Christine Walker

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FROM SAO JORGE TO CALIFORNIA -
AN ANALYSIS OF THE LIFE CHANGES
EXPERIENCED BY AN AZOREAN WOMAN
AS A RESULT OF IMMIGRATION INTO THE U.S.

Jorgense is a forty-nine-year-old Azorean-American divorcee who, for the past ten years, has been living with her Portuguese-American male partner in Petaluma, California. Jorgense, the daughter of a small dairy farmer and a housewife, was born in 1954 in the small village of Ribeira Seca centered on the island of Sao Jorge.
Sao Jorge, with its roughly 10,000 inhabitants is a long, narrow, relatively flat and lightly settled island in the center of the Azorean archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands.1 The islands, which cover an area of barely 900 square miles and comprise a population of about 240,000, form an autonomous region of Portugal. Located about 1,000 miles from the Portuguese coast and about 2,000 miles from North America, the region is susceptible to volcanic eruptions as well as earthquakes. Sao Jorge, with its humid, yet mild climate and luscious rolling hills, has had a long tradition in agriculture, in particular diary farming. Secondary industries include small-scale textile and fish processing factories.2
Throughout its five hundred years of history, the major reasons for Azoreans to leave the islands remained fairly constant. Located on the major former sailing routes between Europe and North America, Azoreans in the 1800s began to escape problems of poverty and overpopulation to seek a better life in the New World.3 Immigration into the U.S. increased in the 1960s after the US enacted special legislation in 1958, which granted refuge status to Azoreans who had lost their homes as a result of violent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.4 In addition, a major channel for Azorean immigration into the United States was opened in 1965 with the enactment of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which instituted a seven-category preference system to facilitate the immigration of immediate relatives of permanent residents or citizens already in the U.S. As a result of the law, which set the annual immigration limit at 20,000, Portuguese immigration increased from 19,588 between 1951 and 1960 to 76,065 between 1961 and 1970. During the 1970s, the U.S. government registered a record of 101,710 immigrants from Portugal.5 It is estimated that in general Azoreans represent roughly 80% of the figures.6 According to a 1975 report of Portugal's National Institute of Statistics, Instituto Nacional de Estatistica (I.N.E.), the rate of emigration from the Azores to North America between 1960 and 1975 was twenty per thousand inhabitants compared to two per thousand for mainland Portugal and contributed to a 25% decline in the Azorean population.7 Among Azorean immigrants into the U.S. males and females are equally represented, and over half emigrate in family groupings.8
Jorgense immigrated into the U.S. in 1971 at the age of sixteen as part of a family stage migration. Under the fifth preference of the 1965 immigration law, her father, the anchor relative, had entered the U.S. in 1969 through the sponsorship of his brother, who was a U.S. citizen. After my informant's mother immigrated with four of the daughters in 1970 under the second preference, my informant followed suit with the four remaining sisters in 1971.
The island's lack of economic as well as educational opportunities, in particular for women, constituted the major push factor for Jorgense's family to immigrate into the U.S. As the population grew, land was passed down from generation to generation. Consequently, the lack of available land made sustenance increasingly difficult for farmers. While only 3% of the land was controlled by the population in 1840, by 1965, almost 82% of the Azorean farms were three acres or less.9 Aside from dairy farming, small textile and fish canning factories offered the only job opportunities.
At the time, traditional gender norms discouraged women from venturing outside the domestic sphere, and women who worked in the factories to supplement the family income suffered negative stigmatization. Jorgense's parents feared that their daughters would be bound to work in the factories and end up as members of the lower class. Although Jorgense's parents, in particular her strong willed, well-read and progressive mother, wanted their daughters to acquire an education, the family lacked the necessary financial resources. Due to the limited educational opportunities on the island, only affluent families were able to afford an education for their children. Since Sao Jorge offered merely a fourth-grade level education, students had to go to a neighboring island to attend high school. In order to acquire a college education, parents had to be able to afford to send their children off to the mainland.
Aside from the lack of educational and economic opportunities on the island, a marriage squeeze partly motivated the family's emigration. When Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, who "ruled Portugal as a virtual dictator from 1928 to 1968," resisted the independence movements in Portugal's former colonies of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea, wars were fought in Africa.10 Since Sao Jorge's young men were called to join the army to crush the resistance movements, the number of eligible bachelors on the island was limited.
In contrast to Sao Jorge, the United Stated offered Jorgense's family the prospect of better economic and educational opportunities, in particular for the nine daughters. Drawn by the desire for a better life, the family was also able to reunite with Jorgense's paternal uncle in the United States, who facilitated their immigration through his sponsorship.

