LITR 4332: American Minority
Literature
final
exam 2008 sample answers
Essay on trans-minority possibilities
Victoria Ortiz
Topic 2 Trans-Minority Possibilities
Many critics may be under the assumption that multicultural education promotes "victimization" and "separatism" among ethnic or gender groups. I disagree. In my opinion, multicultural education such as “American Minority Literature,” “Western Civilization,” “Basic Texts,” or “Great Books” promote "colorblind empowerment" and unity in opposition to victimization and separatism. In “American Minority Literature” I feel as though objective 6 focusing on 6a and 6c provide support for the claim that multicultural education promotes "colorblind empowerment" and unity in opposition to victimization and separatism.
Objective 6 is focused on minorities and language it is to study minority writers' and speakers' experiences with literacy & influence on literature and language. Through out the course various minority groups, writers, and novels have been studied to provide a broad spectrum on the influence the minority experience can have on language. In objective 6a literacy is regarded at the primary code of modern existence and a key or path to empowerment. In other words it is through the expression and action of literacy that allows minorities to become empowered and thus fight oppression. Fredrick Douglas provides a good example of this in his narrative when he struggles to learn to read and write despite his masters opposition to the action stating that,
A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master--to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world…if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master.
It is at this point that Douglas realizes the path to empowerment and freedom,
That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully shunned, was to me a great good, to be diligently sought; and the argument which he so warmly urged, against my learning to read, only served to inspire me with a desire and determination to learn. In learning to read, I owe almost as much to the bitter opposition of my master, as to the kindly aid of my mistress. I acknowledge the benefit of both.
It is because of Douglas’s determination and eventual achievement that provided him with the ability to become a popular abolitionist and allowed him to help put an end to the oppressive nature of slavery ending its ability to victimize and separate.
Another example of the empowering nature of literacy is the poem “Senora X No More” by Pat Mora. In which a minority woman learns to speak English and write her name. No longer known as “X,” but as a Senora as someone with dignity, identity, and most of all empowerment. As her, “soap-wrinkled fingers…carve… [her] name” she is beginning a journey that will prevent her from oppression, victimization, and separatism because she has voice.
Which leads into objective 6c highlighting the power of literature to provide minorities with a voice and vicariously allows readers to share in the minority experience. There were two pieces of text that I connected with most in relation to this objective they were “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou and Bless me, Ultima by Ruldolfo A. Anaya. I feel that both of these text used wonderful literary style which truly allowed the reader to connect with the subject, minority voice, and experience.
In Angelou’s “Still I rise” she expresses minority voice through her writing she is able to demonstrate the voice of minority women to the dominant culture.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
While the dominant culture may desire for minority cultures to leave their past behind or see them broken as was the case with slave owners. Minority culture groups are expressing their voice and sharing their experiences, thus finding their culture and identity. “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou takes on the voice of minority women. Allowing for all to know that despite the dominant cultures desire to silence the despairs of minority cultures. These individuals will continue to rise.
In Bless me, Ultima I was able to connect with the protagonist Antonio and his minority experience of being forced to choose between two cultures. Not only was I able to experience his pain vicariously, but I have had to such a decision myself, as the third generation in my Mexican American family it is very difficult to stay connected and keep up traditions especially when most of the family is 8 hours away, and you see them maybe once every two years. I know my experience is not unique and it is that knowledge that allows for me to feel a sense of unity with other cultures, minority and dominant.
The misconception that multicultural education it promotes "victimization" and "separatism" among ethnic or gender groups is described by objectives 1e and 4b. In objective 1e it is the dominant culture’s attitude that feels the past should be left in the past and that everyone should move on. The problem with this view is that it leaves individuals unsympathetic to minority expression and eliminates its power. There is also the problem of the past repeating itself, the “victimization” and “separatism” among ethnic or gender groups may not have occurred of people could have known the repercussions, such as the damage inflicted by slavery or the “Trail of Tears.” Also, in objective 4b it is evident that the dominant culture supports “individuality” and “rights” yet, is opposed to an education that may question the meaning of such “sacred modern concepts” which support “politically correct ideas like minorities as ‘victims.’” In other words it is not multicultural education that promotes "victimization" and "separatism" among ethnic or gender groups but those opposed to multicultural education that are in promotion of it.
