LITR 5731 Seminar in American Multicultural Literature: Immigrant

Sample Student final exams, summer 2006

Wayne Reed

Finding the Immigrant Way

            Part of what has made American Literature so exciting and enigmatic since it has come of age is that it reflects the energy of uniquely diverse experiences in a uniquely diverse society.  The immigrant narrative is a crucial part of the whole that makes up American Literature.  But the immigrant narrative itself is made up of numerous parts reflecting countless individual experiences.  The story of the immigrant is the story of water breaking on the rock of the dominant culture and finding its way to settle in its place.

            Though they become the dominant culture with which the immigrant is often times at odds, the story of the Pilgrims’ migration is itself a part of the immigrant narrative in that a large group of people migrated from one country to another and experienced a change in their way of life.  What sets it apart from other immigrant stories is that this group does not come up against a culture they consider dominant.  On the contrary they become the dominant culture to which future immigrant groups assimilate.  But, most importantly, it relates a struggle of a people who must learn to adapt to a society in order to survive and flourish.

            What makes it significant in subsequent immigrant literature is the fact that a multitude of people from many parts of the world would follow an example that originates with the Pilgrims.  Inevitably, however, the descendants of the first settlers become the dominant culture, losing the immigrant identity, and developing into a sometimes oppressive force.

            Adapting to a new place accompanied by a community that already has an established language and culture is different from having to adapt to a dominant culture.  As America begins to progress and prosper it becomes increasingly attractive to people in other countries who may desire to find a new start, escape persecution, provide an otherwise hopeless opportunity for their children, and myriad other reasons.  This faith in the opportunities that America can provide for each individual becomes the American Dream.  Little known to the future immigrants was that this dream was subject to the influence of the dominant culture. 

            It’s difficult to tell if life in America was better than life in their homeland, since much of the immigrant literature is written by children of immigrants.  However, when the immigrant encounters the immense struggles it certainly takes the hope out of the dream.  Thus the immigrant narrative becomes a narrative of undergoing a struggle instead of pursuing an obtainable dream.  “Soap and Water” is an example of this as the narrator, despite all of her hard work pursuing a teaching degree, comes up against the impossible demands of a dominant culture that values cleanliness and discriminates against anything that does not match up.  Yet, despite the diminishment of the dream, there is a spark of hope at the end that makes the struggle meaningful

            This struggle to meet the standards of the dominant culture often meets with a change in values.  The children of immigrants are more often deeply submerged in the culture of America from their peers at school to the impression of media, and they tend to form their values from the dominant culture and are further distanced from the old country than their parents.*  On the other hand, in order to assimilate, their parents have to make a conscious value change that may differ greatly from or even contradict the values of their old home.  In “El Patron” Senor Martinez struggles with the very American choices his son makes to protest authority.  He must give up his concept of duty to authority in order to accept the choices Tito makes, which, though they may not be honorable in the old country, are certainly honorable in America.

            In contrast, the minority struggle with the dominant culture does not involve a value change.  The minority struggle is one in which they find their identity apart from the dominant culture.  The minority narrative is not forward looking like the immigrant narrative.  Like the American Indians in “The Man to Send Rain Clouds,” where the American Indians use holy water not for the Catholic purpose but for their own traditional purposes,  the minority holds on to a tradition of the past in the face of the pressures of the dominant culture, giving them a solid sense of identity separate from that of the dominant culture.

            Far from being insular, the descendents of immigrants, especially the model minority, usually end up assuming the role of the dominant culture by way of education.  In “A Wife’s Story” the narrator feels distanced from her husband because of how much she has changed in America.  In “Thank God for the Jews” Fatima is out of touch with the Muslim way of cooking and with the ways of the Koran.  Yet in both stories there are signs that they are part of the dominant culture.  In “A Wife’s Story” shopping and sexuality have been adopted by the narrator as well as a love for the movies, while Fatima gets shopping tips from Samina and has a husband who is a doctor.  In each case the characters in the story have been removed from the culture of their origin and adopted the dominant culture’s way of life.

            Not all immigrants assimilate or succeed.  The Immigrant Narrative is a narrative of the struggles of adapting and finding an identity as a foreigner in a land with demanding standards.  The landscape of America is broadly diverse, and each group has a different background, yet they all come together to form a society that somehow works together as one.  Naturally, no single immigrant story tells the entire story.  One immigrant’s experience is not all encompassing, but each story serves to add to the grand Immigrant Narrative that shapes the multiculturalism of American society.

*from research posting