Midterm1 (2013 midterm1 assignment) Sample Student Midterm Answers 2013 #1: Long Essay

LITR 4333     American Immigrant Literature

Adam Glasgow

Immigrant and Minority Literature: What's the Difference and Why Does it Matter?

To the average person the terms "immigrant" and "minority" are more or less interchangeable. In many ways, this confusion makes sense. Quite a bit overlaps between the two groups. However, stark differences between the two do exist that are important to understand, especially if one wishes to read and comprehend the literature written by members of the two distinct groups.

The most obvious similarity between the two groups is that they are, at least to some extent, separated from the dominant culture. In America that basically amounts to either being non-white, non-Christian, or a combination of the two. Both types of literature document the difficulties that this status came bring with it, including feelings of aloneness, monetary shortcomings, etc. They can also both explore the positives that come along with being a minority or an immigrant, such as pride for their unique endeavors, or the benefits of their specific culture, like a heightened importance on family.

Take, for example, Anzia Yezierska's "Soap and Water." This is a story of an immigrant woman who is working hard to make her way in America. She attends school and hopes to get her degree, but was refused it by a woman named Miss Whiteside because the main character is dirty and unkempt. The reader comes to find out that this is the case because of the outrageous amount of work she has to do to make ends meet while going to school. She speaks of the "tyranny of their [American] culture," (WEB) highlighting the fact that although she is attempting to assimilate into the dominant culture, she still feels separate from it.

Compare this to Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson," a work of minority literature about a young black girl in a poor part of town. In the story an older woman named Miss Moore takes the girl and her friends to an upscale toy store in order to illustrate the harsh divide between the wealth of the dominant culture and the world the children are familiar with. One of the children in the story says, "Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven." Another one of the children simply quips, "White folks crazy" (151). Once again the reader can see one of the similarities between the two types of literature; they both talk about the difficulties of living in a group separate from the mainstream.

This brings us to the big, vital difference between the two groups of people. Immigrants, on the whole, desire greatly to assimilate to the dominant culture, while minority groups do not. In her essay titled "Most Americans..." past student Debbie describes the desire to adapt very well when describing her own ancestors, "Typical of the immigrant narrative, my great-grandparents gave up their language, culture, and even changed the pronunciation of their name so that they could assimilate into the dominant culture" (WEB). In contrast, minorities have a much stronger craving to hold onto their traditional culture's ways and are not as interested in working towards the "American Dream." That isn't to say that immigrants always abandon the entirety of their native culture, but they do tend to be far more willing to give it up in order to be considered an American.

In Gish Jen's "In the American Society," the reader meets a family of Chinese immigrants. The father has a huge amount of respect for American ideals and aspires to be like the Americans he idolizes. At the beginning of the story the reader learns that he has started saving for his children's college educations early by starting a pancake house because, "Those Americans always saying it [...] Smart guys think in advance" (158). His wife is also eager to assimilate, as evidenced by her desire to join a local country club. Opposite this would be those around Miss Moore in Bambara's "The Lesson." The children are annoyed by her presence, but even the adults seem to look down on her for not matching to the norms of their minority group, like going to church (145).

The difference of motivation for both types of literature has a large influence on the general tone of the works. While immigrant literature obviously does often tell of the troubles of assimilation, it generally does remain upbeat and hopeful. After all, immigrants are working towards something: the allusive but irresistible (to them) "American Dream" of climbing the social ladder and bettering oneself. In Nicholasa Mohr's short story "The English Lesson," the main character (and many of the characters around her), have a driving passion to learn the native language in order to become a more integrated part of American society. Alice Walker's "Elethia," on the other hand, contains characters who are much more bitter about the dominant culture that surrounds them. Unlike most immigrant literature, it does not leave the reader with a sense that the characters are filled with optimism about the future.

This all brings up an interesting question: can a work of literature be both a piece of immigrant literature and minority literature? The most compelling piece of work we have read this semester that suggests that it is possible is the slave narrative, "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiana." The story begins with Olaudah being kidnapped from Africa and sold into slavery in the American south. At this point, the story is 100% a piece of minority literature. He is not a willing immigrant, and he is not interested in adapting to the dominant culture. For example, he was given a new name - Gustavus - but he refused to answer to it until he was beaten into submission (WEB ch. 3 par. 7). However, this does slowly change over the course of the novel. He learns to read and eventually earns his freedom by saving up money through selling and trading of goods. Once he earns his freedom, though, he does not seem to desire to go back to Africa. He has assimilated.

While immigrants and minority groups do share some similarities, there is a thick line that divides them. That line is a desire to assimilate into the dominant culture. Even though that is a major distinction between the two groups, public perception is frequently confused on the subject. That confusion isn't helped by misleading terminology like "model minority groups" (which are actually immigrant groups), so the confusion is somewhat understandable. If we are to read and understand literature from these groups, however, we must understand the difference between them.