Ben Hamley
Victimization or Development?
A great debate rages over whether or not classes that teach Minority literature are corrosive to race relations. The supposition is that these courses teach minority and immigrant culture as downtrodden and victimized. This concept of victimization comes from the thought that minority and immigrant literature courses emphasize the losses and pains of the groups without presenting a positive side.
The alternative would be the current paradigm, Western Civilization courses or popular literature. ; It is my humble opinion that both courses have strong merit and are necessary for a well-balanced education for any students involved in higher learning. The weight lies on the shoulders of the professor teaching the minority literature course as it is necessary to allow the students to learn of both the great amount of obstacles that face minorities as well as their answers to them and the desire to overcome hardships.
This drive to overcome is exemplified especially well in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Douglass uses his opportunities to teach himself to read and write, and eventually becomes the voice for an entire race of thrown away people. He gives form to the slaves who are typically not seen or heard. This is not a case of a people that are willing to sit and take the abuses that are doled out upon them. Toni Morrison’s Bluest eye also strengthens this notion that although African Americans are treated as different and less important than the majority, they strive for something more. It is important to note that while they work towards a more equal tomorrow, African Americans and other minorities do so in a system that judges their accomplishments against a white scale. Beauty is the most overt of these judgments in the Bluest Eye, which gets its name from the idea that the most beautiful eyes are blue eyes, which are almost exclusively an Anglo trait. So even as people are attempting to establish and support themselves they are getting constant messages from the dominant culture and subsequently their own culture that somehow the people they are at the core of their being is not worthwhile. Western tradition courses like to make us think that we are one big melting pot, and that is a nice sentiment, but in reality we are a people that segregates, subdivides, and discriminates.
Perhaps the most important piece of minority literature is Martin Luther Kings I have a Dream speech. There exist few greater literary accomplishments than this speech, and even fewer pieces emote both the heartbreak and hopefulness that it does. The thought that “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed--we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal” is perhaps one of the most beautiful sentiments in American history, and is a strong backing for a course in minority literature. Without courses that are designed to stretch our current beliefs and open us to the minority experience, students would miss out on a large part of their developmental life.
Telishia Mickens
Trans-minority Essay
Minority Literature is one of those courses where you hit some very sore spots in history and every day life. Throughout history we have seen a vast variety of multiracial incidents occur. From the beginning of class when we read the Classical slave narratives to the end of class, reading the American Indian and Mexican American narratives. In some cases minority literature does contribute to the empowerment and unity of this ideas of a mixing of cultures.
First I will refer to the narrative on the Life of Frederick Douglass. As we know, Douglass was born a mulatto. On page 257, the text states…it is nevertheless plain that a very different-looking class of people are spring up at the South…In slavery we see a lot of these bi-racial issues because of the either voluntary or involuntary relationships that exist between the masters and slaves, predominantly the black women and white men. For Douglass, I would say from my own personal perspective that his being mulatto paid off for him in a lot of ways that we do see present in the story. In the beginning, as a child, Douglass is treated very different from the other children. He even viewed the master’s wife as a mother figure. His skin color caused him to gain special treatment, he did not have to work as hard as the other slaves, he learned to sufficiently read and right and he also had a kind of noble presence amongst him.
On the other hand, in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Linda Brent did receive special treatment as a child because of her skin color and she even says in the narrative that she did not realize she was a slave as a child. But as she reached a level of maturity, her skin color and beauty did not bring forth the positives that Douglas’s did. One of the reasons being that she was female and gender roles did make a big difference in these circumstances. She had children by a white slave owner and her children were taken away from her. This shows the side of victimization and separatism. Brent had to go through some extremes just to see her children. We know from the narrative that she lived in an attic just to see her child through cracks in a wall, how emotional is that? As a mother I can only imagine her anguish.
In the Bluest Eye, we see this mixed identity with Maureen. Maureen’s character weighs on both sides of the scales. She is described as being light skinned and beautiful with long, pretty hair. The upside to her character is that she comes from a good home and she lives a life that typical black children of that time would not live. The downside is that she seems to have this innocent but snobbish attitude. Her appearance makes the other black girls become jealous of her and they develop a sense of hate towards her because she does not look like them nor does she talk like them or dress like them. She can be seen as being an outcast.
