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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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Anari Oliver
May 8, 2018
American Indians, Mexican Americans, & African
Americans: A blend of minority and immigrant identities
According to Dr. White’s terms
and themes, a minority for most people is “any ethnic or gender group that is
either non-white, non-male, or non-heterosexual.” There are three different
attributes commonly associated with minorities, which include the following:
historical experience of involuntary contact/exploitation, distinguishing
physical markers, and socioeconomic or class behaviors or values. In this
particular course, we cover three different minority groups that have been
exploited by the dominant culture for centuries. African-Americans, Mexican
Americans, and the American Indians are the three main minority groups here in
America.
The usage of
symbols spoke volumes in every text that we’ve covered so far. Symbols are
defined as a mark or character used as a conventional representation of an
object, function, or process. Throughout minority text, it seems as if symbols
are a way for minority authors to further illustrate their own personal
experiences. The Indians used ghosts to represent the passing of their beloved
ones. The arrival of the European colonies decimated the native people and their
culture.
Whether we
all agree or not, American Indians were the first people here in the U.S. long
before European immigration. Before the dominant or “settler” culture took over,
American Indians occupied both North and South America, living their daily lives
and taking pride in their culture. We see culture being a huge part of Native
American history in every text that we read. Origin stories that the natives
keep dear to their hearts, explain how America became what it is have been
passed down orally for generations.
In the Iroquois
Creation Story, I noticed that symbols were a big part of American Indian
culture, which is heavily represented in their literature as well. One symbolic
image that stood out to me was the Celestial Tree. This tree basically
symbolizes new life, a safe haven, and wonderful opportunity. Another origin
story that exemplified symbols is “How the White Race came to America.” This
particular story has been passed down for many generations, which is very common
of the Native American culture and literature. This story mentions a young man
who was given five items to give as “gifts” to the native people. A flask of
rum, a pack of playing cards, a handful of coins, a violin and a decayed leg
bone were the items of choice. Initially, we thought that they were being given
with good intentions. However, later in the story, we learn that the items were
given with malicious intent.
The rum was
to make them drunk. The playing cards were to make them gamble. Money was
supposed to make the natives deceitful. The violin was to make them dance and
gossip while drunk. Lastly, the decayed leg bone was used to spread disease
(which wiped out a large percentage of Indians), brought along by the dominant
culture (i.e. “loss and survival”).
Another story that
represents American Indian literature are selections from Zitkala-Sa’s
“Impressions of an Indian Childhood” and “The School Days of An Indian Girl.”
During this coming of age story, a little Indian girl who loves both her
childhood and the words of her mother. The word “paleface” stood out to me in
this story, which was used by Zitkala’s mother. Her mother uses the word to
describe European settlers that symbolize theft (stolen land), lies, and
cold-heartedness. On the other hand, Zitkala seems fascinated by the “palefaces”
as she’s more interested in their culture and wants to know more about who they
are. It isn’t until the later that she realizes they are cruel people during her
school days. She was also allowed to go to school because her mother knew that
an education symbolized new opportunity in a new community. Once at a new
school, Sa’s tribe identity was erased by the whites that ran these boarding
schools. Essentially, the children became carbon copies of one another. They
wore the same outfits, learned the same things, and were even forced to cut
their long hair. Throughout history, hair has always been an important part of
native culture because it symbolizes strength and it set them apart from others.
I believe that the
appearance of Native American people was displayed very well in this story. The
picture of Zitkala-Sa shown on the header of the story is a clear representation
of what a true Native American looks like. Many times, throughout history, we
see whitewashed photos of American Indians as a result of colonization. Their
appearance is typically strong and confident, which fuels the stereotype of
“savageness” that Europeans placed upon this particular group of people.
Louise Erdrich’s
“The Round House” displays a combination of the minority identity, narrative,
and literary devices. Erdrich describes the story of a Native American woman,
Geraldine, who is raped in a round house. Throughout the story, we see that
seeking justice was just as traumatic as the actual crime that took place. The
round house sits on the reservation, where the tribe’s courts handle the laws.
However, the suspect is white, and the tribal court can’t account for
non-natives. In this story, the dominant culture symbolizes power and control.
Joe’s mother, represents the stereotype of a “hushed” native woman. It was very
common for American Indian women to be raped by non-native men, where justice
was never served. The legal system in this story represents failure to bring
peace to American Indians. Another symbolic figure that stood out to me was
Moonshum. He represented the glue that kind of kept things together through his
knowledge and old wisdom.
Erdrich’s story
always highlights the stereotypical “perceived behavior” of American Indians.
