There is a popular saying and it goes "When in Rome do as the Roman." It means in order to be polite it is good to change the way you behave to imitate the culture or people you are around. In the story "A Contract with God" by Will Eisner it tells the story of an immigrant named Frimme Hersh a Jewish-American as he copes with his life in America after he left Russia. During the story after a long prosperous time in America an Older Frimme changed from a pious, charitable person to a well off person who has seemed to have lost his morals. This puts into question, Is it always good to do what the Romans do? Or in other words, is changing your morals, your culture or your behavior to fit in to a different culture for better or worse the right thing to do. Especially when it pertains to immigrants change their culture when coming to America.

Immigrants act a specific way before they come to America that could be caused by many things. One example is in some places people are oppressed or repressed in which they do not have the freedom to live their life as they want or have the resources available to survive. Or they could be refugees, meaning they do not have a home to go back to when they immigrate in to search for a better life. Often immigrants just want to go to another country because of what they hear and how that benefits them or their children. In Frimme's case, he was most likely a refugees because after he left his village it might have been destroyed as stated by his village elders in this quote, "The next attack may wipe us out, so we have selected you to save" (Eisner 110) Even though he could have chosen to decline the elders and stay he would have inevitably been destroyed as the attacks seem to have been happening for a while based on the picture on page 110. But it is because of his humble beginnings in his small village that gave him his kind, charitable and pious nature. This is important because all immigrants no, everyone gains their attitude and outlook on life based on what they have learned when they were at their home town/country. It is because of the culture they build and take with them when they immigrate to America is why there is more diversity in America. On the other hand when they live in America for a while all but the most devout may lose the culture they build before they came in favor of the identity they built in their new home.

 When someone immigrates there are many things that cause them to change. The simple fact that they are surrounded by a whole new culture has a lot to do with that. But there are many attempts to get around that. In city's there are places called Ethnic Enclaves, examples are China Town or Little Italy. These Enclaves are not formed by the government but by immigrants and people of similar ethnicities as an attempt to make a section of the city similar to their home country in order to not lose the culture they brought over from their homeland. Ethnic Enclaves are the biggest attempt to stop the slow indoctrination of them in to the native way of life.  It is true that Frimme found an Ethnic Enclave for himself based on a narration of the story that stated, "Frimme Hersh settled in New York City where he found a shelter in the Hassidic Community." (Eisner 113) As it was here where he did good deeds and followed the contract he made before he left his home land. But as it seems the community he served did not keep him from changing after his adopted daughter passed away. This makes one think that was it because he immigrated alone which made him susceptible to change?

When a group of people immigrate it is hard to get them to drop their way of life because they have a group of people where they can share their experiences with and keep their way of life alive in that group. Individuals on the other hand have it harder because they either find a group of other people with like beliefs and culture or risk being slowly indoctrinated in to the native culture. This is not just for America this if for everywhere. That's why when coming back from a trip or vacation you feel like something is different when coming back to your home. This is the problem that Frimme faces, he came to America alone. The only thing that he shared with other people was his ethnicity and because of his religion he found a church in which he could fit into. But even with a community to fit into he was still alone while faithfully staying with in his beliefs. Until the girl was dropped on the doorstep and things changed. He changed and became a parent and gained a sense of joy from not only being a parent but from not being alone. It is also eluded to that he neglected his good deeds and even church all together as his daughter became the center of his life. When Frimme returns to the Synagogue in the story the narrator describes the Synagogue as "old" and Frimme asks the elders "Do you remember me? ..." (Eisner 118) meaning he has not been there in a long while. Later when his little girl was taken from him he cursed god for breaking the contract but it was him who broke the contract first. He cursed god because he was now alone and felt anger with nothing to do with it. It was only when he came back to the Synagogue seemingly as a success and with his wealth he was trying to make another contract. That did not work out because it was done with malintent as shown by the pictures of a Frimme who was obsessed has lost his way.

This is the story of a man who immigrates to America and gains wealth and success but loses who he was and a loved one in the process. This is not an original story, many people come to America to have a better life but most do not understand that you are who you are because of where you are from. When one immigrates to a new country they should take into account that their lives will change. Not all change is a bad thing but understanding change will keep an immigrant as they are and stop immigrant from changing for the worse.

