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Model Final Exam answers 2018 Essay 1: Revise & Extend Minority Identification & Analysis (Add African America) Index to Sample Essay 1 Answers |
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Brad Cannon
The Persistence of The Human Spirit
Through this class, discourse and these
readings, my mind of minority culture in America has been dramatically altered
-- for the better. After reading Native American, Mexican American, and African
American literature the last few months, a drastic change in perception has come
to me. My understanding and appreciation has increased and I hope that continues
to extend to more outsiders. Although, I will never truly understand the Native
American, Mexican, or African immigrant’s life and the hardships they endured, I
am much more receptive and understanding about it than ever before. From all our
books and poems from minorities, I have learned an immense deal of respect for
their cultures and have gained much knowledge I did not know beforehand.
All of these cultures experienced suffering and loss, isolation, and
assimilation. Attitudes and feelings still persist to this day. And, rightfully
so. Louis Erdrich, Reyna Grande, and Octavia Butler are just a few of many, some
of the best and most impactful mind you, telling stories in a point of view most
of us in the dominant culture never get to experience or understand.
And it is a welcome change.
To begin to get an idea, we will begin
within Louis Erdrich’s “The Round House.” Suffering and loss, although extremely
sad, is an important fundamental idea about Native Americans. This suffering
they have been through has made them strong but quiet and defiant yet still
peaceful. In “The Round House,” we see this through the actions started by
Linden to Joe’s mother, Geraldine. Linden’s ruthless nature and crimes are a
symbol for what the white man had done to the Native Americans, to the
defenseless and good hearted Geraldine. Joe experiences this loss and suffering
through his mother’s ordeal. All of his actions are then later affected because
of this attack – much like how Native Americans feel to this day.
Mexicans have experienced many of these
same issues. Being in territories that were Mexican first before they were part
of the United States of America is a complicated matter. And, much like the
Native Americans, the native Mexicans were suddenly thrust a government and
culture upon them that was not theirs and that did not represent them. One major
noticeable difference between the Native Americans and Mexican Americans is that
many Mexican Americans had a religious connection with the American people:
Christianity. Many Mexicans are devoutly Catholic, this is quite apparent in
“The Distance Between Us: A Memoir”, and I am sure this makes some parts of
assimilating easier.
African Americans, much like the other
minorities, have an immense amount of suffering and loss in their culture. It
was engrained from the moment they were stripped away of their identities and
forced into slave labor. Over hundreds of years slaves from Africa were shipped
to the new world where slavery had become intrinsic to the foundation of
America’s economy. It made the continuation of slavery and propagated other
racist ideas and practices, simply out of a lust for greed. This forced the
African American culture to create and construct a whole new identity, one built
out of the ashes of slave labor. This further isolated their culture and
insulated their ideas within themselves. Although bondage was the backbone of
society, it was not to be the backbone of their culture. Maya Angelou’s poem
“Still I Rise” reminds me of the mindset many African Americans had and have
today, to be able to continue in an unjust and unfair society.
Reyna Grande, Louis Erdrich, and Octavia
Butler all share similar attitudes about the dominant culture’s society, just
presented in different ways. All of them see a certain arrogance about the
dominant culture or those that join it, like Reyna’s mother or her aunt. Her
aunt owns the biggest house in Iguala de la Independencia, has plenty to give to
Elida, but is never really around. She has joined the dominant culture, color
doesn’t matter as much to Reyna Grande, it is more about the geography. The
geography, as playing a large role, also appears in “Kindred” too. Dana being
transported in time is important. But, almost as important, is the locations of
where here time travel (and place travel) happens. Present day, for her, was in
California, widely known as one of the most progressive states, even in the
1970’s. When she gets transported to the Antebellum south, it shows us the
conservative nature of those southern states and the attitudes that are
reflected by the white, and non-white, characters and their interactions.
Although Reyna in this The Distance
Between Us is an immigrant, her minority status is unquestioned. Even in Mexico,
she was a minority – often called the orphan or always the last to eat, even at
her own families’ house. Reyna’s place in society is an upgrade from where
Octavia Butler takes us. Dana was absolutely a minority in the book. Yes, not
having enough to eat and being poor and away from your family is awful. But,
having all of those and adding in slavery, seemingly what Butler is able to do
in Kindred, is a whole bunch worse. Octavia Butler takes us on a journey of past
to present and over and over, which shows us the extreme differences between
modern day America and the past America. She doesn’t beat around the bush in
Kindred, she gives you an in your face account of slavery and the everyday
happenings on a plantation. Although it may be fictional, all of the actions and
interactions within the novel are grounded in truth. Octavia Butler is so
successful that I feel the whippings as if someone I know was being struck,
quite powerful and vivid.
