A Country of Immigrants

What is “America?”  This word has come to be understood as one of the freest and most powerful nations in the world.  Many people may think they can give a one sentence definition of this land, “the land of the free, home of the brave.”  However, when one takes a closer look into the reality of the United States and its history, it can easily be said that to define America in one sentence is quite a difficult task.  Literature that has been written about America over the past decades reflects this difficulty.  America means different things to different groups of inhabitants to this land.  One type of literature, the immigrant narrative, shows the stories of the American experience.  By looking at the different types of the immigrant narrative - the immigrant, minority, and new world immigrant story – one can see that the norms of the American culture and experience differ depending on the background of the author.

            The standard immigrant coming to America is usually coming to seek “The American Dream.”  That is, to leave their old world and come to this new world in order to gain a higher standard of living.  They feel that by immigrating to the United States they are coming to “the land of milk and honey”, and they will be able to freely experience this kind of life in the US.  In “The English Lesson” by Nicholasa Mohr this type of immigrant story is displayed.  It is a story of immigrants taking an English class to better their communication skills, and thus improve their interaction with the dominant culture.  “All had similar statements.  They had migrated here in search of a better future […]” (25).  This is a typical illustration of the immigrant narrative as the defining model of American culture.  Most immigrant narratives do not show the characters as thinking they will experience discrimination once coming; they all are hopeful of complete assimilation; they want to adapt and blend into the new world’s dominant culture.  The character in “Soap and Water” by Anzia Yezierska exemplifies the character in an immigrant narrative.  She comes to America in hopes of finding self-expression and The American dream, but she is discriminated against, because she has not, and because of her socioeconomic status, cannot fit into the dominant culture.  But it can still be said that she fits the immigrant narrative, because she works hard to move herself up by gaining a college degree, and she does eventually find satisfaction in America.  The immigrant narrative is most defined by the fact that they have come for The American Dream and they have, for the most part, assimilated into American, or dominant culture.

            The minority narrative, unlike the immigrant narrative, is characterized by a people who have had involuntary contact and exploitation by the new world into which they have become a part of.  Although they are a part of this culture, they do not normally choose to assimilate to the dominant culture.  In “No Name in the Street” by James Baldwin, the protagonist is a black man who has become successful in America, but he knows this is not the norm for his minority group.  African Americans are one of the largest, most exploited minority groups in the US. 

So I search
the damp, chilled length of the train car
and look for their candle flames of hair,
the circles of blood at their cheeks,
that curt dismissing glare
reserved for the common, the wrinkled, the black.

Here the discrimination, the shame, and the resistance to assimilation by the minority group can all be seen.  The author of “Blonde White Women” expresses beautifully the exploitation of minorities, and also “the color code.”  This is seen in minority groups as an idea of discrimination based solely on “race” or skin color.  The speaker of the poem says things like “I wanted her to swallow/me, to be my mother, to be the first fire/moving in my breast” and I could not have been blacker/ than I was at that moment.”  Clearly, the minority narrative differs from the immigrant narrative on many levels, but the main thing to see is that immigrants have chosen to come, whereas minorities have been forced to be here, and they cannot achieve equality among society once they are here.

            The new world immigrant narrative is a mixture of both the immigrant and the minority narrative.  This is an immigrant group from the Western hemisphere – Mexican Americans, Hispanics, and Afro-Caribbean immigrants – who do not have to make a huge voyage from the old world to the new world.  Most of them come by choice, but their country has often been exploited by the US, and they have desires to achieve the American Dream, but they are also hesitant to completely assimilate into the dominant culture because of a mixture of reverence and fear of America, formed by the power and control they have seen this country impose on their homelands.  The family in “Silent Dancing” has come to America from Puerto Rico.  The father in this story portrays more of an immigrant view: he has served in the military, he puts up a Christmas tree, he tries to obtain The American Dream for his family.  The mother, however, exemplifies more of the minority standpoint.  She only wants to shop in La Bodegas, she stays at home and mixes mainly with other Puerto Rico women, and she does not want her children to assimilate, or become “la gringas.”  Many new world immigrants also experience discrimination and exploitation based on the “color code” because their skin color is the same as American minority groups, and the dominant culture cannot make a distinction between the two groups.  “The Making of a Writer: From the Poets in the Kitchen”  is a great example of a new world immigrant narrative.  The main character is an Afro-Caribbean immigrant that has assimilated and achieved the American Dream, but she still finds a connection to her heritage by discovering books by authors of her background.  And as a writer in America, she is expected to name great European authors as her inspirations, but instead she attributes her talent to her mother and the other Afro-Caribbean women who fill her mind with ordinary words and words from her native culture as a child.  The new world immigrant narrative is sometimes harder to define, because although they are immigrants, they are often treated as the minority.

            America today is considered a great melting pot, or a tossed salad of blended cultures and heritages.  While the dominant culture of English, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola still exists, US Society is becoming more mixed every year.  America can most accurately be defined as “a country of immigrants.”  The immigrant narrative is an amazing way to show Americans the stories and experiences of those peoples who have helped make up this land.

[Ashley]