Immigrant Women's Changing Gender Role Perceptions
Similar to the Garcia girls in Julia Alvarez' How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Jorgense grew up in a collectivistic and masculine culture, in which people respected conformity to tradition, followed clearly distinct social gender roles and adhered to gender and class hierarchies. Traditional laws and customs ensured women's subordination to men and limited women's political, economic and social freedom. Although Portuguese women, for instance, were granted the right to vote in 1931, they had to possess a university degree or secondary school qualifications, while men were only required to be able to read and write. Women in Portugal didn't gain full voting rights until 1976. Up until 1976, a husband had the legal right to open his wife's correspondence. In 1969, married women were for the first time allowed to leave the country without their husband's permission.11
As sixteen-year-old girl, Jorgense was well aware of the patriarchal nature as well as the class hierarchy that existed within her culture. Women were expected to marry at age sixteen or seventeen to start and take care of their own family. Children were expected to be obedient and respectful towards their parents and elders. The following interview excerpt emphasizes that she was socialized to believe that women's activities were limited to the domestic sphere and that professional occupations for women were culturally not acceptable:
"…once they brought in the fisheries, there were jobs available for women even though it was not a thing culturally to do. You know, women weren't really supposed to go to work. But in the 50s, late 50s, early 60s, some young women from poor families that really didn't have any other opportunities did work in the fisheries. So there was a stigmatism attached to it because you really weren't supposed to be working…"

Although she wanted to immerse herself into American culture, the clashing gender roles initially complicated Jorgense's assimilation into American culture and marked her as an outsider. Like Yolanda in Julia Alvarez' novel and Elaine in Paper Daughter, Yorgense's lack of English upon her arrival in the U.S. lowered her self-esteem and contributed to her social isolation.12 Since bilingual education had not been instituted at the time, the local high school was unprepared to deal with non-English speaking Yorgense and her sister.13 When they put the two sisters into a separate room under the curious eyes of the other students, Yorgense began to turn shy and introverted. Her reaction may partly be gender related. Because of traditional gender roles, which emphasize female submission to authority, Yorgense may have been unable to react in any other way but to quietly submit and to retreat. A young Portuguese man, taught to exercise power and authority, in contrast, may have reacted quite differently by lashing out against such treatment.
Similarly, Yorgense's traditional gender roles complicated her interactions with American peers. The physical education program at high school and her peers' social activities were incompatible with the responsibilities she felt were appropriate for her as a woman and daughter. An important reason why Yorgense quit high school was her aversion against the physical education program:
"…then they wanted you to do things like P.E. Well, in my country, women don't do that. So it was very uncomfortable for us to have to put those shorts on, had to try to go do tumbles, and do whatever it is they wanted us to do that we have never done in our life. So, we just…we were very uncomfortable…"

Yorgense felt uncomfortable not just because she had to do something that was new to her, but because the activities violated her sense of privacy as a woman. Since traditional gender norms prohibited women from displaying or flaunting their sexuality, Yorgense did not want to dress in shorts and expose parts of her body to strangers. Her conservative attitude towards sexuality, however, alienated her from her peers.
When going out with a group of American teenagers, one of whom was in the possession of marijuana, Yorgense distanced herself from her peers because she viewed their behavior as morally wrong:
"I really thought that was wrong, and I didn't want to have anything to do with that. My parents would have been horrified. And so because of the cultural differences, I started retreating back."

