Pauline Chapman

The Inclusive Immigrant Narrative

When I told people I was taking American Immigrant Literature, the reaction was commonly that the title sounded redundant.  Isn't everyone in America from somewhere else or descended from immigrants, except for the Native Americans?  The apparent redundancy makes the Immigrant Narrative appropriate for studying American history and culture.  The Immigrant Narrative and the American Dream Narrative co-exist because the American Dream of prosperity and freedom was conceived by immigrants.  But there is still that nagging exception:  the Native Americans.  And then if the dream is prosperity and freedom, how can the Africans brought here as slaves qualify as immigrants?  Minorities are those with whom the dominant culture has a history of oppression, depriving them of their freedom, their homes, destroying their culture and way of life.  They will have necessary differences from the Immigrant Narrative.  

The dominant culture are those whose ancestors came to America as immigrants and who form the values and image of America today.  They are established and have power and authority, and do not change much or change slowly by outside influence.  They expect newcomers to adjust to their new country and not the other way around.   The dominant culture is also a modern culture, with a secular government, gender equality, smaller family units, and an emphasis on individual freedom.  The dominant culture is implicit in the Immigrant Narrative.

We discover that stories and essays depicting Old World immigrants, American minorities, and New World immigrants as they progress through the stages of the Immigrant Narrative give an inclusive picture of American multicultural literature.

For immigrants, leaving the Old World is a choice.  In "The English Lesson" we see a range of reasons to come to America and leave the Old World.  It may be for political reasons like the former professor who had to leave Germany with his Jewish wife, or for economic opportunity like the Italian.  Minorities did not get a choice.  African-Americans were forced to come as slaves.  Native Americans did not choose to be invaded by Americans.  Diego Torres, the student from the Dominican Republic, represents the synthesized New World version of the immigrant story.  He has elements of both the immigrant and minority narratives.  He chooses to come to this country, is attempting to learn the language, work and become more prosperous like an immigrant.  However, he is resentful that American influence in his country has made him feel forced to come here, and does not plan to stay, resisting assimilation.  His oppression and resistance are more similar to a minority experience.  In the New World story, "Children of the Sea," Danticat's character leaves on his own, but once again, it is a forced situation.  To stay would mean death.  Leaving the Old World for women often means leaving a traditional male dominated society where choices were limited.  Lae Choo, "accustomed to obedience . . . yielded the boy to her husband, who in turn delivered him to the first officer." (IA 5)  In "The English Lesson," Rudi argues against Lali taking English classes, saying, " ' She works here in the store with me.  She don't have to talk to nobody.' " (IA 21)   But for Lali, "Tuesday meant leaving the world of Rudi, the luncheonette, that street, everything that she felt imprisoned her." (IA 31)

Many immigrant stories begin with the end of the journey to America, the arrival in the Promised Land.  "In the Land of the Free" Lae Choo's expectations are high when she tells her young son, " 'There is thy home for years to come.  It is very beautiful and thou wilt be very happy there.' " (IA 3)  Bulosan describes a similar feeling approaching the U.S. in "America is in the Heart."  "My first sight of the approaching land was an exhilarating experience.  Everything seemed native and promising to me. . . . With a sudden surge of joy, I knew that I must find a home in this new land."  (VA 60)  Minorities' journey experience is much different.  For African-Americans the journey and arrival is hellish and frightening, as Equino describes.  For Native Americans there is no journey, or the journey is a forced removal from their ancestral lands to less desirable territory.  New World immigrants have a variety of journey experiences.  Mexican Americans could take a short trip just crossing the border into land that once belonged to their ancestors.  In "Silent Dancing," the father is able to come to America for opportunity because he is a U.S. citizen.  The journey is the backdrop for the story in "Children of the Sea."  The letters tell what the young man is escaping, but also how the refugees expect to be greeted wherever they might arrive.  "The faces around me are showing their first charcoal layer of sunburn.  'Now we will never be mistaken as Cubans,' one man said." (VA 101)  This shows how the color code prevents a person from blending into society and being accepted.  The political situation being what is was, Cubans were being taken into the country, and Haitians were being discriminated against and sent back.  So, they would not be able to even complete their journey.  

The immigrant and minority narratives can overlap at the third stage of the narrative where there can be shock, exploitation, discrimination, and resistance.  This is often the focus of immigrant and minority stories because it can be the main source of conflict.  Immigrants can be shocked by the reality of America compared to the idealistic dream they had.  Lae Choo immediately experiences shock and distress as she encounters the dominant culture in the form of bureaucracy, the immigration regulations that take their son from them.  The Chinese parents are then exploited by the lawyer who charges them a large sum to speed the paperwork to Washington.   He tells them. " 'You can't get fellows to hurry the Government for you without gold in your pocket.' " (IA 8)  The bureaucracy creates the opportunity for exploitation.  In "America is in the Heart," Bulosan and his friends are exploited by their own countrymen, who cheat at cards creating debts for them to pay, and selling them into virtual indentured servitude.  They are also exploited by the dancehall girl and her accomplices who take advantage of the lonely men.  

