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(2017
midterm assignment) Sample Student Midterm Answers 2017 (Index to # 1 samples) #1: Long Essay: learning, challenges, issues |
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Marissa Mackey
Minorities in America
Growing up in a small southern town I found it challenging to fit in with
other students because of my mixed heritage and was often nicknamed mutt. I was
led to believe that a person should only be from one place/background and not a
blend of more ethnicities. As I got older and entered into university I realized
quickly that this wasn’t the case and that there are other people who are also
of two or more races. The mestizo term opened my eyes to see that in Early
America different cultures did mix together to have children who identified
within this deviation. I find it rewarding to know that there are other groups
of people my age who were taught incorrectly about America’s history and share
the same drive to educate new generations the real historical past of America.
In
Cabeza de Vaca, the mestizo term is
expanded on being one of the first texts in Early American literature to
highlight the subject of these individuals. During the story, de Vaca has a
significant moment when “their own interpreter to say to the Indians how we were
of their own race,” strikes a mestizo status. He is a character of European and
Indian descent showing the presence of his kind in early America and its
literature.
In
The Story of the Virgin of Guadalupe,
a specific symbol of religious and cultural significance to the Mexican American
population is the image of the virgin pressing her hands together in prayer. I
am familiar with the image seeing it in movies and music videos, but I never
knew the story behind it until it was a class reading. The description of her
features being “grave, somewhat dark,” indicating a possible mestizo
characteristic to who she was is also interesting to think about her as being
multicultural. Although, it does make sense for Juan Diego to want to identify
with her so he would describe her as having a similar skin tone as himself.
In
the reading Two Letters by Christopher
Columbus, Columbus describes the cultural differences between himself and
the natives that are evident throughout the islands he has encountered. He notes
that they do not lack wit, but see things of importance through a different
perspective. Columbus wants to profit off the land while the natives would
rather tend to it and live peacefully. Columbus planned on taking information
from the natives “by force” to uncover what they know and how they live.
John
Smith also runs into a cultural difference with natives in
A General History of Virginia which
tells of the natives being cautious around the Europeans who are entering their
lands. The moment he is about to be killed, the natives “ready with their clubs
to beat out his brains” is saved by “Pocahontas, the king's dearest daughter,
when no entreaty could prevail.” She shielded him with her arms wrapped around
his head in an attempt to stop his death. In all my years of education up until
high school I was never taught that Pocahontas was actually a young girl at the
time this happened and that she later married and had a child of mixed
ethnicity.
Simon
J. Ortiz expresses in his poem A New
Story a moment he encountered being stereotyped by a woman who wanted “a
real Indian with feathers and paint Maybe even a medicine man." The idea was for
him to ride around on a parade float as if he were something to gawk at. The
woman was obviously not educated culturally in regards to Native Americans and
came off insensitive to his people. Ortiz emphasized the memory in his poem in a
satire manner making it modern in an attempt to show his side of the story.
It is
so important for children who are of mixed ethnicities to experience what
multiculturalism has to offer them. They shouldn’t be made to feel alienated
during their adolescence especially when this is the most crucial time for them
to be broadening their perspectives and ideals. The real America is the “melting
pot” it represents offering cultures from around the world a place of equality.
A society built upon a foundation that is focused on equal rights and
educational opportunities for all cultures will lead to better future. America
is without a doubt a nation of mixed cultures. The education of American
children should be taught through multicultural lenses.