In contrast to the Garcia girls, who openly showed disrespect for their parents and rebelled against traditional Dominican gender norms and cultural values, Yorgense felt compelled to comply with her perceived responsibilities as a daughter, maintained respect for her parents and sought her parents' approval.
Socializing with American men also constituted a challenge for Yorgense because of different cultural expectations. Having been raised in a Roman Catholic Portuguese family, she believed in the exclusiveness of a relationship. She soon learned, however, that American men looked at relationships in a more casual fashion, which caused her to become more careful and skeptical towards them. In her interview she remembers the following dating incident:
"I remember the first guy that I met. It's like…when you meet someone and you start dating you sort of have this, you know, kind of exclusive relationship. Well, this guy thought I was totally out of my mind. He had a motorcycle, and he, you know, at one time was supposed to be somewhere and he wasn't. And I called his mom because I was concerned about him, and he was like totally incensed like 'How dare you check up on me.' So I very quickly learned that socially people acted and reacted very differently…"

While adhering to traditional gender norms, Yorgense's decision to quit high school and to engage in domestic work helped her gain independence as a woman and eased her parents' financial burden. She also gained confidence as well as status within her family by helping her parents, who lacked English fluency, to function in American society.
Despite her increasing independence, however, she adhered to traditional gender roles, as her motivations for marriage to a young American man in 1977 emphasize:
"I met him my last year in high school, he had just graduated. We were together…I met him, you know, we married in '77. I think I married because I still believed…still from back home, I think I still had that culture thing because that was the thing to do."

Believing in the gender division of labor, Yorgense wanted her husband to acquire an education and support the family, while she planned to stay home and take care of the children. However, her husband's more casual attitude towards marriage was incompatible with Yorgense's desire for a traditional marriage.
Her divorce in 1979, which she viewed at the time as "a failure to her family," can be viewed as a turning point in her life because it generated in her the need to become more open towards the American lifestyle. Her memory about the period immediately following the divorce emphasizes her increasing need to reconcile American and Portuguese values:
"…I became very upset. On the other hand, I had never been a teenager, and I had never partied, and I had never done the things that kids do. So, my life…I kind of strayed a little bit into the lifestyle that I probably shouldn't have, but I…partied a little bit too much, and you know, I did a lot of stuff that I shouldn't have done."

Over the years, her professional and educational development has increased Yorgense's independence and influenced her perception of women's roles in society. Referring to herself now as "a very modern woman", she believes in women's rights and opportunities. Although she "can be extremely liberal when it comes to women's issues …and the place that the woman should have in this world" she has maintained a certain degree of conservatism in regards to sexuality and relationships.
Like Yolanda in her encounter with Rudy Elmhurst, Yorgense is unwilling and unable to view sex simply as a casual, fun experience, but strives for a relationship based on long-term spiritual commitment.14

Immigrant Women's Changing Relationships with their Parents
In contrast to the Garcia sisters and Elaine in Paper Daughter, Jorgense's immigration did not result in the deterioration of her relationship with her parents.15 Quite the contrary, the move to the United States allowed Jorgense to improve and strengthen her ties to her parents. Several factors may have contributed to the lack of family tensions, which clashes with Kibria's theory of the family tightrope.16
Unlike the Garcia girls and Elaine, who were part of the 1.5 generation, Jorgense did not immigrate prior to puberty. During her first sixteen years on Sao Jorge, she was raised to respect her parents, family and elders, and to act responsibly from an early age. Ten-year-old Jorgense not only helped with the household chores but also worked in her uncle's grocery store, which starkly differs from the privileged upbringing of the Garcia sisters:
"…And because of my uncle had a store, I started helping with the store. I started being the one that whenever we received shipment, I used to be the one to go and get the shipment and the merchandise and I started eventually to help some of the customers and believe it or not, they had actually me do some of the collections that they…They used to send me to collect money from people that owed money…that hadn't paid"

By the time she entered the United States, she had internalized these Azorean values, which kept shaping her relationship with her parents. After immigration into the United States, she continuously sought her parents' approval and respect and tried to act in a way that would positively reflect on her parents. In contrast to the Garcia girls, who took drugs and dated boys, Jorgense stopped interacting with American teenagers who violated her social norms because she felt her parents wouldn't approve.17 Her divorce at the age of twenty-three was particularly devastating for her because she viewed it not only as a "personal failure" but "a failure to her family." Since she didn't want to disappoint her family, she hid her divorce from her parents for months. When she did succumb to behavior that she felt was inappropriate, she kept it from her parents:
"…Well, I went with…a partying crowd…stayed up all night…did things like drinking alcohol…and I tried weed…once…but I didn't like it. My parents didn't know about it. God forbid! They still don't.