Albert Porter is being exploited as "Old Uncle Albert" in "Elethia."  The grandson of a plantation owner has the former slave stuffed so that the "lips were intensely smiling and his false teeth shone," attempting to control him in death as he never could in life. (IA 307)   Exploitation takes place in the form of the poor young people enlisting in the army as Elethia says, "her friends went into the army because they were poor and that was the way things were." (VA 309)   In life, Albert Porter and the other black people in the story were discriminated against because of the color of their skin. "Black people could not eat at Uncle Alberts, though they worked, of course, in the kitchen." (IA 307)   Albert Porter resisted the image of the black man that the dominant culture tried to impose on him and others.   "(Whenever you saw somebody acting like a nigger, Albert said, you could be sure he seriously disremembered his past.)  But he never would." (IA 309)  

Once again, the case of New World immigrants gets more complicated.  We can see resistance and discrimination in "Like Mexicans," when the young boys admit that they would only marry within their own ethnic group.  Gary's desire to only marry a Mexican girl would be considered resistance to assimilation to the dominant culture.  Scott's not wanting to marry a Mexican girl would be considered discrimination.  In "El Patron," Tito feels that the dominant culture exploits poor Mexican-Americans in the army, and then sends them home to face the same limited opportunities, similar to minorities.  "Silent Dancing" shows how an ethnic neighborhood can be a sign of resistance or discrimination for immigrants and minorities.  In either case, customs, music, and language are familiar and limit contact with the dominant culture, slowing assimilation.   The mother prefers El Building, but the father wishes to move on.

Some level of assimilation is necessary to reach the goal of the American Dream, but the price is a loss of ethnic identity.  Assimilation occurs when adjustments are made to appearance, speech, habits, or ideology to fit in with the dominant culture. When Lae Choo finally gets to reunite with her son, she finds him changed.  He has been assimilated by the mission women at the nursery school.  He had been given an American name, thereby claiming him and changing his identity.  He was "dressed in blue cotton overalls and white-soled shoes."  (IA 11)  He no longer recognized his mother and rejected her.  Even though we assume he will bond again with his mother, Lae Choo has had a glimpse of his future.  This also illustrates how much easier it is for a young person with limited knowledge of his home culture to assimilate.  Also, if a person is surrounded by Americans, he assimilates much quicker than someone in an ethnic neighborhood.  The characters in "The English Lesson" are taking an important step in assimilation by learning English.  Mrs. Hamma also unwittingly assimilates them further as she hurries William and others through their introductions, so they don't get to tell much about their homeland--devaluing their past identities and focusing on the present and future, another trait of American modern society.  "The American Society" shows the Chinese family assimilating economically and the mother wanting to assimilate socially by joining the country club. 

The fact that the dominant culture is white and has a history of racial discrimination, makes assimilation more difficult for minorities.   Assimilation for minorities can be seen in the desire for economic and educational opportunities, but not for compromising their identities.  Indeed, without intermarriage and dilution or erasure of their color, they will always be identified by that color.  And intermarriage between black and white has been discouraged for most of American history, which means there is even less chance of assimilation that way.  Miss Moore in "The Lesson" has been assimilated more than anyone in the neighborhood.  "She'd been to college and said it was only right that she should take responsibility for the young ones' education." (IA 145)   The little girl resists most of the time, but finally is inspired at the end as she thinks to herself, "She can run if she want to and even run faster.  But ain't nobody gonna beat me at nuthin," illustrating a new desire to succeed. (IA 152)   If she won't join the dominant culture, she will at least be competitive.  Elethia's attending college is also an attempt at achieving economic equality with the dominant culture.

New World immigrants are called the ambivalent minority because their stories have elements of the immigrant narrative and minority characteristics.  The color code accounts for much of this since people from Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean can be white, brown, or black.  The fact that Gary's grandmother in "Like Mexicans" even warns him not to marry an "Okie" shows that the color code is less strict for Mexicans than African-Americans.  The story "El Patron" illustrates different paths and attitudes.  The father in the story thinks of joining the army as doing his part, an act of assimilation.  For Tito, going to college is his path to assimilation.  Emiliano is assimilated in that he is a college professor, but he still understandably prefers his traditional food.  Senor Martinez came to America for opportunity, but Tito sees his minority status in his lack of economic power, in that he can't even afford to own a car.

 Reassertion or rediscovery of ethnic identity may or may not happen, and is only limited if the person wants to remain in the new society.  Elethia and her friends reclaim Albert Porter when they steal him from the white man's restaurant, incinerate him and keep his ashes for inspiration.  June Jordan is a mass of identity confusion and lack of connection.  She is a second generation Afro-Caribbean American who has assimilated enough that she is a college professor.  When she travels back to the Caribbean she stays at the large corporate hotel for safety.  She resents the "intruders from the north" but then realizes that she is one.  She can empathize with the maid in her hotel, but realizes Olive only sees her as an outsider.  Paule Marshall comes to appreciate her heritage by remembering the conversations of the women in "Poets in the Kitchen" and with her discovery of African-American writers.

The Immigrant Narrative including both voluntary immigrants and unwilling minorities forms a complete picture of multicultural history and literature in the United States.   After reconsidering all that people have had to go through to come to America and become American, it is easy to see why the American people are proud, confident, and idealistic.  I resisted the labels in the beginning of the class.  I felt like they predisposed people to act in a certain way or doomed them in their inability to change what they were.   The historical background and identifying characteristics of immigrant, dominant, or minority culture have made me more aware of these occurrences in everyday life.  For example, I found myself taking note of a Hispanic woman in Wal-Mart, possibly a Mexican immigrant, wearing a Girl Scouts T-shirt.  Maybe her daughter or granddaughter is participating in Scouts and becoming assimilated.  It is all around us.