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

Cynthia Lozano

Is the Dream Attainable?

            Before taking this class, I never knew of personal accounts of slavery.  Frederick Douglass’ account of his life brought me new revelations to the life of a slave.  In today’s world any child born in the United States is automatically a citizen of this country.  During the 1800s when a child was born to a slave, the child was born a slave and considered only property to the slave owner.  I was unaware infants were taken from their mothers at such a young age, about 12 months, only to be raised by another woman.   As Frederick Douglass states in his narrative this separation was customary but the purpose it served was suggested to impede the natural affections of a mother to bond with her infant.  Also stated in his narrative is the difficulty mulatto children experienced.  These children didn’t seem to fit in either the white world or the black world.  In the white world, the children faced assuming or knowing their fathers were not only white but their slave owner who was married to a white woman and the father of white children.  They faced prejudices from the slave owner’s family that black children did not have to face.  Their fathers had to choose to protect their black child or punish them as any other black child with whippings and beatings.  Yet the mulatto (a new term I learned) child didn’t fit into the world of the black child because he was too white.  The mulatto child was thought to have been favored over the other black children and punishment was not as severe or withheld because he was the master’s bastard child.  As the children of today of mixed races find themselves struggling to fit into the world of each of their parents but never seem to fit right in.

In studying minority literature, the world has to face the brutally that its ancestors and many forefathers took part. The slaves had no choice in coming to North America, no choice where to live, no choice of where to go, no choice on what to wear, no choice of what to eat, no choice of who to love.  All the decisions were made and enforced by their slave owners.  Their voice was muffled with beatings and whippings.  Studying minority literature exposes the pain so many dealt with on a daily basis.  It is the voice of the few who could record their lives so that others would one day use it to keep others from experiencing the same horrid treatment.  It is to the advantage of all who study minority literature to learn from it, analyze the text, and empathize with the characters so that the history of this type of treatment will not be repeated.  We need to keep our country as a free nation by allowing all men to be equal with one another.  Martin Luther King’s speech quotes the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States declares, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”  Once we treat each other with respect and look at own faults before judging others than we can learn to live a life without prejudices.  Although both leaders sought for inclusion, neither lived to see it occur.  There were many challenges and lives lost reaching their goal.  In all, Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr; must be applauded for their persistence in seeking unity and inclusion of the black people. 

The greatest challenge we face in studying American Minority Literature is that there is not enough accounts of the lives of slaves because there were few who could read and write to document their experiences.  Studying the narratives and poems written by the slaves or black authors gives us a perspective of their lives through their eyes that we would otherwise not have previous knowledge.  Although most Americans are aware that blacks were once slaves and servants but this generation is too far removed from the real abuse and brutally experienced by the slaves to appreciate the freedoms blacks have today. Because the blacks have gained equality through the years, it also helps to deter chastisement of other races as well. 

People studying American Minority Literature can identify more with the narratives because the narratives are true live accounts and not merely stories.  The novel, poems, and other readings have historical references of actual events and perspectives of the times.  Some students may know of accounts from their parents or grandparents that may have experienced some of the abuse, segregation, and prejudices identified in the readings.  So the stories from their parents and grandparents become more real as they begin to make connections with characters in the fiction and nonfiction material.  They begin to realize that these stories are not just stories but true events.   The descriptions of abuse and prejudices are very descriptive that emotions can be elicited.

Studying American Minority Literature is a way to reach a diverse group of students.  Students can learn more about various cultures and begin to understand why individuals behave or perform in a specific manner.  Students will make connections in understanding how some cultures have the same beliefs and traditions are similar and different.  The reader can identify ways assimilation has occurred in two or more cultures.   

The most important advantage of studying American Minority Literature is diversity tolerance.  We seem to live in a time that tolerance of other’s belief is increasing but there is too much division among the population.  U.S. Americans still have the belief of the “melting pot.”  We need to keep introducing American Minority Literature for others to accept the traditions and mannerisms of other cultures.  Unless we being to understand how and why people believe and behave the way they do, and make connections to their culture, rearing, and past generations, then diversity tolerance will remain at a standstill.

The black people once struggled to be heard, respected, and accepted as individuals and humans with every right to make choices, to live their life according to their will without restraint from their slave owners now have a voice and an opportunity to make their own choice.  What greater voice do they have then the current President of the United States?  The blacks have proven to have a voice in their choice of leadership. Their experience represents the minority concept because the dominant culture is in fear of becoming the minority group.

            I am still baffled on how the dominant culture came from abroad to settle on this land and managed to thrust the Native American out of their own land and country to live on small reservations of land.  I am bewildered of the millions of Africans that were bought and sold as slaves then being treated inhumanely as in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye when the doctor tells the other interns Pauline is “one of them” so that her labor isn’t painful as the white woman. She is ignored during labor while the white women receive all the attention and proper care during their time of labor.  I am puzzled at the dehumanization that occurred on the black slave’s accounts of beatings for not performing to the slave owner’s expectations or not meeting the sexual needs of masters.  Even more astounded on the atrocities of infants and children as they are stripped from the breast of their mother, many would never see each other again.  I cannot understand it and I hope I never will for I feel if I begin to understand it will be when I become as one of them.