Cho Family's American Dream Broken in Pieces
Title
Cho Family's American Dream Broken in Pieces
Description
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
The family of Cho Seung-hui, the gunman of the Virginia Tech massacre, was a typical immigrant success story of the American dream until a few days ago.
Father, 62, and mother, 56, moved to the United States in September 1992 with their daughter and son, and started a laundry business, one of the most common businesses among Korean residents in the U.S.
They achieved financial stability and purchased a two-story house worth $400,000 in Centreville. Their children entered prestigious universities - their daughter going to Princeton University and their son to Virginia Tech - a dream come true for the average Korean immigrant.
Before heading for the "land of opportunity," the Cho family lived a poor life, renting a room in the basement of a building. According to Cho's grandfather in an interview with local daily Hankyoreh, the family ran a small secondhand bookstore before emigrating to the U.S.
According to neighbors, the parents devoted themselves to the success of their children, as most Korean parents do. Some said the parents drove their son to and from the university, about four hours away from where they lived.
However, the almost realized American dream was suddenly shattered, with the son committing the deadliest ever shooting rampage.
What went wrong?
People who knew Cho in Korea, including his grandfather, a teacher at an elementary school Cho attended before heading for the U.S., and the owner of the house where the family lived, said Cho seemed just an ordinary kid who was very quiet.
But people around him in the U.S. said with one accord that Cho behaved strangely - talking to nobody, avoiding eye contact, writing morbid scripts and sometimes behaving violently. They say he never got along with anyone - a complete loner.
Some experts say Cho's problem in interpersonal relations and depression may have resulted from a young Korean immigrant's hardship in adapting to a whole new world.
Many young Koreans who move to the U.S. with their parents seeking the American dream suffer culture shock from exposure to the strange environment where they cannot even understand the language.
They also have confusion about identity - neither being Korean nor American. Despite their difficulty, most of them may not always receive enough care from their parents, who have to focus on working all day to survive in the new country.
"Emigrant children are left alone without enough care and suffer isolation. They become introvert and self-concentrated," Korea University's sociology professor Cho Dae-yop said.
Not all child emigrants have such problems, however, and those who have once suffered hardship later adapt themselves well to American society, but people need to pay attention to their difficulties along with the shooting rampage, the professor said.
rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr
--
Original Source: Korea Times
<a href="http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/nation_view.asp?newsIdx=1343&categoryCode=113
">http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/nation_view.asp?newsIdx=1343&categoryCode=113</a>
Staff Reporter
The family of Cho Seung-hui, the gunman of the Virginia Tech massacre, was a typical immigrant success story of the American dream until a few days ago.
Father, 62, and mother, 56, moved to the United States in September 1992 with their daughter and son, and started a laundry business, one of the most common businesses among Korean residents in the U.S.
They achieved financial stability and purchased a two-story house worth $400,000 in Centreville. Their children entered prestigious universities - their daughter going to Princeton University and their son to Virginia Tech - a dream come true for the average Korean immigrant.
Before heading for the "land of opportunity," the Cho family lived a poor life, renting a room in the basement of a building. According to Cho's grandfather in an interview with local daily Hankyoreh, the family ran a small secondhand bookstore before emigrating to the U.S.
According to neighbors, the parents devoted themselves to the success of their children, as most Korean parents do. Some said the parents drove their son to and from the university, about four hours away from where they lived.
However, the almost realized American dream was suddenly shattered, with the son committing the deadliest ever shooting rampage.
What went wrong?
People who knew Cho in Korea, including his grandfather, a teacher at an elementary school Cho attended before heading for the U.S., and the owner of the house where the family lived, said Cho seemed just an ordinary kid who was very quiet.
But people around him in the U.S. said with one accord that Cho behaved strangely - talking to nobody, avoiding eye contact, writing morbid scripts and sometimes behaving violently. They say he never got along with anyone - a complete loner.
Some experts say Cho's problem in interpersonal relations and depression may have resulted from a young Korean immigrant's hardship in adapting to a whole new world.
Many young Koreans who move to the U.S. with their parents seeking the American dream suffer culture shock from exposure to the strange environment where they cannot even understand the language.
They also have confusion about identity - neither being Korean nor American. Despite their difficulty, most of them may not always receive enough care from their parents, who have to focus on working all day to survive in the new country.
"Emigrant children are left alone without enough care and suffer isolation. They become introvert and self-concentrated," Korea University's sociology professor Cho Dae-yop said.
Not all child emigrants have such problems, however, and those who have once suffered hardship later adapt themselves well to American society, but people need to pay attention to their difficulties along with the shooting rampage, the professor said.
rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr
--
Original Source: Korea Times
<a href="http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/nation_view.asp?newsIdx=1343&categoryCode=113
">http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/nation_view.asp?newsIdx=1343&categoryCode=113</a>
Creator
Kim Rahn
Date
2007-10-11
Contributor
Haeyong Chung
Language
eng
Citation
Kim Rahn, “Cho Family's American Dream Broken in Pieces,” The April 16 Archive, accessed April 19, 2024, https://april16archive.org/items/show/1447.