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LITR 4332 American Minority Literature Model Assignments Final Exam Submissions 2013 |
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Carolee Osborne
May 5, 2013
America’s Minority
This literature class was the most interesting course I have taken throughout my
college career. My degree will be in literature, and I plan to teach thereafter.
I will apply the concepts that I have
learned in this class in my daily teachings. A major concept I leaned was the
fact that there is a distinction between a minority group and an immigrant
group, and this distinction is depicted through the literature of these groups.
Minority literature is created by groups of people who were brought to America
against their will. African Americans,
who came to America through slavery, American Indians, who were the first to
inhabit America but were forced to give up their land, and Mexican Americans,
who lost their land through several wars are examples of minority groups and
lend new insights throughout their literature. I
feel it is important to teach this concept in high school because it might be
the only exposure to this particular type of literature that some young people
have. If the students are never exposed to these texts, they may never know the
beauty that lies in this great literature. I
have also learned to understand the effects of being a minority in America
through the portrayal of symbols, the portrayal of the American dream verses the
realities of life, and the portrayal of ambivalence throughout minority
literature.
Symbols are used extensively in literature to express a particular meaning that
an author wishes to impart to an object, or concept as a representation of his
own themes and ideas. Symbols can hold different meaning for different people;
An American flag, for example, holds a meaning of freedom and protection for
Americans, but to other countries it might have a different meaning. For
example, Toni Morison’s The Bluest eye
uses the color blue to express the world’s view that the white, dominant
culture is the ideal picture of beauty. One example of how Morrison uses blue
eyes to portray the ideal picture is evident when Picola “wanted to rise up out
of the pit of her blackness and see the world with blue eyes” (Morrison 174).
Picola decides that beauty is evident in the blue eyes, which makes her inferior
because her eyes are brown. Another use of symbols is exemplified through
Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima when
he uses an owl to represent the power of
Ultima. It is said that “It is the owl that is the spirit of the old witch
[Ultima]” (Anaya 254). Ultima uses her owl to represent her all seeing, and all
hearing power. Rudolfo Anaya uses a symbol of a golden carp to illustrate
Antonio’s struggle with his religion. When Antonio learns of the golden carp he
questions his beliefs. He asks himself “The golden carp… a new god?” (Anaya 81)
Antonio wants to believe that this is true through childlike innocence, but as
he grows older he knows he must question everything. The use of symbols in
minority literature seems to express a sense of not belonging or of being
different; the belief that they do not actually belong in this society.
The Mexican American culture struggles with the dangers of assimilation through
losing their culture and identity. Jimmy Santiago Bacca depicts this struggle in
his poem” Green Chile” by
using symbols of green and red
chilies to represent his identity as an American and his identity as a Mexican.
He explains that he “[prefers] red chili over my eggs and potatoes for
breakfast. Red chili ristras decorate my door, dry on my roof, and hang from
eaves” (lines 1-4) Red chilies represent what his identity is as an adult and
what it means to him to be a Mexican American. The green chilies, however, bring
him back to childhood and the visits
his grandmother’s. He explains that
“When I visit her, she holds the green chili pepper in her wrinkled hands.”
(Lines 12-14) The green chili takes him back to his childhood and a time when he
feels closest to his culture. When he visits his grandmother, he observes “from
fields to roadside stands, you see them roasting green chili in screen-sided
homemade barrels, and for a dollar a bag, we relive this old, beautiful ritual
again and again.” (lines 42-45). Through eating the green chili, he can
recapture some of the identity that he has lost through assimilating.
Another way minorities depict their struggles in literature is through the
comparison of the American dream verses the realities of life as I noted in my
long essay from my midterm exam. Louise Erdrich proves this fact in her novel
Love Medicine when she explains the
hardships of the American Indian through the comparison of the American dream to
the absence of dreams in reality. The American dream states that in America if
one works hard enough, he/she can achieve anything. However, minorities prove
that there are restrictions that make this dream impossible for some people.
American Indians become a pawn in their own dream as they struggle to gain the
American dream. Albertine states that this struggle created a feud within
themselves where it became “Indian against Indian. Here was the government
Indians ordering their own people off the land of their forefathers to build a
modern factory. To make it worse, it was a factory of false value. Keepsake
things like bangle beads and plastic war clubs. Dreamstuff.” (Erdrich 279). The
American Indians were forced to give up their land in order to achieve their
American dream; however, it became a false dream, an unreachable dream. She also
explains that “It was the stuff of dreams… The cheap false longing that makes
your money grubbing tongue hang out. The United States government throws crumbs
on the floor, and you go down so far to lick up those dollars that you turn your
own people off the land.” (Erdrich 280) This statement proves that there are
some that can achieve the American dream, but this dream comes at a heavy price
to others.
African Americans are another minority group that is not privileged to the
American dream. Toni Morison portrays this in her novel
The Bluest Eye through Paulina’s view
of her daughter Picola and the white child that she took care of. Paulina shows
that “When she bathed the little Fisher girl, it was in a porcelain tub with
silvery taps running infinite quantities of hot, clear water. … Then she brushed
the yellow hair, enjoying the roll and slip of it between her fingers.”
(Morrison 127) This was Paulina’s American dream that would never become a
reality. She compares this to her reality by explaining at the little Fisher
girl’s house, there was “no zinc tub, no buckets if stove heated water … no
tangled black puffs of rough wool to comb.” (Morrison 127) Paulina realizes that
the American dream is out of her reach because so much of it involves the color
of her skin.
The theme of Ambivalence as noted in my research post is prevalent throughout
Mexican American literature. Rudolfo Anaya’s
Bless Me, Ultima is a prime example
of ambivalence through the use of contrasting feelings. Antonio portrays this
feeling of ambivalence when he is forced to go to school. He explains that “For
the first time [he] would be way from the protection of [his] mother. [He] was
excited and sad about it.” (Anaya 51) Antonio struggles with the thought that he
will assimilate through school, therefore, he will be losing some of his Mexican
identity. Antonio is also conflicted with growing up because his identity is in
question since his parents come from different places. His mom wants him to
become a priest, but his dad has a different plan for him. Antonio explains that
“as [he] grew [he] would have to choose to be [his] mother’s priest or [his]
father’s son.” (Anaya 41) His ambivalence through growing up becomes an identity
crises which shows the effects of being in a minority group.
Anyone
who embraces a study of minority literature is forced to realize the unique
perspective people who struggle to gain insight into a new world while clinging
to memories of their old and familiar surroundings bring to their writing. As a
society we must strive to welcome and learn from all ethnic groups and work to
welcome our differences rather than fear them.
