Is America a Pot of Stew or a Melting Pot of Cheese?

America has long been referred to as a “melting pot” due to its great acceptance of diversity. No other country in the world holds the honor of housing such a diverse population of races, religions, and customs. The concept of the “melting pot” applies when there is a large influx of immigrants blending with the dominant culture; but, what about the minority groups? Within this essay, I will explore how the concept of the melting pot is viewed within the context of the three narratives: immigrant, minority, and a combination of both immigrant and minority narrative.

Within the standard immigrant narrative, there is a large acceptance of the concept of the “melting pot “because melting can’t occur without assimilation. Many of these immigrants came to the United States from Eastern and Central Europe in search of the American Dream. Every immigrant had their own American Dream but as a whole they sought freedom from persecution, new opportunities and a better way of life. In order to gain the American Dream, immigrants would have to leave their old world behind and assimilate to the dominant culture, of the new world. Objective two discusses the basic stages of the immigrant narrative which are as follows:

Stage 1: Leave the Old World

Stage 2: Journey to the New World

 Stage 3: Shock, resistance, exploitation, and discrimination (immigrant experience here overlaps with or resembles the minority experience)

 Stage 4: Assimilation to dominant American culture and loss of ethnic identity

  Stage 5: Rediscovery or reassertion of ethnic identity (usu. only partial)

In order to fully assimilate, to melt, the immigrant would follow the stages mentioned above.  In Anzia Yezierska’s “Soap and Water”, we see that the main character is desperately trying to get a piece of the American pie, the American Dream (Objective 1). I would like to use the main character of “Soap and Water” and analyze what stages of the immigrant narrative she went through. In the text we read about stage 1, the main character is an immigrant who came to the United States for an education and for economic advancement. We encounter stage three as she is rejected by the dominant culture because of [her] appearance” (106). We also encounter stage four as the main character loses her identity due to the humiliation imposed on her by the dominant culture. We read that the “other agents of clean society, who had the power of giving or withholding [her position]” (108) denied her the opportunity to be a teacher. The character reaches stage five as she finds herself with the help of Miss Van Ness, the first member of the dominant culture, to embrace her. The story ends in a positive light as the character finds her American Dream. The story ends as the character is singing a “song of new life: America! I found America,” (110). She has been awakened to a new life filled with opportunity and great promise.

In the Poem “American Dream” by Joseph Papaleo, we encounter a vivid immigrant experience through the voice of a poet. In connection to “Soap and Water”, the “American Dream” deals with an immigrant who expresses his desire to get a piece of the American Dream. Based on the immigrant stages, the Italian immigrants went through the first two stages. They left Italy became immigrants and they journeyed to the United States. Similar to “Soap and Water”, the immigrants in the poem suffered great hostility from the dominant culture. The narrator says that “First nobody liked us; they said we smelled and looked too short and dark (American Immigrant website). We also encounter that the immigrants are going through stage four as they are beginning to assimilate to the dominant culture. We can assume that assimilation has taken place as the narrator says, [We] “well-dressed citizens devoted to the disinfection of our carpets, as the culminating dream of Grandpa” (American Immigrant website).

As we can see, the standard immigrant narrative embraces the concept of the “melting pot” because this would include assimilation to the dominant culture, the new world.

Unlike the immigrant narrative who would embrace assimilation to the dominant culture, the minority narrative deals with people who were involuntarily brought to the United States; these people were never given a choice. When we refer to minority groups, we are particularly discussing African Americans and Native Americans. These groups would be much more hesitant to accept the concept of “melting pot” because that would mean assimilating to a culture that has brought great harm and calamity to their history. Alice Walker’s “Elethia” gives us a vivid picture of the dominant culture’s rule over the lives of minorities and the hardships endured by slaves. The narrator displays how the dominant culture humiliated Uncle Albert. The dominant culture would, “beat him severe trying to make him forget the past and grin and act like a nigger” (309).  They had already made up their mind that Uncle Albert was not considered a human because he was black and he was treated like an animal.

In the poem “Blonde White Women” by Patricia Smith, we are given a vivid account of racism through the voice of a talented poet. In the poem, the narrator discusses how she wanted to be embraced by the dominant culture but since she didn’t meet the physical description, she was shunned by the dominant culture. The narrator remembers “rubbing the waxy {carnation pink} stick across the back of [her] hand until the skin broke” (American Immigrant website). She also creates a white person so that she can imagine that the dominant culture embraces her. She says, “When I was white, my name was Donna” (American Immigrant website). The narrator could never be herself until she realized that she had a right to be a member of society. She began to embrace herself without having to be accepted by the dominant culture.

The third narrative is was a combination of the immigrant and minority narratives. This type of narrative deals with the New World Immigrants (Hispanic/Latino and Afro Carribean) who voluntarily immigrated to the United States but were treated as minorities by the dominant culture. In this instance the issue of embracing the concept of the “melting pot” would only be partly debated. In this type of narrative we do see assimilation but we also see come hesitation similar to the migrant narrative.

 Gary Soto’s “Like Mexicans” is written from the viewpoint of a Mexican American boy who is told by his grandmother to marry a Mexican girl. The narrator has assimilated in many aspects but his grandmother does not want him to venture out of his own race for marriage. The grandmother tells him, “No Okies, hijo” (301). By Okies, the grandmother meant the dominant culture, the Caucasian race.

In the poem “Coca-Cola and Coco Frio” by Martin Espada, we read about a young boy who travels back to Puerto Rico, for the first time, and he is not truly accepted there in the old world. In the poem we see that his relatives are trying to give him Coca Cola but he wants to embrace his family’s roots.

In this type of narrative, the clash between the immigrant and minority group are even more prevalent.  These people emigrate from Afro Caribbean countries but they are treated as minorities in the United States because they look like African Americans. This can prove shocking to many Afro Caribbean’s, who want nothing more but to be accepted by the dominant culture.

The concept of the United States being seen as a “melting pot” would differ between the three narratives we have just discussed. Taking this class has allowed me to be able to see that not every immigrant who comes to the United States wants to assimilate. Also, this class has awakened my passion for learning about new countries and the narratives of its people.

[Jackie]