Tuesday, 1 July 2008: Jewish-American: Chosen People in the New World. Bernard Malamud, “The German Refugee” (IA 35-46); Adrienne Rich, “Split at the Root: An Essay on Jewish Identity” (VA 90-105) [handout]; Sonia Pilcer, “2G” (VA 201-206) [handout]; Eva Hoffman, from Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language (VA 219-228) [handout]; Vivian Gornick, “To Begin With” (VA 74-81) [handout]

Topic:  The Dominant culture in the narratives of the Jews

Objective 4,  to “Identify the United States “dominant culture” to which immigrants assimilate.”

The first story that I’m going to discuss is “The German Refugee” by Bernard Malamud. 

The first example of the presence of the dominant culture is in the first line.

Pg 35 “Oskar Gassner sits in his cotton-mesh undershirt and summer bathrobe at the window of his stuffy, hot, dark hotel room on West Tenth Street as I cautiously knock”   He is clearly wearing the clothing of the dominant culture.  Oskar doesn’t let the heat prevent him from wearing a bathrobe. 

Pg 36 “Like most educated Germans Oskar had at one time studied English”  Education is often an indication of the dominant culture especially because his learning of English is part of the assimilation to the dominant culture. 

Pg 38 “There were moments of elation as he heard his accent flying off” Oskar is learning how to speak proper English.  His reaction of being elated at losing his accent is a sign that he is becoming part of the dominant or American culture.

Pg 43 “I took to the New York Public Library.  I read some of the German poets he was trying to write about, in English translation” When the tutor feels that he needs further understanding or knowledge; he goes to the library.  The library is a symbol of the dominant cultures knowledge.  The German poets have been translated into English. 

Question:  Did Oskar commit suicide because of his inability to complete his assimilation or was the death of his daughter the real cause of his demise?  Could the tutor have prevented this tragedy?

The next piece is “2G” by Sonia Pilcer.

Pg 201 “The women played canasta and the men, poker.  As they tossed bright plastic chips and picked up cards, blue numbers flashing on the insides of their arms, the stories multiplied”  Poker is typically an American card game, but the chips are also representative of the blue numbers that were tattooed on the Jews who were sent to the concentration camps.  Basically a piece of American or dominant culture reminded them of those scary times.  It brings them together much like playing cards brings Americans together.

Pg 202 “I knew we weren’t Father Knows Best”    This is a reference to the TV show Father Knows Best, which was a show that a lot of immigrants based their American stereotypes on. 

Pg 204 “Randy emigrated from Westchester and joined the Israeli army.  On Yom Kippur, he ate pork chops, followed by an all-night poker game”  Randy clearly doesn’t hold the Jewish customs sacred.  He is Americanized because he eats pork on a Jewish holiday and plays poker.  If he were a devout Jew, he would not eat pork and would be observing the religious holiday instead of playing poker.

Question:  Why are the Jewish Americans so open to assimilating to the dominant culture?    Do you think that the European Jews would see this as wrong?

The third text is called “Lost In Translation:  A Life In A New Language” by Eva Hoffman.

Pg 219 “It’s April 1969, And I’m Walking Idly, Across Harvard Yard.”   Hoffman’s education is symbol of the dominant culture.  She is from Poland where going to college is probably not an option.  She is becoming Americanized because she is in one of the most prestigious colleges in world. 

Pg 220 “I’m pleased by the New England modesty of Harvard Yard, and the wood-paneled rooms in which the English Department conducts its endless sherry parties, and the tweed-jacketed professors with their dry faces and perfectly professional airs”  Hoffman is making fun of the way that the professors and their parties are.  The professors are dressed elegantly and they are drinking sherry which is a high society type of alcohol.  Also they wood paneling signifies the wealth that these Americans have that she does not.  The word modesty is satirical.

Pg 223 “I’m allowed to have my interpretations of the world.  That’s called theory, for your information”  The Polish girl is talking to her American friend and when they start to have a disagreement, the American displays a typical American way of thinking.  This is the old theory; I think what I want to think.  This is a direct reference to the arrogance that some people from the dominant culture have.

Question:  Is Hoffman overly critical of the dominant culture?  Does she really think that all Americans are stuck up?

The final essay is called “To Begin With” by Vivian Gornick.

Pg 75 “My father stood upright on the floor of a dress factory on West Thirty-fifth Street in New York City with a steam iron in his hand for thirty years.  My uncles owned the factory.”  The father has worked hard for a long time in factory.  The factory is a symbol of the American culture because many immigrants worked long hours for little pay in a factory.  Also the fact that the uncles owned it instead of him shows that he is still a blue collar worker. 

Pg 77 “Every one of them read the Daily Worker, the Freheit, and the New York Times religiously each morning”  The newspaper is the main way that Americans, especially in those days, got there information about the world.  The reason that it is such a part of the dominant culture is that these immigrants’ workers are reading American newspapers right along with their communist paper. 

Question:  do you think the narrator at the end will ever feel close to the dominant culture like she does with the Russian/Communist culture?