the same in the whole world. In paragraph 20 the author states "How the air will smell clean and fragrant like fruit." It seems to relate that this is their hope for what is to come. This is what they expect what the air will be in America. They expect that it will be a place of wonder and hope.

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As I've seen from some of the other replies, there is a constant use of the word "we" throughout the story, and this is probably to contrast the word "US" which isn't even said as us  but as US as in USA, which I take as meaning that US or us, is different from we, or our.

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The story doesn't follow one specific character, rather it follows several and refers to all the characters as "we". This creates an interesting reading experience because as the reader you can kind of imagine who the characters are and how many and how old. You can create your own characters as you read the story. In the story it says, "We stand quietly because we fear retribution if we make sounds." In this scene we can imagine the group of characters as however you want, a group of 2 random strangers or a whole family all huddled together. As the story goes on your image of who these characters are changes to fit the story it is telling. Being able to create your own characters might help you to connect with them better and understand the struggles of immigration.

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The writing style of "Us" fits very well with the title, because the author always seems to be writing for/as a group of people instead of just for themselves. To give a few examples, "We think about our past." "We are in the West." and "When we are about to land, we press our noses to the window." If I had to guess, I would say the reason for this writing choice is that when circumstances go to extremes (in this case it would be unfamiliarity) it is not uncommon for people to "band together" for an increased sense of community/security.

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I believe that the story is about the process they took to get here. That would mean that it has true parts to it that actually happened thats supported by details added by the writer. I think something like that could happen but would not be described that way.

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The author uses ¨we¨ instead of looking at only one character she tells the story of a whole group of immigrants. I think this is a good writing style because it shows how so many more than just one or two immigrants go through all these things that she talks about in the story. An example of how she uses we is ¨And us? We are the stars in our nation’s sky, destined for greatness. We are in our early to mid-twenties. We are the brightest of them all.¨

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We know this is an Immigration story because in the story it states "We have never been outside our country until now." This gives us the idea that they are going to travel somewhere else. You could say there were going to visit but then once they got to their destination the story says "The line at immigration is two miles long" so this talks about how the process was and that it was an Immigration story.

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While I was reading this story I believed that it was non-fiction.  The story seems to be based on a true story that many people have to go through. It was a journey of a group of people. "The first time we think of ourselves as a group with a shared destiny is on a weekday morning in the middle of June."  This story is non-fiction because it has a lot of real aspects to life.

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I think this definitely could be a true story it talk about how the guards have "AK47s" on them and that probably how it is on the boarder for real.

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something I noticed was when she talks about others that don't include her she says "he or she" "He wears a cream shirt, a brown striped tie, black boots. His hair is slicked back, and he holds a brown folder."
When she talks about herself she includes others and says "We" "we think of ourselves as a group with a shared destiny" "We are a mixed bunch"
She maybe says "we" a lot because it's an immigrant story and immigrants go through it all together.

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I've heard stories from my parents about immigration and how much they have to go through. They tell us that they basically live in fear and are afraid of getting caught and have to be very patient. One wrong move and it's over. The line "The line at immigration is two miles long. We stand for hours, inching forward ever so slowly." proves my point.

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There are many people who come here for their kids to be born here and have a better life than they have but it costs a lot. You either make it risky and play it safe on a plane or you just don't get caught at all and don't use anything that will have track of you. It is very difficult since not only that but you have to leave your family potentially for the rest of your life. "There is a possibility that we will be turned back or withheld for questioning." is what people fear and being turned back to their home since they missed a place of hope.

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A common tale of someone leaving their home country, as well as all of the memories associated with it, "We remember old letters and greeting cards, hastily scribbled notes passed in class,", behind to persue their dreams of making a better life, "We say some names with pride. Harvard. Columbia. MIT.", for themselves and/or their family. 

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A common tale of someone leaving their home country, as well as all of the memories associated with it, "We remember old letters and greeting cards, hastily scribbled notes passed in class,", behind to persue their dreams of making a better life, "We say some names with pride. Harvard. Columbia. MIT.", for themselves and/or their family. 

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Throughout the story there are instances of multiple cities or other things being used at the same time. For example, during the beginning of the story when our characters preparing to fill out forms, "The air in New Delhi/Chennai/Mumbai/Kolkata/Hyderabad". This style of writing makes the story more relatable to more people. It allows for others to be able to imagine themselves in this situation.