I do feel that American history and culture has made it hard for this multi-gender culture to exist. But in present times we do see a lot of multi-race individuals. It is not just black and white as is used to be in the past. We have Indian and white, Hispanic and white, Asian and black (Kimora and Russell Simmons), just so many different races of people. We are also seeing a lot of tri-racial identity issues, for example a child that is already mixed with black and white can marry a Hispanic partner, so their children are now tri-racial. As time changes and culture changes, we change as people. Our society is no long shaped on the views of the dominant culture alone. We have progressed away from that and it is almost as though no matter what ethnic background we are from we are finding our own significant place in society.
Without multicultural education how would we understand these concepts? We have to be able to relate to individuals on all levels regardless of their race or cultural values. Multicultural education helps us to be able to do this; it helps us to understand how and why other cultures deal with day to day issues. No two people are exactly the same. We all have our own identity regardless of how we look on the outside or how we speak. Multicultural education is the key to our future.
Christine Michelle Pearson
Multiculturalism: Good or Bad?
At the beginning of this semester, I was a bit reluctant to speak in our classroom. I did not feel I had a right to, considering I am white. I believe that the African, Native and Mexican American cultures were done wrongfully. There is a purpose for all nationalities to be present on this earth. I soon realized, however, that once class was over, my peers treated me as if I was of no different nationality. In the end, I feel that I have gained insight into interaction with others, that I had not pondered before. If I can not ask questions, how will I learn to correct the wrong ideals accepted from past generations?
As I read the poem by Maya Angelou, "Still I Rise", my heart was torn. How could someone as polite and meek as Mrs. Angelou not be angry and unforgiving, after the bondage that African American people have endured? I soon realized that the ability to express her self within literature was a way to heal and ask questions that still exist today. Mrs. Angelou stated that:
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries. (par 4)
To me, this passage is powerful. It asks why, yet it allows for healing and forgiveness (Obj. 5). The narrator tells the reader that though I am scarred, I will not lie down and die. I will survive. I will go on. Do you choose to go with me? I, as a reader, do not feel like the narrator is angry at me. I feel she is choosing to stand and say, though I forgive you, I will not allow this to happen again. I believe the “you” is not addressed to all white people. I believe that the reader addresses the text, in a way, that convicts the aggressor, not the on reader, in general. If I feel guilt, I should analyze my ideals, and ponder the statement, still I rise.
Furthermore, the poem, Señora X No More by Pat Mora, expresses the need to move on. This poem relays the ambivalent that some Mexican American cultures experience. I sense the same need to learn and remember as well; however, I realize the struggle is there to, not so much be separate, but to be her self. The signing of her name represents, possibly, the assimilation of the dominant culture’s education being extended upon her, yet also it may be saying that I will not be ignored again.
Likewise, An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ, With Penitential Cries by Jupiter Hammon, expresses the need for reconciliation among people. The author states that:
Salvation comes by Christ alone,
The only Son of God;
Redemption now to every one,
That love his holy Word. (par 1)
I believe that the writers of these works are pondering there ideals, as well. To hate the dominant culture or carry resentment, will hinder the “victim”, as well. The narrator is not a victim; if he rises above the history he has been dealt.
In conclusion, do I believe that multicultural education “promotes ‘victimization’ and ‘separatism’ among ethnic or gender groups?” (syllabus) As a student of a minority literature class, I can say the answer is no. Leaving this class, I am a more aware of how to interact with peers who have been touched by the ugly hand of prejudice and separation. There are underlying wrongful ideals and/or attitudes that are still prevalent today. Until they are addressed, America will lack true unity and true insight in addressing people, as well as, other nations. I believe this class promotes the beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:1-12).
Works Cited
Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. Berkeley, CA: TQS Publications, 1972.
"ESSAY SAMPLE ON "THE HISTORY OF PREJUDICE AGAINST NATIVE AMERICANS"" ESSAY SAMPLE ON "THE HISTORY OF PREJUDICE AGAINST NATIVE AMERICANS" 9 Dec. 2008 <http://www.essaysample.com/essay/002735.html>.
White, Craig. "American Minority Lit 4332." Craig White's Course Site. University of Houston Clearlake. 09 Dec. 2008 <http://https://webmail.uhcl.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?url=http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/hsh/whitec/>.