It appears that unlike Elaine and the Garcia sisters, who challenged the collectivistic norms as well as the gender and age hierarchies of their native cultures, Jorgense continued to view herself as a part of the family group rather than an individual.
Jorgense's close identification with her family upon immigration into the United States may be explained by the fact that Jorgense, unlike the Garcia sisters or Elaine, was not raised by her biological parents on Sao Jorge. Her mother's health problems as well as her parents' lack of financial means led her parents to allow a maternal aunt to informally adopt Jorgense:
I lived with my aunt and uncle's family right after I was born because my mom got immediately pregnant with my sister…we are only thirteen months apart…and she was bedridden…sick. So I stayed with them and they took care of me. I became their little baby and they became attached to me…and then my mom had the next child and it kind of snowballed…and I actually started believing that it's my household. I called them mom and dad. My real parents would come and stay on weekends and holidays and so forth. And I think that my parents never got me because I had a better life at my uncles'. I really bonded with him. He was a sweet man. You know, they had a bigger house, they had electricity sooner, and a gas stove whereas most people still had only wooden stoves. My uncle could give me better clothes, better food, better shelter and medical care than my real parents. And that's why I stayed there."

When Jorgense immigrated with her biological parents into the United States, they did not know one another very well. While Jorgense may have been trying to be on her best behavior to win her parents' affection, her parents may have adopted a more lenient parenting style towards their daughter to strengthen the bond between parent and child. Although the parents disagreed with Jorgense's decision to quit school and to find a job, for instance, they respected her choice. Jorgense's description and evaluation of her parents' behavior appears to support the theory that her parents feared that a confrontation with their daughter might destroy their already tenuous relationship and alienate their daughter further:
"…They were disappointed because they wanted their children to go into higher education. But they also understood that…with my sisters working…I wanted to work too. And they were afraid that I'd rebel. I think they were touchy on how to handle me because I'd never lived with them, and they were frightened that I'd run away.

Similarly, the parents were accepting when Jorgense decided to marry an American, even though "he was not their first choice." After her divorce, her parents tried to be supportive, although divorce was considered a social taboo at the time. Jorgense's supportive parents differ from Elaine's parents, in particular her mother, who continually criticized Elaine for her lack of maturity and punished her for perceived social transgressions.18
My informant's parents may have supported Yorgense's independence not only to grow emotionally closer to their daughter but also to gain financial relief for the family. After all, her father, who earned a modest living, milking cows in a Portuguese dairy, had to support his wife and six younger daughters. Asked how her relationship with her parents changed as a result of immigration, Jorgense answers:
"First, it was tenuous because we didn't know each other well…remember, I didn't used to live with them on my island. But I think, my independence helped. It helped them because I took care of my self. And with time I…we became more attached…we became more like friends. My mom would tell me things that she wouldn't tell my other sisters. I think that's because she really got to know me when I was already an adult."

By giving Jorgense the room to develop her independence, her parents helped build a relationship characterized by camaraderie as well as mutual respect. Jorgense's ability to become friends with her parents may also be explained by her increasing power and status vis-à-vis her parents within American society. Since Jorgense's parents, similar to Elaine's in Paper Daughter, barely spoke English, Jorgense helped her mother and father function in American society. She accompanied her mother to the doctor, helped with the banking and drove her to do errands:
"But it was also difficult because she [mother] didn't speak the language, she couldn't drive…she was depressed about the language barrier…you know it was hard going to the bank, doing your finances…not understanding and not being able to communicate right…or going to the doctor…we…my sisters and I…helped a lot translating because my parents never really learned the language…"

In contrast to Elaine, who was at times annoyed by her parents' helplessness and dependence, Jorgense was able to empathize with her parents without feeling resentment.
Lastly, my informant's confident and healthy female identity may have contributed to strengthen and deepen her relationship with her parents. Unlike Elaine and the Garcia sisters, who were led to believe that boys were valued more than girls, Jorgense never had to compete with a boy for her family's affection.19 Coming from a family of nine daughters and having been raised as the "little baby" in her aunt's household, she neither felt unwanted nor less worthy because of her female gender. In contrast to Elaine, Jorgense's relationship with her parents was therefore not complicated by resentment and alienation as a result of gender preference.

