LITR 4332 American Minority Literature 2013 Student Midterm Samples midterm assignment #2. Long essay

Frances Henderson

“What is this Insanity?!”

When first being introduced to the concept of minority literature, the three main questions that come to light are: what exactly is it, why is it important, and what do we do with it? The first of these questions is answered easily enough, but understanding its importance and knowing how to use this knowledge is more difficult. By understanding the struggle for equality, the fight between assimilation and resistance, and the concept of “the Dream,” we can move forward as an informed and open-minded society.

Minority literature is best understood in contrast to immigrant literature. For a group to be considered a minority, they must be forced to participate in our society against their will and additionally have no voice. Immigrants, on the other hand, come to this country to willingly join and participate in the society. In terms of American immigrant literature, the “American Dream” is an ever present idea. A perfect example of this is in Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers. When describing his first day in America, Max says, “At the end of that day, when I was paid a dollar, I felt the riches of all America in my hand” (5). This contrasts sharply with Olaudah Equiano’s first experiences with America. He was kidnapped from his home in Africa, sold in Barbados, and ended up on a plantation in Virginia. He describes it saying, “I was now exceedingly miserable, and thought myself worse off than any of the rest of my companions; for they could talk to each other, but I had no person to speak to that I could understand” (ch.3, par. 2). As if being sold as a piece of property was not bad enough, he is also completely separated from the other slaves by language.

One of the many themes of African American literature is the struggle for equality. This is most pronounced in the slave narratives. They show with an almost matter of fact tone the conditions that slaves faced. Harriet Jacobs calmly describes the many instances of slaves attempting to save enough money to buy their own children, but “a slave, being property, can hold no property” (1.7). Even after the civil war, they were not actually equal. Countee Cullen shows this in his poem “Incident.” He describes seeing a boy his age staring at him by saying “Now I was eight and very small, / And he was no whit bigger.” His shock at being called a derogatory name by someone he thought of as his equal was “all that I remember.” By understanding that this is where this minority group began, we can appreciate the significance of Maya Angelou boldly declaring “still I rise” during Clinton’s inauguration.

Another theme of African American literature is struggle of assimilation against resistance. The slave narratives, for the most part, make a very strong case for resistance. Frederick Douglas sums this up in his narrative with the statement of “it was a step towards freedom to be allowed to bear the responsibilities of a freeman, and I was determined to hold on upon it” (11.7). His perspective as a slave born in America was different than that of Phillis Wheatley, despite her being born in Africa. She assimilated, accepting Christianity as a positive reason for her removal from her native land. As she says in her poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America”, “‘Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, / Taught my benighted soul to understand / That there’s a God, that there’s a Savior too.” This struggle is even evident in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Claudia hates Shirley Temple, an American icon, because she represents the supremacy of the dominant and repressive white society. Eventually through a process Morrison describes as “the conversion from pristine sadism to fabricated hatred, to fraudulent love” (24), even Claudia comes to worship Shirley Temple.

A balance between the assimilation and resistance has been somewhat reached through the distinctive construction of the African American cultural identity. A cornerstone of this is the concept of “the Dream.” Differing from “the America Dream,” this dream allows for the failures and disappointments of life. One of the main differences in the two is that the American Dream is something believed to be reached in one’s own lifetime while the Dream is something we hope our children to be able to achieve. As Martin Luther King said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” He realizes that the changes he believes are possible will take time.

Finally, the importance of minority literature is what we do with it. Personally, reading the slave narratives has opened my eyes to the terrifying possibility of what one human can do to another. While we celebrate civil rights and the progress that our country has made, it is all too easy to overlook the fact that human trafficking still exists in the world. On a brighter note, understanding the Dream and its struggles help us keep realistic expectations, while still allowing us to rejoice in our small accomplishments. Accepting the cultural differences without total assimilation are largely responsible for the Harlem Renaissance, jazz, and the blues (without which we would not have rock music). Overall, minority literature, especially that of African Americans, shows us where we have been as a society while laying the foundation for all that is ahead.