Geraldine, is represented as a typical voiceless minority woman who has a part
of her taken away by a despicable character. Throughout the story, we see Joe’s
father who always represents and symbolizes a typical minority man. He struggles
to defend his family, juggles between his complex of an Indian, while also
holding a higher position as a judge. It is very common for minority men to be
torn in between two identities, and it is seen in The Round House.
In both The Round
House and real history the Native Americans were stripped of their resources and
culture by European colonizers, where their race almost seized to exist. America
was originally the land of the natives. However, shortly after the discovery of
the New World by the Europeans was the Indians’ demise. Ever since the
conquering of the New World by the settler culture, it has been very evident in
history that minorities, including American Indians have always been seen as
inferior to the dominant culture. We see a lot of the inferiority being
highlighted throughout each American Indian story that we’ve covered thus far.
I have learned lot more about American Indians than I had
ever intended. Being an African-American woman, I can definitely see the
similarities in the struggles of both black and American Indians (particularly
the women), brought on by the settler culture. American Indian literature has
enabled my learning process by using symbols as a way to tell a story from a
different perspective that is relatable to other minority groups.
In contrast to the two other
minority groups, Mexican Americans aren’t only considered minorities. According
to Dr. White, “Mexican Americans in the USA often
combine immigrant and minority narratives
or identities, or they develop a new type of ethnic identity
that exceeds or varies these familiar divisions.” Mexican Americans are
considered immigrants for a number of different reasons. For starters, they
have continually crossed and re-crossed a shifting border for centuries. We see
this quite often in Texas, especially with our proximity to Mexico. Secondly,
Mexican immigrants make up the largest group of current immigrants to America.
Thirdly, they face many of the challenges that have historically faced other
immigrant groups, e.g. assimilation to
a new language and culture, availability of well-funded public schools, culture
shock, nostalgia, etc. Both the immigrant and minority identities are portrayed
in The Personal Memoirs of John N. Seguin, The Distance Between Us, and Senora X
No More.
Historically and geographically speaking, a vast majority of the land that many
Americans live on today once belonged to Mexico. Mexico gained independence from
Spain in 1821, which caused Mexico to neglect its Northern territories. During
the war between Mexico and Spain, many white colonizers came from different
parts of America, in search for any amount of land and gold. In the process, the
dominant culture committed horrific crimes against Mexicans because of their
belief in “manifest destiny.” Eventually the U.S. declared war on Mexico in 1844
in order to gain portions of the southwest. Four years later in 1848, Mexico
surrendered on U.S. terms, where we gained ownership of several southwestern
states. Native Mexicans were given the choice of becoming citizens of the states
or leaving the region once a treaty was signed. Because of the aftermath, many
Mexicans felt both defeated and struggled with an identity complex. The Personal
Memoirs of John N. Seguin display these exact feelings and emotions of
ambivalence and “border people.”
In his memoir, he describes his experience as both the mayor of San Antonio and
an important figure who helped establish the independence of Texas. Line
twenty-two stood out to me because it symbolizes the stereotypical Mexican
American narrative and struggle as border people who have difficulty figuring
out where they belong (minority vs immigrant). Seguin states: “I left Bexar
without any engagements towards Texas, my
services paid by persecutions, exiled and deprived of my privileges as a
Texan citizen, I was in this country a being out of the pale [bounds] of
society, and when she [Texas?] could not protect the rights of
her citizens, they seek protection elsewhere. I
had been tried by a rabble, condemned without a hearing, and consequently was at
liberty to provide for my own safety.” Although he had been an essential key in
claiming Texas’ independence, his reputation was tarnished, and he was forced to
go live in Mexico (who he fought against). He was looked down upon by both the
dominant culture and even many of his kind.
Similarly, some of the same emotions and ambivalence is displayed in
The Distance Between Us: A Memoir.
The theme of assimilation is seen a lot more in The Distance Between Us,
especially once Grande moved to “el otro lado” aka America as a child. The
stereotypical abuse from her father, the dysfunction of the family, and the idea
of a lost or stolen childhood are many of the typical Mexican minority
stereotypes. However, adjusting to the dominant U.S. culture, feeling like “los
olvidados (the forgotten ones),” and trying to fit in amongst other American
kids are typical of the immigrant stereotype. Besides the stereotypical aspects
of the story, Grande used a number of symbols to further emphasize her
experiences. On page 3 of the memoir, Reyna refers to the United States as “la
llorna”--- a power that takes away parents, and not children. Throughout a
majority of the store, she refers to her father as “the man behind the glass.” I
believe he symbolizes the unknown and the unfamiliarity that many children of
immigrants face during periods of separation.