Immigrant Women's Occupational Trajectory within the Domestic Job Market
While Jorgense emigrated from Europe, her work trajectory shares similarities with the work experiences of immigrant Latina women studied by sociology Professor Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo in her publication, Domestica - Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Affluence.20 Access to informal social networks enabled my informant to acquire her first job as a live-in nanny, helped her transition to the more desirable position of a housecleaner and eventually facilitated her exit from the domestic job market.
Hondagneu-Sotelo found that for many newly arrived Latina immigrant women in the Los Angeles area, live-in domestic jobs serve as a "typical point of occupational entry" because they provide new arrivals with a place to live and are relatively easy to find.21 For women who lack professional job skills, paid domestic work makes sense because they can receive compensation for familiar household tasks. Hondagneu-Sotelo's findings are supported by Kibria's research in regards to the characteristics of Vietnamese-American women's paid work.22
The types of jobs chosen by my informant and her family upon entry into the U.S. fit some of the occupational patterns of immigrants described by Hondagneu-Sotelo and Kibria. Through the referral of his brother, my informant's father was hired as a live-in to milk cows in a Portuguese-owned dairy in Point Reyes. The job allowed him to take advantage of his skills as a former dairy farmer and despite the low wages provided a home for his family. Since his brother's wife was befriended with a Portuguese- American woman working at a private catholic convalescent home, she was able to recommend Jorgense's sister for a housecleaning job at the rest home. Two other sisters were able to find jobs as live-in nannies through this informal social network. When one of the sisters quit the live-in nanny job to work as a housecleaner for the rest home, Jorgense took over the live-in nanny-position. She welcomed the job opportunity because it allowed her to break away from school and the family's tight and undesirable living quarters in Point Reyes:
It [the house in Point Reyes] was very small. I think it was like a two bedroom or two and a half bedroom…I think a couple of us had to sleep on a sofa bed in the living room and I hardly remember it because I was only there for three months. And it was kind of a time when my life was very stressful…I don't think it was a very nice place.

Although her first employers treated her "nicely," she remained in the position for only a few weeks because she had trouble controlling the two school-age children who took advantage of Jorgense's lack of English. Jorgense describes her struggle as a nanny as follows:
"…It was really difficult for me to try to control them, you know. The kids, you know, they would do things like climb up on the rooftop. I didn't know how to get up there. (laughter) The kids knew things I didn't know. Of course, when they finally came back down, I put them in their room and closed the door and…but you know it was really extremely difficult…

The short duration of her first domestic job is not surprising, since immigrant women, as mentioned in Domestica, will "try to locate a better domestic job", in particular if they learn bout better-paying jobs and have access to references.23 Jorgense left the nanny job after a few weeks to take advantage of "a better opportunity," which opened at the catholic rest home. Through her sister's referral and recommendation, Jorgense was hired to provide 24-hour-care to a wealthy lady with a broken hip. As a live-in caretaker, she received a flat rate of $250 per month without overtime pay.24 The job required Jorgense to sleep on a cot in the patient's room. Aside from this "uncomfortable" living arrangement, my informant had trouble communicating with the American woman, who "was accustomed to people doing things for her" and had a reputation of being "very difficult." Although Jorgense felt that the affluent lady initially looked down on her, they started to "really like" one another. It appears that, similar to some of the live-in domestic workers portrayed in Domestica, around-the clock presence, spatial closeness, the personal nature of the work and the fusion of work and social life facilitated the development of a personalistic relationship between Jorgense and her employer.25 Despite the lack of privacy and the long work hours, Jorgense also emphasizes the positive aspects of the caretaker job, which allowed her to acquire and improve her English skills:
"…and that's how I learned a lot of my English…is because of this woman screaming at me…things like…you know, she wanted something that I didn't know what it was. So I'd be going around the room picking things up until you got the one she wanted. (laughter) So, it was kind of a crash course…I had to learn the language.

