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Model Midterm2 answers 2018 Essay 1: Revise & Extend Minority Identification & Analysis (Add Mexican Americans) Index to Sample Essay 1 Answers |
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Ambrosia Alderete
A Minority Waiting
It is
difficult, for some, to identify with the word “minority”. The stigma feels far
away from comfortable lives where all is provided for: a home, food, and
creature comforts such as air condition, smooth-running vehicles, and wireless
internet. People within minorities may find themselves unwittingly identifying
with the word based merely on their skin, their ancestral origins, and their
upbringing. Minority also affects the dinner on their table, the decorations in
their mother’s living room, or even what coffee they drink during boisterous
after dinner conversations with their family. To the Native Americans and
Mexican American immigrants, minority is a label given to people whose way of
life has been disrupted forever by a culture who either took advantage of their
differences or overpowered their heritage. The forceful takeover by western
culture has resulted in a loss of many original tribe lands, customs, and pieces
of Native American culture—while the drive for a typical “American Dream”
lifestyle become many poverty weary travelers from across the border. Because of
the aggressive and overpowering nature of the European takeover of North
America, Native American Indians have suffered loss of much of their cultural
heritage, and resist assimilation in order to retain what is left of the culture
they knew hundreds of years ago. Additionally, modern America’s promise of a
better, prosperous, easier lifestyle lures many unwitting Mexican immigrants
into lives of finding their way in the gray area between immigrant and minority.
Their existences are defined by this loss and survival of the American takeover,
resistance to assimilation, and forced participation in western society which is
evidenced by the cultural narrative and symbolism that minority literature gives
insight to their experience of life in America, “Land of Opportunity.”
Loss
comes in many forms for the Native Americans, and while it is commonly known
that land and property were taken away by European settlers and the government
they instituted, they also suffered a loss of culture and heritage. Forcing the
natives to adhere to their customs, histories, and education, the original, oral
histories such as the Iroquois Creation story and Indian dress and traditions
faded into the background. Christianity was strongly encouraged, and histories
became words on a page rather than the stories of a wise, revered elder.
There are three versions of the Iroquois creation story, legends that the
people believed in before “civilization” taught them differently. Though each
story differs on how and why SkyWoman fell to earth— whether on purpose, as
punishment, or by accident— all agree that this action led to SkyWoman falling
to earth and triggering the creation of the land. Belief in these age-old
legends and practicing traditions of ancestors spanning centuries are just a few
of the cultural and physical pieces of Native American history that were brushed
under the rug to make way for the western way of life modern society of the day
deemed superior.
To
survive, many Native Americans decided to comply with the American government
after observing that resisting assimilation would not win their freedom. The
weapons and manpower their adversaries had at their disposal overpowered the
tribes of America and forced them into submission. The people who originally
inhabited the land had no choice but to be forced to make grueling treks to
reservations cut out for them by the government, and as Zitkala-Sa illustrates
in her work Impressions of an Indian
Childhood, countless Natives either passed away from the harsh journey or
the sicknesses such as smallpox that Europe had smuggled into their lives. The
making of America came at the cost of Native traditions such as oral histories,
tribal culture, and traditions such as subsistence farming and hunting and many
tribal rituals. The younger generations embraced the culture that had caused
their people so much pain in order to become a part of society and taste a
fraction of the independence they once enjoyed.
This
survival for the sake of partial freedom meant that Natives were forced to
assimilate into what became the American culture. Compliance meant the children
attending “Indian Boarding Schools” and adhering to the rules of western
society. Assimilation in the form of acculturation, or modification of the
Native American’s culture, is expressed in Louis Erdrich’s
The Round House. Here we see in the
reservation’s town setting that Native Americans eventually adopted many western
systems such as education and judiciary systems. Yet, the courts in within the
reservation go by tribal law rather than western law and exists separately from
the jurisdiction of the courts outside tribe land. Zitkala-Sa also exemplifies
this assimilation (in The Schooldays of
an Indian Girl) with her formal education, she, like many of her peers had
become “civilized” by learning English, wearing western fashions rather than
tribal attire, and living off the reservation away from their families. These
early adapters of American culture helped pave the way for the western and
native culture to blend and merge, becoming more educated and outspoken until
they assimilated to the extent that we see on reservations today
Although this assimilation to western culture did slowly occur, it was by no
means quietly, some of those who were forced into learning the ways of western
life used their new knowledge of language and literature to resist full
assimilation. By speaking out against those who disrupted and continue to
disrupt their way of life, and secretly teaching younger generations the old
customs, Natives enjoyed resistance in small victories and quiet rebellions.
Zitkala-Sa’s victory in her oration competition illustrates one such victory, as
does the secret performance of pow-wows and tribal rituals under the ruse of
dances or church. This resistance even allowed for a form of syncretism by using
the Christian Bible, the symbol of the dominant culture’s religion, to support
their own religion’s beliefs. When the participants would read out from
Ecclesiastes (“One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh, but
the earth abideth forever.”) the intended no only to snub the Bureau of Indian
Affairs, but also to allude to the “vanishing Indian” legend that new people may
come and go, but the Native American will always remain, if they only quietly
comply and bide their time.
Resistance is further seen as in present day we observe Native Americans
challenge forced participation in law and government. While it is assumed that
reservations are self-governing areas where the Native Americans have
sovereignty, the government still attempts to regulate laws and policy to the
benefit of the United States, often choosing to give Natives the “short end of
the stick”. Bazil, of Erdrich’s novel, explains to his son that due to the way
of the government crimes committed by non-natives on tribal land cannot be
prosecuted by the Native’s courts. This means that many of the crimes committed
by outsiders are difficult to punish- such as the sexual assault of Native
women, like Joe’s mother. Natives have been forced by law to participate in the
American judicial system in order to protect their rights, but this
participation is also a hindrance to victims of crimes committed by outsiders
who take advantage of the grey area the government chose to overlook. Like the
young people in Erdrich’s Runaways,
the fight at times seems futile against a system the Natives know benefits the
government more than themselves, yet, they continue to fight, as they may be
forced to participate in a society that has forgotten their rights, but they
will not forget to fight for the justice that is past due.
