People have an innate love of stories.  These stories, or narratives, are how we learn about the world around us and are a process through which we decide how we feel about certain aspects of our culture.  Narratives written by immigrants or by minorities shed light on aspects of our culture that are not reached by other stories. The immigrant narrative and the minority narrative, while both very different in their expression, both help illuminate the struggles, successes, and effort that are inherent in the lives of individuals who are surrounded by a larger culture that has different practices and beliefs.  The knowledge that can be gained from these narratives gives us a greater understanding of our culture, because these writers have the ability to see ‘the forest for the trees’ and to describe what it is like to try to fit in, hold on to their own culture, and experience rejection and hope simultaneously.  While some people come to the United States in order to secure a better life for themselves and their families, some come involuntarily, or were here in this land before our society began, and were forced to live here as visitors.

            The difference between an immigrant group that eventually assimilates to become part of the dominant culture and a minority group that maintains their cultural framework through several generations, is the continual reassertion of the cultural differences that cause them to stand out from the dominant culture.  Intermarriage also plays a large role in this process, because when an immigrant marries a member of the dominant culture, the two cultures are fused and take on characteristics of both cultures.  Over time, the immigrant culture becomes absorbed into the dominant culture.  Those groups who resist intermarrying and who hold fast to their commonly held beliefs, have a greater likelihood of ensuring that their culture remains as unchanged as possible.  As a student (R.H.) states on his/her midterm in 2003, “The backbone of the struggle is the conflict between resistance and assimilation. For those choosing to migrate, the choice might seem obvious. Presumably they have entered the culture because there is something about it that they want that they could not get in their native land.”  This idea has merit because it can be assumed that without some form of interest, respect, or desire for United States culture, willing immigrants would not come to live in this country.  However, as the stages of assimilation mentioned in the course objectives states, when they do arrive in America, they must deal with “shock, resistance, exploitation, and discrimination”.  This can create a longing for the life or country that they are familiar with, leading to dissatisfaction with America and a resistance to American culture.

In “Thank God for the Jews” by Tahiri Naqvi, a perfect example of this struggle takes place.  Fatima is confronted with her own assimilation when she must prepare to cook a traditional meal for a guest that will only eat halal meat (meat that has been slaughtered according to Muslim practices).  She realizes how dependent she has become on American culture when she thinks about the fact that she rarely buys halal meat for her family.  She begins an inner struggle between the part of her that wants to hold on to her religious values and the part of her that prefers the convenience and cleanliness of meat purchased at mainstream grocery stores.  “Packed in shiny, neat packages that led Fatima to believe that someone had gone through a great deal of trouble to give the shoppers only the best, the meat always had a fresh, clean color, and the packages were so easy to pick up and throw into the shopping cart.”  She is also fearful that her fellow immigrants will criticize her or look down on her for her partial assimilation, and therefore hides the fact that she prefers shopping in the American grocery store.  This inner struggle characterizes the way in which immigrants must decide how much to resist or accept mainstream American culture.  Fatima is shown as simultaneously holding on to her culture’s faith and doubting it (in terms of checking the Koran in order to see if she really needs to use halal meat), accepting a portion of American culture and hiding this fact from her immigrant friends, and missing shopping in her hometown, yet wishing she were better at finding “sales and where to buy the best 220-volt appliances for taking back to Pakistan as gifts”.  This internal dichotomy firmly establishes Fatima in the “divided” category of the generational organization discussed in the course objectives, because she is still trying to figure out how much she will accept or reject the dominant culture.

            While immigrants are typically shown to have come to America by choice in order to pursue a goal, attain freedom or riches, or better their life in some other way (The American Dream), minorities are portrayed as people who have been forced to come to America (African-Americans) or people whose land has been taken over by Americans (Native-Americans, Mexican-Americans).  This forced immigration is sometimes called The American Nightmare, and narratives focusing on this nightmare take on themes of oppression and discrimination, rather than themes of opportunity and hope that can be seen in immigrant narratives.  An example of this can be found in “The Lesson” by Toni Bambara.  The children featured in this story are taken to an expensive toy store in an upscale part of town and are shown toys that they greatly want, but cannot possibly afford.  In an American Dream, or immigrant narrative, what follows may have sounded something like, “Work very hard and someday you may be able to shop at this store”.  However, centering on the theme of discrimination, the teacher in the story focuses on, “Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven.”  The children feel, after their trip, that these things are out of their reach and are angry that they have not been given “an equal crack at the dough”.  This viewpoint differs from the style of the immigrant narrative because of the fact that African-Americans have had to deal with oppression and discrimination for generations, and immigrants are typically more optimistic, having dealt with these issues for a shorter period of time.

            Mexican-Americans are a group that typically defy classification.  They are the “ambivalent minority” because they share characteristics of both immigrants and minorities.  What also places them in a separate category is the fact that they, as a group, have not assimilated as much as other immigrant groups, even though they have been present in American society for quite a long time.  . . .

            Finally, we return to a narrative from an Afro-Caribbean writer that echoes some common minority themes.  In “Children of the Sea” by Edwidge Danticant, the main male character exemplifies the American Dream story and the American Nightmare story simultaneously.  He is striving to attain the most important America ideal – freedom, by coming across the ocean on a raft with many other travelers.  Although the goal he is trying to achieve echoes the American dream, the themes of the entire story focus on oppression and violence.  He is fleeing death at the hands of soldiers in his native country, and it is implied that he does not make it to America, but dies in his struggle to reach it.  This is an ambiguous story in terms of whether it can be classified as an American dream or nightmare, but I feel that it should have its own category.  This narrative is a reach for the American Dream that is never fulfilled.

             In conclusion, there is an important distinction between the immigrant narrative’s evolution from Old World to assimilation, and the minority narrative’s outcry against continuing oppression and discrimination.  The difference is that although these two groups share certain experiences of discrimination, immigrant groups typically assimilate and strive to attain the American Dream, while minorities hold on to their culture and continually seek to let their unique voices be heard while dealing with the American Nightmare.  Issues such as redefining gender roles, navigating differences within relationships between generations, deciding how much to blend in with dominant culture, and dealing with a more nuclear rather than extended family are all issues that both groups must deal with in their own way.  Overall, as these voices become more widespread and more widely heard, a body of knowledge and understanding is growing about the difficulties faced when new Americans are faced with a foreign and challenging culture. [EI]