Jorgense may have been able to cope with the negative aspects of her live-in job because, unlike some of the live-in nannies described in Domestica, my informant was not socially isolated in her work.26 Although she lived with and worked for the American woman, she was in contact with other workers in the rest home, including her two sisters and the Portuguese-American family friend, who became Jorgense's "facilitator:"
"She helped us, you know, if we had difficulties understanding part of a job or something. We could always go to her, and she would come and help us…and translate. So our lives became a little more at peace and easier because we had like someone there. So she was an incredible help in that sense…because you know, you didn't feel so isolated and so alone because you had somebody to go to."

Similar to the Vietnamese-American households studied in Family Tightrope and the paid domestic workers in Domestica, Jorgense's access to informal social networks within her ethnic community continued to provide important resources in terms of domestic job referrals as well as emotional support.27 After the affluent American woman's release from the rest home, the Portuguese-American friend helped Jorgense get hired by the rest home to perform vacation and sick relief. Jorgense started to perform a variety of duties in the rest home, which included "doing laundry, cleaning rooms, helping at bingo and washing the floors in the infirmary." Although she had to share a room with a co-worker in the workers' quarters she was content with her living arrangements since "she knew and liked her roommate."
During her three years as a nurse's aid, she never received a raise, which is a common phenomenon among domestic workers.28 Although she would have liked to receive more than $250 a month, she didn't ask for an increase. She didn't want to appear "ungrateful" towards her employers, who adjusted her work hours to fit her high school schedule. However, shortly before her high school graduation, she gathered up the courage to ask for a raise, which the nuns "had the gall to refuse." Her ability to finally confront her superiors may be interpreted as a sign of Jorgense's growing self-confidence as an immigrant female employee.
Jorgense's access to social informal networks within and outside her ethnic community continued to play a vital role in her occupational development. An American woman, whom her sister had worked for as a nanny and who had helped Jorgense to attend high school, invited Jorgense to live with her for a few months so that she could finish high school. In return for room and board, Jorgense helped clean the lady's house. Jorgense's close relationship with the American woman, whom she viewed as a "part of the family," supports Kibria's assertion of the importance of immigrants' access to a large range of resources to facilitate adaptation to the new culture.29 Although Jorgense, in contrast to the Vietnamese-American refuges in Family Tightrope, had no contact with the governmental arena, her valued relationship with the American woman assisted Jorgense in functioning outside her ethnic community. The American friend not only helped Jorgense finish high school but provided referrals and recommendations when Jorgense decided to work as a housecleaner in 1974.
As stated in Domestica, housecleaning is viewed as a more desirable domestic job because it offers better pay, more flexibility and a higher degree of autonomy.30 It enabled my informant to live independently and facilitated a flexible work schedule that allowed her to attend college part-time. Thanks to her two sisters, who worked as housecleaners and were therefore able to refer her to prospective clients, Jorgense, in contrast to many Latina immigrant women, had no "initial difficulty in breaking into housecleaning."31 Aside from her two sisters, her Azorean brother-in-law, who worked as a gardener, was also able to "pass the news around" and put her in contact with clients. Asked whether she developed any personalistic relationships with her clients, Jorgense responds:
"No, I didn't have any personalistic relationships. The people I cleaned for were too old…in their forties, and there was too big of an age difference…I liked a few, but never had coffee or anything…just did my job…I did find that people with money were more personable than poorer people…it was not that we were like best friends, but they did show more respect…"

Jorgense doesn't appear to have felt the need to develop close relationships with her employers, which may be due to the less emotional nature of the job as well as Jorgense's extensive social network in the United States.32 Although she did not complain about employers' disrespect, her desire to find "a better job" reflects Jorgense's awareness of the lack of social recognition ascribed to domestic work.33
After her sister's pregnancy in 1975, Jorgense took on one of her sister's clients, a Norwegian family, who owned a furniture store in San Francisco. When the Norwegian husband learned that Jorgense was attending college, he tried to help her transition out of the domestic sector by offering her a part-time sales position in his store:
"…they had a store in San Francisco, a furniture store, you know, and again, he was a very nice gentleman and decided to give me the opportunity to maybe do something a little bit better. But they wanted me to do cleaning for them. So the contract was I cleaned their house two days a week and I went to the store two days a week. And in the summer, they used to spend three months in Norway, where they were originally from. And I took care of their house and I worked full-time at the store. And that's when I realized that being a salesperson part-time was really hindering me. That's when I saw the opportunity to make more money.