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Throughout the story, the author uses many examples or items instead of just one, like when the plane arrived, it said, "When the plane is about to land at Charles de Gaul/Heathrow/Frankfurt International/Kloten, we peer outside in the pale light of dawn..." as though the story is telling many stories at once.  This is also done when the author refers to the character/s as "we," instead of "I" or "they," as demonstrated in the sentence, "The first time we think of ourselves as a group with a shared destiny is on a weekday morning in the middle of June." The story "Us" is supposed to represent the sense of unity among immigrants, and the feeling that their story is shared among hundreds of other people.

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I think that Us is a realistic fiction story, not modeled after a certain event but rather common experiences that immigrants have. This is shown when the author uses many examples in the text rather than just one, like when she said, " The air in New Delhi/Chennai/Mumbai/Kolkata/Hyderabad is polluted/scalding/humid/wet/still and the sun is beginning to shine..." This demonstrates that it isn't one story, but many. Another reason is that the story is vague, with no specific characters or events.

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When I was reading the story, I did not think it was necessarily a true story, for multiple reasons. The first is rather obvious; the story is told with multiple fill in the blanks, to tell the story of a whole group of people in one go. An example of this is when they land, the author writes, "There below us, laid out like a toy land, is New York/Atlanta/Houston/Detroit/Chicago," as if the story was a written version of a movie with multiple perspectives. The second reason I did not think it was a true story and rather realistic fiction is the lack of personal anecdotes. Everything that happens is fairly generic (with a few small exceptions). The author never provides names for family or friends, planes, airports, or even for the characters themselves. The times a name is given, it is presented with slashes, like a multiple choice quiz.

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To answer the first part of the question, Us is an immigration story in the sense that it intentionally presents the fears, hopes, and experiences of the immigrants to the reader. One thing that really stood out to me is how the narrator describes the immigrants. The story talks more about the student immigrants rather than the usual narrative of a poor immigrant coming to find a new life. That is demonstrated when the narrator states, "We are progressive and modern and eat animals indiscriminately and support homosexuality even though we have never known anyone who is gay." I enjoyed hearing from that side of the story a lot.

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At first I thought that this story was not real, and after reading it again I still thought that this story was not real. I thought this because this story just seemed a bit off for me. It seemed fake overall, but the writing style might have contributed to my thoughts. The writing style just made it seem like the story never happened or it was just heavily over exaggerated making the story seem a bit un believable. Something else that didn't help the story seeming real to me was when they would put something in the story where it seemed like they couldn't decide what it was or what it could be. It just made the whole story seem like it wasn't based in the real world.

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When reading just the begging I was able to pick up on the fact that US was definitely an immigration. When you hear her say "We have collected documents, sought advice from those who have gone before us, made appointments, filled out forms, drawn money order drafts, and prepared answers to imaginary questions." It made it clear to me what Us was about. For in the quote she is talking on how all the work they have put in is finally being put to the test on wether or not their visas will be granted to them.

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I don't feel that US is a true story because of the way she describes the scenes. This seems more like a story to give perspective to others what immigrating is like. For example when she say "We do not mind waiting all day." I don't feel as if that is something someone would say as in speaking on behalf of everyone else. Us seems to be more of stories she has heard from others immigration experiences and combined all together to put in perspective for those wanting to know about the immigration process.

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The writing style of 'Us' is slightly weird and not often used. This writing style lets the reader choose what they believe best fits the story every time they read it what allows this is the /'s with many fitting objects and places from which you can pick. It does make reading this story a bit difficult for me, but other than me not being able to read it, it's an okay technique. Overall the story made the main characters seem all high and mighty almost like gods, and it's not to my taste.

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She used words that meant a group of people like the title "us" or "we", this tells us she is talking about herself and other people she is with.

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She used words that meant a group of people like the title "us" or "we", this tells us she is talking about herself and other people she is with.

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well I think this would be good thing about immigration mainly because they would be cautious around people with gun and for the people who had enough money to go abroad would use opportunity to get away from that place, "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" this would be the best quote.

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for me it became confusing the more I read it because t talked about the good and the bad and all in between so I really don't how to feel bout this.