40 grammar. He fails to socialize with the other kids because of such language
problem. At first I thought I was being punished in a universal way for language
incompetence. Stepmother Edna hated my dialect, which was at the me- Tarzan level, and it was unmistakably clear how the neighborhood children
viewed my communication pattern p. 64.
Heine 2008 states that one of the best predictors of acculturative success is language ability p. 521. To be successfully integrated in the host culture he has
to master the language.
5. Different Interests
Panhandle kids are talking about fighting and sport for nearly a year. The different interest can be the cause of culture shock. When Kai finds the kids talk
about fighting and sport, he feels disappointed because he has different interest. He wants to talk about food and their mothers but no one talks about that.
I wanted to talk about food and hear their mothers. “Who ma’ fucken?” I asked.
“China Boy,” said one, tiredly. “Don be buttin in, fool. Don hurt yo mouf when ya’ll don know shit” p. 90.
The second interest is about sport. The kid in Panhandle play a ball and fight. They run, they jump, and they argue. Kai meets his first ball at age of seven.
Kai does not have pleasure to play it after the ball smack his face. The ball became my enemy and made me the Martin the kids already suspected me to be
p. 90. Thus, he experiences culture shock because of different interest.
6. Lack of Socialization
A child cannot learn the ways of socializing by being apart from people. Thus, socialization is a function of social interaction which allows to acquire other
41 custom’s values. Socialization is the process by which someone or a social group
interacts so they can function within it Elkin, 1960, p. 4. In the socialization, one will learn and internalize appropriate patterns, values, and feelings. According to
Elkin 1960, socialization includes both learning and internalizing of appropriate patterns, values, and feeling in which by learning the ways continuing group, the
immigrant becomes socialized into the life of his new country p. 4. Since socialization is needed for one to be accepted in the new culture, it will be one
indicator of the cause of culture shock. Kai lacks of socialization among the society in Panhandle because of his
condition. He is the only Asian, and the only nonblack and the only certified no- question-about-it non-fighter in the district. He is kept indoor by his mother until
the age of seven and he experiences lack of interaction with other children in his age. It makes him experience less social interaction which affects his ability to
adjust to the culture. On the first day of the fi rst grade, Kai’s mother walks him to
the school. She begs the principal of the school, Mrs. Wyatt, to give him special help in which it will protect him from the bullying of other kids in the school.
He has special condition and rare skin condition that worsen in sunlight. Please, keep him inside the school building while the other children are
outdoors. Not knowing English, or having too much sun, could be very dangerious for him p. 35.
It illustrates that Kai limits his interaction with other kids in the school. At the age of seven, without outdoor playing, he learns everything without socialization. As a
consequence, some of the preschool kids on the block where he lives do not know that he is the member of the block since they have not seen his dawn runs to
school.
