As an Immigrant, moving to a new country may feel overwhelming but also rewarding. You get to experience the new found opportunities that your new home has to offer and partake in a new culture to discover yourself. This is what we experience while reading “Call it Sleep”. By Henry Roth. We dive into the experience of a jewish family’s pathway of immigration in New York City. In the novel, “Call it Sleep” by Henry Roth, the author puts us in the perspective of the barriers, hardships and challenges an immigrant boy faces in such a foreign and complex world. Roth’s portrayal of these aspects helps us to understand the pathway of culture assimilation in a new environment.

In the beginning when David and David’s mother, Genya, meet with David’s father, Albert at the port, At first  sight Genya wasn’t able to recognize Albert because he”looked

so lean” (27) with his “mustache shaved” (27). Since Albert was living in the United states before having his family join him, his change in his appearance foreshadows the effects of cultural assimilation to becoming americanized. From there we go to Davids and Genya’s appearance when arriving, David was wearing a straw hat from their old homeland. Albert said angrily “can’t you see that those idiots lying back there are watching us already?  They’re Mocking us! What will the others do on the train?” (31). Albert was angry at that because he didn’t want people to know that they are immigrants but Genya didn’t seem to mind. Maybe Albert didn’t want people to know that they were Jewish so that they wouldn’t face any anti-semitism or acts of prejudice from in their old homeland. This also shows Albert’s insecurities of being labeled as an “immigrant” when he already built a life in America.

As we peer more into David’s life we come across scenes where David is talking to his mom in yiddish, fluently. Roth’s portrayal of this is how the words are written with perfect spelling in english. However when David speaks to one of the neighborhood kids, its with broken English with a yiddish accent. This displays the struggles of immigrants speaking a new language and the language barriers.