Senora X No More by Pat Mora is another piece of literature with the theme of
assimilation in the dominant culture. The poem describes an older Mexican woman
who is attending classes where she is learning to read and write in English.
Many perceived behaviors of an immigrant are seen in this particular poem. For
instance, the shyness and resistance towards writing and learning a foreign
language were clearly shown. Also, the long-suffering and high tolerance for
difficulty that is typical of Mexican immigrants. The title alone speaks volumes
itself as far as the immigrant identity is concerned. The letter X is often used
by many non-native English speakers when signing their name on unfamiliar
documentation. Phonetically, the letter X is voiceless, which means that it is
pronounced without vibrations of the vocal cords. I believe that this
coincidentally symbolizes the “voiceless and choiceless” course objective
discussed in class. Overall, Mora’s poem demonstrates a sense of hard work,
determination, and frustration, which eventually results in a sense of pride
once she finally carved her name.
At this point, we’ve reached the African American community as our last and
final minority group. Unlike Mexican Americans who can be identified as both a
minority and immigrant, African Americans are more like American Indians. By
this, I mean that African Americans are considered minorities only, without
straddling the line of being immigrants. Just like the American Indians, African
Americans were brought to the States by involuntary force and contact brought on
by the dominant culture. From the combination of basic history and what we’ve
learned in class, it is easy to say that slavery has been one of the biggest
challenges as far as African Americans are concerned. Dr. White stated the
following: “African Americans coming to the New World found not freedom and
opportunity but slavery (for two and a half centuries).” Slavery has and will
always continue to be a vital part of not just African American culture, but
black culture as an entirety. Throughout the texts that we’ve covered in class,
I noticed that the traditional slave was a symbol for hardships and labor that
kept this country afloat.
It was first brought to my attention during Olaudah Equiano’s narrative. In this
narrative, we see an African man being kidnapped and taken from his homeland to
be sold into slavery. In chapter 2, he was forced onto a slave ship where he
spent time under horrible conditions. He mentioned the “closeness of the place,
and the heat of the climate, on top of the number of slaves in the ship.” Once
the shipped reached Barbados, many slaves were sold off into harsh labor and
field conditions. These conditions were set in place and operated by vicious
slave masters who treated their slaves poorly.
Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass,
an American slave also provides symbols and examples of the traditional slave.
Douglass talked about different situations where many of the field slaves were
beaten, left unclothed, and even without basic resources such as food and warmth
to survive. He talked about an incident where his aunt was brutally beaten by
her master for not obeying his orders, in which he asked her to say away from
her preferred love interest. Frederick’s narrative also touched on another topic
that we discussed in class: mixed race identities. We see that he received
somewhat of a “special,” but intense treatment because his father was a white
man. It was also said that his master could have possibly been his father. This
made matter worse for him because he was a constant reminder to the master’s
wife of what her husband was actually involved in (sex with his slaves, sex with
a black woman). On the other hand, he had more privileges being that he was half
white. Fredrick stated that he didn’t have to do nearly as many labor duties
that the other slaves were accustomed to. He was also selected to move to
Philadelphia. Here, he still faced racism, but he was able to get more of a
taste of “The Dream” (in comparison to the other slaves).
“The Dream” resembles but is not identical to “The American Dream.” The American
Dream focuses on individual success, but “the Dream” symbolizes the setbacks,
the need to rise again, and the quest for group dignity. Countee Cullen’s “For a
Poet” poem really focused on hopes for obtaining “the Dream” that many African
Americans longed for during his time. In his poem, Cullen wrote “I have wrapped
my dreams in a silken cloth, and laid them away in a box of gold.” In my
opinion, those lines represent this dream that African Americans were (and still
are) longing for. I believe that his reference to “a box of gold” symbolizes the
equality that he longed for. This idea that maybe one day, I’ll be treated
equally and have the same privileges of whites is displayed by that one
reference.
Throughout each story that we covered in
class, it is clear to see that African Americans are indeed minorities. The
historical nearness to the dominant culture in comparison to American Indians
and Mexican Americans definitely sets African Americans apart as a minority
group. Examples of slavery, mixed identity, and the hope that “the Dream” would
be obtained also solidify the minority identity. Many of the authors, like
Countee Cullen wished for the obtainment of “the Dream” that seemed almost
impossible for African Americans. We have definitely come along way as a
society, but perhaps this “dream” will actually be more of a reality for the
African American community in the future.
