Tuesday, 8 July 2008: Jonathan Raban, from Hunting Mr. Heartbreak: A Discovery of America [handout]

Text-objective discussion leader (Raban article): Jessi Snider

Objective 6. To contrast the “New Immigrant Model” with the “Old Immigrant Model.”
 

·         The biculturalism and bilingualism of “New Immigrants” may contribute to or reflect an emerging global identity in which human beings are less defined or restricted by nationality.
 

·         “Vertical immigration”: as immigration has increased and trade and national barriers have fallen, societies may be becoming less identified by nationality and more by economics and technology: first world-third world, upper class-lower class, highrise-street, electronic media-manual labor.

p. 348

“…every journey across the city entailed a descent into a Third World of helpless distress.”

Large urban cities are being divided into “haves” and “have-nots” rather than being strictly defined or restricted by nationality. 

p. 349

“They were the outcast; I was the tenant of an apartment with uniformed doormen in the lobby—and there was no calling on my sense of fraternity to answer their need.”

The “street people” and “air people” are indicative of the modern high-rise / street divide which will likely increase in a world of continued globalization.

p. 355

“This New York, the city of the Air People, was straining to break free of that other, accursed city of the same name…At present the two cities were held together, one on top of the other, by the slender umbilical of the elevator, and by the Air People’s dependence on the traffic that came up it—The Times and Wall Street Journal, beefsteak and zucchini, laundered shirts…maids, flowers, guests, invitations.”

Here, the upper class/lower class divide can be witnessed clearly:  the lower class enables the upper class to live in the air, yet has to endure the street themselves.

Question:  Can the “street people” be seen as a rejection of dominant culture values?  Why or why not?

Objective 7. To observe competing economic ideals or states exposed by immigrant literature.

7b. To discuss immigrants’ shock at and adaptation to American economic models, variously identified as Social Darwinism, competitive individualism, laissez-faire, freemarket, high-growth capitalism

7c. A surprising feature in immigrant literature (and perhaps elsewhere): the identification of shopping and sexuality. (Consistent with Darwinian survival through competitive sexuality)

p. 345 

“Sometime between the age of Richard Nixon and the last days of Ronald Reagan, that homely touch of American Puritanism had been whitewashed over.  Only frumps were thrifty now.”

He does not insinuate that simple styles have changed, only that the social imperative to spend changed. 

“These furnishings were disappointedly dull in themselves—plain cotton shirts and ties…It was the way they were displayed that was extraordinary.”

The dominant culture’s style is still quite plain for the most part, but the razzle-dazzle of capitalism makes a plain white shirt seem like it’s worth the “ninety dollar price tag.”

“There was a new life waiting in America for all the rubbish in the attics of genteel England.” 

Even old junk is elevated in status if it fits with the dominant culture’s WASP sentiments.

p. 346

“Macy’s was scared stiff of our boredom.  This was a world constructed for creatures with infantile attention spans, for whom every moment had to be crammed with novelties and sensations.  To be so babied and beguiled, all for the sake of selling skirts and jackets, sheets and towels!  It was gross, even by the relatively indulgent standards of London.  Many of the people on the escalators were fresh from that other world of clothing coupons and short rations; had I been one of them, I’d have swept by a wave of blank helplessness in the face of all this aggressive American fun.”

This speaks to the shock many immigrants feel when encountering American economic models, namely competitive retail marketing.

p. 347 “Two men were out of the race.  One was blind and black”

This phrase calls to mind both Social Darwinism and the color code. 

(Obj 3)  Color Code:

·         “…important associations for identity and consequences for destiny.”

 

“Race” in this instance seems to refer to the “rat race” or Social Darwinism which “states that the strongest or fittest should survive and flourish in society, while the weak and unfit should be allowed to die.”   http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367/eh4.shtml

p. 348

 “Competition meant advertising.”

Raban uses the language of trade to speak about the methods of the “street people” who he also sees adopting American style marketing.

p. 350

“Everyone moved with the same stiff clockwork action; everyone wore the same boiled look on their faces.”

Indicative of the “unmarked” nature of the dominant culture

p. 356

“Everyone was dreaming.  The word came at one from every direction…ALL YOU NEED IS A DOLLAR AND A DREAM.”

This recalls the dominant culture’s infatuation with the old immigrant narrative which fashions America as the Land of Opportunity where dreams can come true (if you just work hard enough).

Question:  Why does the dominant culture cling to this idea of following dreams? What implications does this have for capitalism?