This country, both great and dreadful, is the adoptive home of immigrants from all over the world. These people come to America for a variety of reasons: economic, political, survival and by force are a few. While each individual has their own personal story, it is accepted that there is a “storyline” most will follow. Objective 2 divides the story into five stages: leaving home, the journey, shock and resistance with possible exploitation or discrimination, assimilation and reassertion of ethnic identity. I want to discuss the fifth stage because it is here that the immigrants want to tell the story of “their” people. Once assimilated, there may be a longing to reconnect with old customs. These stories are a “history of [their] society.” [RH] These personal events give an account that could not be found any other way than simple storytelling.

            It is understood that America is a melting pot with some people stressing assimilation, while others believe we should celebrate diversity. For most immigrants, those who must travel long distances and/or suffer hardships to reach the United States, they have come wanting to be an American. Some assimilate quickly because they believe they must act like the masses to obtain a piece of the American pie. The family “In the American Society” comes from China with hopes of sending their daughters to college. They buy a pancake house that soon proves successful and they have enough money to buy “a station wagon with air conditioning” and “an oversized, red vinyl recliner” (158). The father runs his business as they have seen in the American movies, handing out paychecks with his feet up like “that Godfather” (158). The mother finds herself “interested in espadrilles, and wallpaper, and most recently, the town country club” (159). This family has found wealth and prosperity, but not all are so lucky. Carlos, in “America is in the Heart”, is wide-eyed with excitement about finding a new home, but soon discovers some people take advantage of unsuspecting immigrants. When Carlos finds his brother, Amado, he speaks perfect English as he tells him about the bootleg racket of which he and his friend Alfredo are a part (72). They believe they must continue because they will make money this way, and they cannot return to the Philippines, so they must do what they can to help themselves. Amado has found a way to make his situation work for him. He can take the advantage by selling liquor to the workers who will pay for it.

            The minorities often have a very different point of view when it comes to America. These people find a nightmare instead of dreams; exploitation instead of prosperity. The Native Americans were the first to feel the wrath of the growing American appetite. They were on this land first, but they were stripped of their land, forced to live on reservations and be subservient. Chrystos, a Native American and activist, embraces the anger in her poem “I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government”. They have not accepted the social contract put forth to immigrants because they receive no benefits. The United States has only offered “lousy food     ugly clothes    bad meat” (304). They refuse to assimilate to the dominant culture, calling it “an ugly mess” (305) they want to go away. The majority are immigrants to the Native Americans, who want the rest of us to “Go somewhere else and build a McDonald’s” (305).

Well, we did go elsewhere. We went to Africa and brought back workers who would in return receive nothing but further exploitation. Even hundreds of years later, the African Americans remain a separate and distinct group.  In “Don’t Explain”, written in 1959, Gomez talks about “an area where a few blacks had recently been permitted to rent” (188). A later author, James Baldwin discusses his experiences in No Name in the Street. He can’t get a cab in New York, so he rents a limousine instead. The driver is a “terrified white man” not pleased with his present job of “driv[ing] a black man through Harlem to the Bronx” (287). Not only does the driver face him with contempt, the rest of the population wishes to keep their distance as well.

            The last category is made up of those who don’t seem to fit either side of this dichotomy, but fall somewhere in the middle. These “New World Immigrants” are the Latinos and the Afro-Caribbeans. While immigrants by definition, these groups may have different experiences than someone who came from China. The Latinos do not always have a clean break with their home country because of its proximity to the United States and can return home more frequently. This slows the assimilation process down because they retain their culture’s characteristics longer. In that respect, they have a minority slant because they tend to group together and stay independent of the dominant culture. They also seem to have a strong drive to keep themselves separated by not intermarrying. In “Like Mexicans”, his grandmother tells him to “marry a Mexican girl. ‘No Okies, hijo’” (301) because she thinks they will not be able to get along. Some Latinos have other fears. They believe that learning English makes you less Hispanic, a traitor to your own. In Hunger of Memory, Rodriguez discusses his parent’s embarrassment that their children didn’t want to “practice ‘our Spanish’ after they started going to school” (230). They lost the intimacy of the family when they could not all speak their native language together.

            These texts have brought me closer to understanding the true fabric that makes up this country. Although I knew ‘the immigrant narrative’ before I entered the room, I have a better understanding of these people and their stories now. The literature they publish is like a window into their soul, displayed proudly for people of their own culture, and others. Many others faced discrimination at the borders, in the grocery store and at the printing press. Their stories are truly amazing. 

[Tiffany]