When I first signed up for the Immigrant Literature course, I thought I probably knew about everything that would be included during the semester.  I assumed we would read stories written by immigrants.  Because of my love for reading, that sounded like fun to me.  What I was not prepared for, was how much I would actually learn about the history of our nation through these narratives.  It makes no difference to me if the writer of the narrative is writing a factual account or a fiction story in explaining our defining multicultural heritage.  The literature brings the warmth of human personality and struggles that a history book cannot express through conveyance of facts and dates.  The immigrant and minority narratives chronicling the American Dream or the American Nightmare explains our past and consequently, our present.

            The United States is mainly populated by immigrants who came to America voluntarily for economic, educational, political or religious reasons.  The attainment of a better life and fulfillment of the American Dream still continues to draw immigrants across the oceans, even today.  As a child I remember my grandmother saying, who was a second generation Irish immigrant, that “soap and water is cheap, anyone can afford to be clean.”  At the time I thought this was a rather silly thing for her to say since we had plenty of soap and water to take our daily baths.  However, after reading the narrative, Soap and Water, these simple words take on new meaning for me.     

Anzia Yezierska pursued her dream of higher education and a better life using her individualism in her immigrant narrative.   She worked hard to better her station in life.  However, the dominant culture represented by Mrs. Whiteside, felt “. . . delegated to judge who was fit and who was unfit to teach”(106).  Mrs. Whiteside uses her ethnocentric ideas to dictate what a teacher should look like and how clean she should be.  As an immigrant she is expected to assimilate as quickly as possible so that she will fit in with the expectations of the dominant culture.  Since she chose to come here, Anzia is expected to accept her social contract and follow the rules of the American  Dream.  Anzia  sees the irony of her position when states that, “I, the unclean one, am actually  fashioning the pedestal of their cleanliness, from which they reach  down, hoping to lift me to the height that I have created for them”(107).  Anzia states the basis for the universal immigrant story when she says that, “But for hundreds of years the persecuted races all over the world were nurtured on hopes of America”(109).   The hope of a fresh start with new chances in America is a strong pull for the immigrant. 

Immigrant status is again portrayed in the story, America is in the Heart.  Carlos comes to America in pursuit of the Dream and instead encounters the American Nightmare through exploitation and discrimination.  Upon arriving in America he begins his immigrant narrative with “Everything seemed native and promising to me,”(60) in pursuit of his dream.  However, exploitation “. . . was the beginning of my life in America, the beginning of a long flight that carried me down the years, fighting desperately to find peace in some corner of life”(62).  His narrative takes him from Seattle to Alaska and back to Seattle again.  His individualism keeps him going forward, but he is happy to find a Philippine enclave in Seattle complete with a dance hall.  Typically, he was “beginning to feel lonely for the sound of home,”( 65) and found comfort in the faces of his fellow countrymen.  Carlos says, “I came to know that the public streets were not free to my people:  we were stopped each time these vigilant patrolmen saw us driving a car”(70).  His pursuit of the dream continued to be a nightmare.

Immigrants will usually assimilate to the dominant culture within three generations.  Conversely, minority groups will hold onto their culture or maintain their own communities.  The minority narrative also can express the American Nightmare.  Minorities differ from immigrants because they did not come here voluntarily or were pushed out of their land.  African Americans were brought over by force and found themselves facing slavery instead of opportunity.  Likewise, the Native Americans were involuntarily pushed off of their homelands.  The social contracts differ for minority groups because of the fact that they faced exploitation instead of opportunity.  They are not expected to conform and play by the rules as immigrants are.