Reyna’s suffering and loss follows across most of her
life and stems from her abandonment issues of her Papi and her Mami, seemingly
coming and going as they please. Without a thought in the world how their
children (Reyna) would feel, Papi and Mami did what was best for their own
selves, first. Much like Joe from “The Round House,” Reyna experiences her loss
and suffering through her mother’s inability to truly care for her.
Unfortunately, for Reyna, her mother actively leaves her, abandoning her
motherly roles, to go off for men – whether it be Papi or the lucha libre. She
was always searching for someone to take her away from her stresses and
responsibilities and this really defines Reyna.
Whereas we see Reyna, who views America as the place to
go and make one’s self and assimilate into a better society, these views are
hardly felt by Dana when she is in nineteenth-century southern America. The idea
of assimilation comes to have a whole new meaning when understanding minority
identities. Dana, forced to become a slave herself, has to play the part of an
uneducated black woman when she is not. And, Kevin is forced to play the part of
a racist southern man which he clearly is not. To survive, they had to be people
they were not so they did not expose themselves. Much of their interactions
within the past (temporally) portions of the book, are attempts to not be seen
through or not give away who they truly are. Being able to read and talking like
a white woman were things Dana quickly learned she needed to forget so she could
fit in. It reminds me of the idea in Countee Cullen’s poem, For a Poet, where he
says, “I hide no hate; I am not even wroth/ Who found earth’s breath so keen and
cold;/ I have wrapped my dreams in a silken cloth” where he has to put his real
identity away, put it away from his mind. Similarly, they both have to suspend
belief about their dreams and ideas because reality is how it is.
All of our writers describe cultures that persevered and
survived ordeals in America. These cultures stress self reliance as a means to
survival and getting by in life. This self reliance, much like Maya Angelou
stresses in “Still I Rise,” is a similar attitude that I saw from Jimmy Santiago
Baca when describing Mexican workers in his poem
Green Chile. Even menial work should
be done with diligence and care, something I see from how Reyna as she describes
Mexicans that work hard and her lack of respect for her mother because she does
not rely on her. We see this same type of self reliance when it comes to Native
Americans, as well. They share the attitude that they want to go as far as their
own abilities can take them, that they will not be handicapped or considered
lesser because of their skin color, where they come from, or what culture they
are from. I never see or hear a hint of Reyna feel bad for herself for being
Mexican, she is proud and so are her people. This resilience is an attitude that
all three of the major minority cultures share.
Perhaps the greatest metaphor in all three of our major
readings was the Mountain That Has a Headache in “The Distance between Us.” It
symbolized the distance between her and her parents. It was a literal barrier
that also blocked her from her from her family in America. It hit Reyna hard
when Gary, who has many kids and Reyna considered poor said, “I’d rather be
poor, but together”. (430) The Mountain kept her away from the Man Behind the
Glass for many years, took her mother away from her, but also presented the most
amount of opportunities, too. These opportunities are never seen in Kindred’s
America. That quite literal barrier that was a mountain to Reyna, now became an
impassable color barrier to everyone non-white in America.
Kindred especially points this
barrier out to us, that slaves do not even hold any rights in America, are
literally considered property during slavery, and it is still taking time for
equality to become truth.
African Americans have gone through many different
cultural changes within America and with the dominant culture. Firstly, slavery
was the peak of African movement into the United States of America, and because
everyone was forced to come, a divide between them and the American citizens was
instantly codified. Slavery, which continues and perpetuates racism, continued
for hundreds of years and wasn’t until the civil war that the laws and rules
started to change and become a little more fair. Before this, the three fifths
compromise happened but is utterly laughable. The ability to say that someone is
three fifths a person does not make any sense – it was used for legal reasons to
better the dominant culture and not to help the actual blacks. Desegregation
happens in the middle of the twentieth century and affirmative action laws
become in effect for many places. The inequality is slowing being rewritten,
edited, or removed from codified laws. We are making a progression towards
equality; but, still have much room to continue our efforts.
