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Sample Student final answers 2013 (2013 final exam assignment) #1: Essays: dominant culture overview |
LITR 4333
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Tracie Estrada
09 Dec 2013
Determination Will Get Us Through This
The multicultural groups of America have
more in common than they think. Even though immigrant narratives vary from
culture to culture there are still basic characteristics that are observable in
them all. Of these characteristics the most evident is determination. It is the
determination of a better life, the determination to carve out a piece of the
American dream, and determination to stay true to their identity in the sea of
faces. When we examine narratives from the dominant culture, model minority, or
minority the common thread of determination is woven into the tapestry of their
lives.
The founding pilgrims’ narrative begins like
so many of the narratives read this semester. They start with a groups of people
struggling to hold onto their religious beliefs and wished for the opportunity
to believe as they say fit instead of a ruler of monarch telling them how. In
Of Plymouth Plantation, the English
monarchy was once again establishing itself as the Anglican Church which
contrasts the beliefs of Puritan. They felt that the Anglican Church mirrors
Catholicism, referring to their rituals as “vile ceremonies, with many
unprofitable canons and decrees” (1.2). With this wish to return to purity and
abandon the pomp and circumstance, they resort to a plainer and more basic style
of religion. By desiring to distance themselves from the “useless ceremonies and
monuments of idolatry” the pilgrims begin like the journey out of the old world.
(1.9) This determination leads them
to exit England for Holland and they begin to identify themselves with as God’s
chosen people much like that of the Israelites. In his final exam essay, Ryan
Smith eludes to this stating, “And as the Jews – the entire race of people, a
homeless nation - escaped Egypt, moving from place to place until final reaching
the Promised Land, so did the Pilgrim’s journey, as a politically and
religiously unified, to their eventual home in what would eventually be called
America”.
Once established in America, the pilgrims
begin to create what would be known as the dominant culture. Examining the later
portion of the narrative Of Plymouth
Plantation, the ideals of individualism take root. The dependence on the
group is lessened while the pioneer mentality of self-preservation blossoms
stating that, “regard trust to themselves” (14.1). It is Crevecoeur who paints
the picture of the American dream stating, “They receive ample rewards for their
labors”. He observes American ideals by declaring, “He is arrived on a new
continent; a modern society offers itself to his contemplation, different from
what he had hitherto seen. It is not composed, as in Europe, of great lords who
possess every thing and of a herd of people who have nothing. Here are no
aristocratical families, no courts, no kings, no bishops, no ecclesiastical
dominion, no invisible power giving to a few a very visible one;
no great manufacturers employing thousands, no great refinements of
luxury. The rich and the poor are not so far removed from each other as they are
in Europe”. This is the picture of assimilation, that are all equal and coming
to this country an immigrant becomes a piece of an expansive puzzle. Many of the
narratives of model minority express this desire to belong.
Model minority immigrant narratives describe
the longing that a group or family has to carve a piece of the American dream.
These individuals come determine to believe in the idea that is America to them.
This is evident in Chitra Divakaruni’s “Silver Pavements, Golden Roots”, when
the narrative is on her journey to the US she emulates the speech of the flight
attendant repeating “No problem” which is already representative of
assimilation. Furthermore she demonstrates stages of the immigrant narrative
when she is in disbelief as the conditions in which her aunt and uncle live.
However, ever present within model minority immigrant narratives is that they
buy into the system. In Sui Sin Far’s “In the Land of the Free”, the Chinese
immigrants have such faith in the system that they go along when the customs
officers keep their son. They wait and do things by the book in order to have
their son returned. Additionally,
they model minority is also subjugated to prejudices as the new group of
incoming immigrants. The narrator and her aunt in “Silver Pavements, Golden
Roots”, are shocked to be called racial names then have snow thrown in their
faces. This part of the modern immigrant narratives differs from Crevecoeur’s
picture of American equality.
Unlike the model minority, minority
narrative describe a less than welcoming America, but they are resolved to
maintaining their cultural identity. Native Americans were here prior to the
pilgrims, in fact, they are referred to in
Of Plymouth Plantation, “they espied
five or six persons with a dog coming towards them, who were savages” (10.2).
This begins the dominate culture’s attempt to eradicate them and their distrust
in any type of authority that aligns itself with the culture of their
oppressors. This is observed in Louise Erdrich’s “American Horse”, when
Albertine sees the authority figures and recalls the profile the Sioux
policeman, Red Tomahawk, the one who killed Sitting Bull. Additionally, African
American narratives describe their mistrust of authority due to the prejudices
they have faced not as immigrants but as descendants of slaves brought to this
country in chains and not by their own desire.
Also, many of the Mexican American narratives demonstrated
desire to cling to their culture in the form of acculturation. In “Silent
Dancing” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the immigrant narrative demonstrates their
ability to adapt to the dominate culture but keep true to their own as well. The
narrator describes a Christmas when her father attempts to mingle the two
cultures when they received presents for “both Christmas and
dia de Reyes”. Throughout this
narrative as well as others read during the semester we have examined those who
did not buy entirely into the dominate culture but show determination to keep
their own roots grounded.
In this semester the readings have been diverse. Many stories told from so many opposing point of views. However, instead of trying to communicate how different they all are from one another we can observe that they all desire something. They are all in search of something and determine to obtain it. Yes, we can celebrate our differences because it makes this country what it is but we can also celebrate the binding virtues that unite us as a country.
