LITR 4333 UHCL fall 2007 dominant culture moment

Thursday, 6 September: “Model Minorities”: Asian American Immigrant Literature Sui Sin Far, "In the Land of the Free" (IA 3-11); Gish Jen, “In the American Society” (IA 158-171); Maxine Hong Kingston, from The Woman Warrior (VA 195-200) [handout]; Carlos Bulosan, from American is in the Heart [handout]

· Dominant culture moment: Donna Shotwell

Objective 4- To identify signs of the “dominant culture” to which immigrants assimilate in to. This section of the course attempts to answer the question, “What kind of culture do immigrants assimilate to?”

Women in the dominant culture are more independent and are treated as equally as men.

In The Woman Warrior, the narrator’s family and village looked down on the female gender. So she looks toward the dominant culture to find acceptance as a human being. She says, “When I visit the family now, I wrap my American successes around me like a private shawl; I am worthy of eating the food” (p200).

Instead of hating the fact that she is a female, she assimilates into the dominant culture, where she finds self-worth regardless of her gender.

Comments?

In American Culture, employers expect workers to work hard, do what they are told, and be on time.

While the mother in "In the American Society" is assimilating into the dominant culture, she accepts higher expectations for the workers employed by her husband and at the supermarket where she once worked.

Also, she would get mad if her husband gave away too much money and “exclaim, outraged, ‘But this here is the U-S-of-A!’ --this apparently having been what she used to tell immigrant stock boys when they came in late.”

The mother is trying to assimilate into the dominant culture and scolds the husband for treating money in the same manner as he would if he was living in Asia. She accepts the idea of capitalism and the employee-employer relationship is seen in terms of money and time.

Immigrants picture America as the land of opportunity but they quickly find out that American culture values money and social class. Without money you can‘t get what you want.

"In the Land of the Free"

Hom Hing tries to use his social class as a merchant to keep the customs officer from taking his son. He quickly finds out that cannot get him back without five hundred dollars. Without money his social status means nothing to customs officials.

Immigrants find it hard to succeed in American culture without fitting into the expectations of the idea worker and, by having enough money to buy into an American life and establish social class. Hom Hing finds that certain laws in America limit his freedom to bring his son here from another country.

The mother in "In the American Society" believes that the only way to be accepted by a higher social class is to have a lot of money and expensive clothes. She pushes her knowledge of the dominant culture onto her husband and he accepts her view as true. That is why he becomes angry and embarrassed when Jeremy takes his jacket off and reads the price tag inside (170).

The dominant culture fools immigrants into thinking that they have to have a high social status in order to be accepted into American society.

Agree or disagree?