A similarity between Native American, Mexican American,
and African American culture is the belief in the superstitious. Albeit for
different reasons: Native Americans belief in the natural world, spirits, and
wendigoes are their prevailing theme, whereas Mexicans have some witchcraft, but
much of their beliefs are rooted in their firmly held religious beliefs. They
are Catholic, like many Mexican Americans, and their grandma Evila plays to this
all the time. Whenever they hear sound that they can’t quite make out that is
outside, grandma Evila is the first to point out “I the devil making his rounds”
or that “He’s looking for all the naught children to take back to Hell with him.
So you better behave or the devil is going to take you away.” (Ch.2)
Similar mindsets to the Mexican Americans are found in
the African American community in regard to Christianity, but also has some
mystical qualities too. One large similarity to the Native Americans, is that
they come from all different places over their respective nations and have just
as many religions and cultures. We did not specifically read anything that had
superstition from the African Americans as part of their beliefs, but I do know
that many of the tribes from Africa did have mystical, voodoo, or spiritual and
magical roots to them. And, perhaps because of this, the dominant culture often
thinks they are evil in origin—as anything that is not Christian or white is
evil to them. Weylin even says to Dana, “You’re something different. I don’t
know what—witch, devil, I don’t care. Whatever you are,” and puts his views of
evil onto her even when he is wanting her help to save Rufus from dying. (205)
Another interesting similarity I found between both of
these minority groups, was the issue of violence, specifically towards women,
and the attitudes that surround it. In “The Round House” it was seen as
generally accepted, but never talked about, that Whitey would beat his wife.
Regardless of if her color had anything to do with it, he still beat his own
wife and did not get flack from the rest of the residents about it. Reyna talks
about the violence she endured first hand in great detail. Many of the moments
in the book are very cringe worthy and make you wonder how anyone, especially a
father, could do that to his kids. Beatings, lashings, punches, kicks, and
everything possible, the kids did the best to endure. It seems like because
Reyna had to stay with him the longest, she received some of the most brutal
treatment from him. This is almost an easy time compared to slavery and what the
African Americans endured. In “Kindred” we see much more violent things than
Reyna ever saw. Lashings, dogs ravaging people, and being shot at with guns
takes the book to another level compared “The Distance Between Us.” These
attitudes of women as inferior, and especially black women as the lowest rung on
the social ladder, were built into society by the dominant culture.
Women, alcohol and violence in these three books go hand
in hand. Whitey is always drinking and in one of his worst stupors, beats Sonia
up the best he can before Joe eventually intervenes. Although, this is still
unacceptable actions, in “The Distance Between Us: A Memoir,” Reyna recounts far
more disturbing scenes of violence than we ever witness in “The Round House.”
Disturbing is not nearly enough to describe the violent nature Papi has, and he
seemingly is always cracking open a Budweiser or opening the fridge to get one.
To say that drinking causes violence is silly, Papi doesn’t always beat someone
when he drinks a Budweiser; however, he is almost always drinking a Budweiser so
it is difficult to see him any other way than a drunk and violent man. And, the
worst part, he always gets away with it. Because his family and Mila are willing
to put up with it, either because they see no better alternatives or perhaps out
of family loyalty, he never has to serve a sentence or truly get punished for
his crimes. Unfortunately, Octavia Butler does not need to use alcohol as a
device for violence. Violence is inherit in slavery and in this time period. It
presents the violence of men and women all the same and doesn’t need alcohol as
a pretense to do it. This makes the violence even worse, as there is no possible
justification for why they are doing that. Alcohol can excuse many actions and
without it being used, “Kindred” becomes all the more real to the audience.
Whereas it was quite vindicating reading the last few
chapters of Reyna Grande’s “Memoir,” because you really feel all the struggles,
hardships, and obstacles she had to overcome to get to where she is now, we get
no sort of conclusion or vindication in “Kindred.” I think this is to symbolize
the ongoing struggles and fight of the African American community as a whole.
They are still in a place of cultural movement from the bottom of American
society to wherever equality might be. All three of these books show very real,
but different emotions and ideas when it comes to the minority identity. They
all have had immense hardships and obstacles to overcome and it is a testament
to their persistence and perseverance as people. I have learned a great deal
about what it means to be a minority and the sacrifices they have been forced to
make. Even out of all this, these writers show us that with persistence, a
positive attitude and striving for better, equality is possible.
