Assimilation, Who Does It Apply To... The Weak?... The Strong?

Assimilation, the very thing that almost everyone from any ethnicity, race, or minority can relate to. When one assimilates to something or some group what is he/she doing, to themselves and their original culture? The answer is that they are changing it, some more drastic than others. More like "Out with the old and in with the new" kind of deal. Basically these "assimilators" are changing their so-called "plate of life" with another to make their lives a lot more better in the long run. Now for what reason someone would want to do this to themselves is too much to write down. In A Raisin in the Sun Beanetha shows a great amount of assimilation. Beanetha wants to assimilate into the white society from her black roots. This play shows her assimilation as a strength because out of all the people who are living in the apartment she is the most ambitious in wanting to become a doctor and she is the only one that is showing any kind of assimilation towards any different culture. Everyone has to meet at least someone that is like Beanetha one day or another. I know that I have met one because I am one myself. People assimilate by stopping themselves from taking part in their culture and essentially joining another one which is what assimilation is in a nutshell. Like I said before, there are many reasons why someone would want to assimilate themselves into another culture, in fact there are too many to list. A select few are that someone just doesn't like their family all too much and want to essentially "join another type of family". Someone could be ashamed at what has happened to their culture in the past years and doesn't want to be labeled as someone who is apart of that culture. Or someone wants to escape persecution from being apart of that culture from other cultures. I am apart of the "assimilators" because of reasons all to obvious. Another great example on how other people view assimilation is present in Eric Liu's essay "Notes of a Native Speaker". In this essay Liu describes his life story and how assimilation shaped his life now. Liu describes assimilation as another gateway of life that people can take in order to get different opportunities in their life. He also mentions that when one assimilates they are changing who and what they are (essentially leaving their old life but not really). Past cultural traits are not completely lost but they are lost to the point that when being around strangers they are no longer present. Assimilation changes what one is and is aimed towards the weak and strong individuals of the world.