After two years, Yorgense finally mustered the courage to ask her female employer to work full-time as a sales person in the furniture store. She describes the woman's reaction as follows:
I had asked the lady that I would like to maybe see if she could find someone else to replace me in the housecleaning because I really would like to work retail. And she was very incensed by that and very upset, you know, how…because they had given me this great opportunity …and she was very upset and absolutely not. I would have lost my job if I had.

Jorgense's female employer fits the model of the employer described in Domestica, who interprets a request for a raise or promotion as "a lack of gratitude and deference on the part of the employee."34 In order to avoid a full-scale blow-up, Jorgense gave in to her employer and continued her work arrangement for another year. While the family was out of the country over the summer in 1978, she searched in the newspaper for another job in sales. After being hired as a sales person by another furniture company, she left a letter of resignation at her employers' residence as well as at the former furniture store. As many housecleaners, she was able to "quit quietly" and thereby avoided any further confrontations.35
Through hard work as well as access to informal social networks and extended immigrant ties, Jorgense was able to find work in the domestic sector and to eventually enter the professional job market. She now works as a "team-lead in a customer service department for a wholesale lender," and has recently returned from a company-paid vacation to Greece for her outstanding performance.

My informant's experience as an immigrant woman in the United States appears to best conform to the adaptation theory while reflecting elements of the assimilation and Kibria's tightrope theories. Jorgense originally tried to assimilate into American culture and has become "Americanized" to a certain extent. She enjoys the possession of consumer items, which make household chores more convenient. She appreciates having easy access to entertainment, education and health care in the United States. Believing in women's rights and women's opportunities, she has worked hard to establish herself as an independent, professional woman.
However, in contrast to the assimilation theory, Jorgense has not severed her connections with her native culture. After having lived in the United States for over thirty years, she remains involved in local Portuguese organizations and practices native traditions in order to maintain her Portuguese culture and language, and to preserve it for her nieces and nephews. She also upholds certain traditional values and beliefs (e.g. Catholicism, family loyalty) and keeps a conservative approach in regards to women's sexuality and sexual relationships. In contrast to the assimilationist model, Jorgense's patriarchal, extended family was not transformed into the modern, nuclear family. Her father remained the breadwinner of the household while her mother stayed home taking care of the children. Jorgense remains spatially and emotionally closely connected to her sisters and her parents, whom she still views as the authority figures within the family.
In contrast to Kibria's tightrope theory, immigration did not cause generational or gender related tensions within Jorgense's household. The lack of intimacy in the relationship between Jorgense and her parents and my informant's maturity may partly explain the deviations from Kibria's model. Both Jorgense and her parents' behavior towards one another may have been more tolerant and indulgent in an attempt to gain each other's affection. Further, her age and maturity allowed her to gain a job and live outside her parent's house, which not only helped the parents financially but also reduced the potential for conflict.
Since family ties and access to informal social networks played a vital role in Jorgense's immigrant experience, the adaptation model provides the most suitable theoretical framework for my informant's situation. By increasing access to economic and educational opportunities and providing emotional support, family and immigrant ties not only facilitated Jorgense's adaptation to American society but also allowed her to gain social upward mobility and power. Ultimately, she managed to maintain traditional Portuguese values and social forms in relative harmony with more modern American ones, as the following interview excerpt demonstrates:
I think that I took the opportunity to, I think, learn this culture, the language and the culture itself, to a great extent and then I knew what I had and what I had been raised with. And what I believe, that's part of who I am, is that I took the best. I feel that I have the opportunity of taking the best of both cultures.

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Fong, Colleen. Lecture on Bi-Lingual Education, 20 April 2004. California State University,
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Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette. Domestica - Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the
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Kibria, Nazli. Family Tightrope, The Changing Lives of Vietnamese Americans. New Jersey:
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