The
Roundhouse
is overflowing with symbolic imagery signifying the historic takeover of
American by a dominant European culture. From the saplings attempting to lodge
themselves in the roots of Joe’s home symbolizing the uprooting of natives from
their original lands, to Yeltow’s attempted adoption resembling the less than
candid attempts of the government to make amends with Natives, to finally the
rape of Geraldine, which signifies the lack of justice Natives receive from the
law of our government. Native Americans have found their identity as a minority
in the struggle to survive, the fight to retain pieces of their culture, and the
slow conflict against the government as they seek sovereignty. The pieces of
Indian culture that tell the world they are a minority are not the simply
differences in our everyday lives, but also the fight to be recognized as a
people who deserve justice for their long suffering, they have waited long
enough.
Loss
of identity comes in many forms, not only in that of foreign takeover, as the
Native Americans experienced. Sometimes loss is encountered when one voluntarily
accepts this foreign culture before realizing the repercussions that will
follow. Where the Western culture attempted to erase the natives who’s land they
acquired, many immigrants will find that their own heritage will become
smothered by the fast pace and success driven American culture. In an effort to
follow their “American Dream”, they might lose the identity of the culture and
heritage of the country they once called home, and the life they left behind
will be all but forgotten. Many Mexican immigrants find themselves in between a
rock and a hard place as they make the choice to separate from their friends and
family, and former lives (or some might say, abandoning their former lives) and
come to America, where they may find themselves facing typical minority social
and economic issues after becoming settled. Reyna Grande’s
The Distance Between Us follows the
Grande-Rodriguez family as they experience the two sides of Mexican-American
life, the space between a minority and an immigrant group.
“If any of her (Mago’s) friends in Mexico had looked at her now, they
wouldn’t recognize her. Sometimes I hardly recognized her myself.” Grande’s
sister, Magloria is a prime example of the identity crisis Mexican-Americans may
find themselves in. Almost in retaliation to how she is ridiculed for being a
“wet-back” (an illegal immigrant) and made an outcast because of her obvious
Mexican heritage, Mago does her best to get everything she dreamed of as a
child: nice clothes, her own car, and makeup and hair treatments. Mago was able
to take her destiny into her own hands, but it came at a price. To come to
America, she had to live with her father and with this came many struggles
typically seen in minority communities such as physical and verbal abuse,
controlling parents/guardians, relative poverty, early entry into the workforce
to help support the family (and her spending) and early adulthood and child
bearing in order to escape from her painful home life. What appeared to be
achieving the American dream was simply a shadow of what it could be. Because
Mago never really left the Mexican community, or got her degree, she remained in
the same economic state as her parents had been. Therefore, while Mago’s
American Dream of independence had come true, it cost her true assimilation into
American society and making a better life for the future.
This
“in-between” or gray area has been coined by Latina author Gloria Anzaldua as
“La Frontera” or “Borderlands”: “Borderlands
are physically present wherever two or
more cultures edge each other, where people of different races occupy the same
territory…” taking part in two cultures at once Reyna and her family
observe La Frontera first hand throughout their lives
as they are rejected by American society for being part of the Latino community,
rejected by American born Latinos who look down on their status as immigrants,
and rejected back home in Mexico because they has achieved the coveted new live
in “El otro lado”. Many outsiders may not realize that even within one
minority/culture group there can be rifts and divisions that keep people apart,
such as the “pocho” who bullied Mago for being a “wetback” or the ill treatment
the children’s’ cousin Elida exhibited because her mother was able to spoil her.
Even among the same ethnic group the class distinctions form separations that
make it difficult for one to find their identity, their place in the world other
men have created.
Of course, it is not always the goal to completely assimilate and find a
new identity in America. Reyna’s mother, Juana, is a prime example of resistance
to assimilation that occurs in immigrants who wish to reap the benefits of
America without losing their Mexican way of life. Juana, after receiving a green
card, makes little to no attempt to learn better English, educate herself, or
even find a better job than what she would have in Mexico. Living in a slum
where most of her interactions are with other Mexican immigrants, the
children’s; mother carries on just as she had in Mexico, satisfied with her life
because after all, “No poverty here (America) can compare to the poverty we left
behind.” Rather than pursue the “American Dream” or even better lives for her
younger children, Juana continues life as she’s always known it, neither moving
forward nor falling back. Why would she need to when she could be perfectly
comfortable living as she had been in Mexico? Juana is an example of the form of
resistance that unfortunately many succumb to: stagnation.
Many immigrants, if they do want to better their lives, will find that
they will be forced to participate in society in order to achieve their dreams.
Those who want to be successful must learn English, find well-paying jobs, be
sociable with people outside of their own ethnic groups, and even pursue higher
education. Unwillingness to participate in these aspects of American society
will soon prove futile in garnering prosperity. This is evidenced by Reyna
herself as she works hard in ESL classes and academic programs in order to
succeed so that she might make her father proud with her accomplishments. As the
only child to complete college and waiting to begin marriage, work and family
(unlike her siblings, but like many modern young Americans) Reyna achieved the
most success in life academically and economically, she was even able to go home
to her village in Mexico to provide to those still living in poverty there!
While not every immigrant story ends with such triumph, Grande is one of the
lucky immigrants who benefitted from forced participation as she assimilated and
became a renowned author and role model for young immigrant women across the
country.