The minority narrative is illustrated in James Baldwin’s, No Name in the Street.  Baldwin has guilt and betrayal issues because he is an individual that has “made it,” and is able to afford the luxuries of life.  This brings on the guilt because he believes his people wonder, are you one of us, or one of them (dominant culture).  He says he felt “. . . that I had betrayed the people who had produced me”(286).  I absolutely love the line, “. . .he couldn’t afford my elegant despair”( 287). His resistance to assimilation into the dominant culture brings out an anger in him that winds up being expressed through curse words.  He can not believe his fellow Afro-Americans would support the war in Viet Nam.  Baldwin said, “I told my friend that . . . black people certainly had no business there aiding the slave master to enslave yet more millions of dark people . . .”(289).  The old anger remains in those who were brought here against their wishes.

Another minority narrative is presented through The Man to Send Rain Clouds, by Leslie Marmon Silko.  The resistance to assimilation is evident when the grandfather dies and they use their own ways, instead of Christian rituals to bury the old man.  Apparently grandfather had assimilated somewhat because they buried him in his “stiff new Levi’s.”   Leon does not consider any importance of a Christian burial and it is only when his wife asks him to get the priest, does he do it.  When the priest asks Leon why he did not come and get him for the service, he states that, “It wasn’t necessary, Father”(207).  Even when Louise asked for the holy water, she wants it, “So he won’t be thirsty,”(207) which is certainly not what the priest had in mind.  The minority American Indians live in a community of Native Americans that share their beliefs and outlook on life.

 While the minority and immigrant narratives differ, there are also groups of people that fall somewhere in between the two groups.  Two of the groups can be represented by Mexican Americans and Afro-Carribbeans.  They immigrated within the western hemisphere.  Mexican Americans lived on land that was conquered or annexed by the United States in much the same way Native American land was taken.

At first glance, Barbie Q, by Sandra Cisneros seems to portray a universal picture of girls playing with Barbies.  However, the lack of money becomes evident when the little girls says, “Because we don’t have money for a stupid-looking boy doll when we’d both rather ask for a new Barbie outfit next Christmas”(252).  The little girls are living their own version of success with the American Dream when they get the Barbie’s they had dreamed of in a fire sale.  She said, “So what if our Barbies smell like smoke when you hold them up to your nose even after you wash and wash and wash them”(253).  The little girls are assimilating to the dominant culture and they are not even aware of it.  Shopping and living within the confines of people who are like them gives this family traits of a minority culture. 

Assimilation is again the issue in Judith Ortiz Coffer’s, Silent Dancing. This story is easy for all to relate to that about Ms. Coffer’s age.  I believe most families have this type of movie hidden somewhere.  However, the difference ends here for one of the dominant culture.  In this in between narrative, they were given “. . . strict orders by my father to keep the doors locked, the noise down, ourselves to ourselves”(180).  However, the mother missed her Puerto Rican home and visited the local stores to remind her of home.  The Father, however, was obsessed to “. . . get out of the barrio, and this we were never permitted to form bonds with the place or the people who lived there”(181).  The Father felt assimilation would be their ticket to fitting in, leaving their home behind and achieving the American Dream.  In this respect, their narrative has aspects of the immigrant narrative.  However, the mother, “. . . never got over yearning for la isla”(181).  Judith is aware of color coding, meaning fair skin is better, when she says, “My father could have passed as European, but we couldn’t”(181).

Today, it seems we may have another group that may have narrative in the future to help us understand them.  The Katrina evacuees are a minority within a minority.  They are not accepted by people of their own color because they look, talk and act differently.  They tend to live in groups of fellow evacuees, keeping to themselves.  It will be interesting to see how this wrinkle in history will work out.  Will they assimilate to being Texas, or will they hold on to their Louisiana culture until they can go home?

Reading and studying immigrant, minority and ambivalent narratives gives understanding to what motivates different groups of people, as well as explaining how they got to where they are today.  Being part of fourth generation immigration now makes me part of the dominant culture.  I must admit I have been guilty of ignoring the past and thinking that oppressed minorities should just “get over it,” and move on with their lives to achieve the American Dream.  I now realize that to “get over it” would be the same as ignoring the past of a group of people and would discount who they are today, because of that defining history. [JLS]