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Midterm1 (2013 midterm1 assignment) Sample Student Midterm Answers 2013 #1: Long Essay |
LITR 4333
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Dorothy Noyes
7 October 2013
Resistance Versus Persistence: How
Does Immigrant Literature Differ?
From coast to coast, “America the Beautiful”
is a land rich in history, change, and most of all, diversity. For such a young
country, America has much to show in its development and accomplishments. She is a country
of change; a land represented by the constant journeys and evolutions of her
assorted peoples. However, sometimes the voices and the stories of some groups
of Americans get lost, muted, or lumped together with others that do not relate
to their own personal, cultural, or ethnic experiences and journeys. Often if
your voice does not represent the majority, it is not heard, or not accurately
appreciated for its own uniqueness of spirit and cultural identity. This
phenomenon can be observed in the common perception of American immigrant
literature and American minority literature being one and the same, when in
fact, that could not be further from the truth. These two groups, so often
lumped together into one mass of “different,” actually differ greatly in their
respective experiences and subsequent narratives. In fact, though immigrant and
minority literature have some similar features, they tell the stories of two
very different groups of people: one striving to assimilate in the land they
have chosen, and one striving to survive in a land chosen for them by a forceful
hand or mere circumstance.
While immigrant and minority literature
differ from each other in key, pivotal ways, they both do well in illustrating
the feeling of “otherness” so often ignored by the dominant culture. Both kinds
of literature grasp for understanding and some kind of success in a location or
culture foreign to their own sensibilities, and use their unique voices to
illustrate the journey that they take as outsiders, looking in. In Yezierska’s
“Soap and Water” the sentiment is shared by the Russian immigrant shop-girl when
reflecting on the way her teacher viewed her, “She never looked into my eyes.
She never perceived that I had a soul.” These feelings shared in this immigrant
narrative are not at all unique to the immigrant experience. The mix of
invisibility and contempt that is applied to this young woman is mirrored in
much minority literature, as well. In her poem, “Blonde White Women” Patricia
Smith shares a similar experience with her own childhood teacher: “But when she
pried/ me away, her cool blue eyes shining with/ righteousness and too much
touch/ I saw how much she wanted to wash.” This shared experience, the disdain
applied to these authors for not being part of the majority, seems to be a
universal experience for both immigrant groups and minority groups. The
narratives and poetry of both groups can be seen as a longing to fit in, as well
as a declaration of individuality. Both groups want to find their niche.
However, the niches they hope to find are inherently and profoundly different
for a number of reasons.
Minority groups and immigrants obviously
share similar struggles to find a place and thrive, but their differences are
much more vast, and are characterized by intent and reaction by the
aforementioned groups. As Objective 3 in the syllabus states, these two groups
can be viewed as one living and working towards the “American Dream” while the
other suffers through the “American Nightmare.” Immigrant literature focuses on
the journey; the journey from another part of the world, the journey from
outsider, to assimilation, to hopefully someday, full success and acceptance.
The minority narrative differs in the intent. Minority groups did not seek this
life, this stereotypical American dream is not theirs. The minority groups we
have studied thus far, African Americans and Native Americans, are often the
blameless victims of circumstance and a changing world. While immigrants chose
this life, these struggles, these journeys, they were thrust upon those who did
not choose that life, and that is where the persistence/resistance dichotomy of
immigrant and minority literature asserts itself. One group persists in
achieving goals made for them by a society that does not necessarily welcome
them with open arms, while the other resists those same goals, resists
assimilation because they never asked to have those goals applied to them.
Immigrant literature is a story or model
that is ultimately representative of a journey (Objective 1). This journey may
be difficult, there may be roadblocks and pain and suffering. It may not be a
happy journey, an easy journey. However, it is almost always a journey of
eventual triumph. Immigrant literature is representative of this journey through
assimilation and the authors or narrators’ understanding of both their cultural
roots and the place they have found for themselves as Americans. In the short
story, “In the Land of the Free” by Sui Sin Far, I believe this journey of the
immigrant is aptly illustrated in the description of how the baby that is taken
from his parents deals with that ordeal. “White women were caring for him, and
though for one full moon he had pined for his mother and refused to be comforted
he was now apparently happy and contented” (7). While this is not a perfect
example, maybe even an overly simplistic one, the parallels cannot be ignored.
He came to America, pined for his roots, but ultimately assimilated to his
surroundings and became a contented contributor to his environment. The dominant
culture did what it is meant to do: it molded this child, and ultimately his
family and other immigrants like themselves, into what was expected.
Another example of assimilation and the
persistence of immigrants as represented in their narratives can be found in the
poem by the Italian immigrant Joseph Papaleo, titled “American Dream – First
Report.” In this poem the author illustrates the short, but distinct,
assimilation process. This man refers to his family, how they were rejected for
appearances and differences upon entering America and how quickly they adjusted
their personal and cultural identities to fit to the specifications of the
dominant culture that originally deemed them smelly and unfit. Papaleo marvels
at his family’s transformation, comments on the harsh journey it took them to
get there, but paints a picture of a family that has embraced their adopted
culture to the point where they are so very far from the grandfather who
preferred spitting on the floor. As is pointed out in the essay “Is America a
Pot of Stew or a Melting Pot of Cheese?” their assimilation is so complete, it
is almost as if they have entirely melted into mainstream American society, no
longer representative of their own individual ethnic or cultural group. This
poem, like the story about the Chinese immigrants, is representative of the
persistence illustrated in American immigrant literature.
Minority literature, on the other hand,
deals with resistance to forced assimilation by the dominant culture. These
poems and prose do not beg for approval as it seems much of the immigrant
literature does. Minority stories do not represent the journey to assimilation
and acceptance, but addresses the flaws in that very system. In Toni Cade
Bambara’s short story “The Lesson,” this resistance to assimilation and the
dominant culture is obvious. “… this is not much of a democracy if you ask me.
Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don’t it?”
(151). This glaring statement by a mere child questioning the system illustrates
quite clearly the rejection of mainstream culture, points out its flaws and
silliness. Unlike immigrant literature, where they would work to meet these
undemocratic circumstances, minority literature exposes the dominant culture for
exactly the reasons they do not wish to assimilate.
The Native American family in Louise Erdich’s “American
Horse” also perpetuates the minority literature’s resistance to assimilation as
it was never their choice to be a part of that society. A small boy is taken
from his family because they were not what was accepted, or considered proper by
the mainstream. The little boy is torn from the bosom of his flawed, but
ultimately loving parent, by well-meaning, but small-minded members of the
dominant culture. This theme of a child being forcefully taken is also seen in
the “model minority” story of the Chinese immigrants, but the difference in
their reaction is the key. The “model minorities” quietly accept their
circumstances and work hard for their child’s kidnappers, the American
bureaucracy, to get their baby back. In start contrast, the family in the
minority narrative fights and rebels against the crime of removing their child;
they show that it is not in their way of life that there is a flaw, but in the
expectations applied to them that they never asked for.
When thinking of both immigrant and minority
literature, it is not only helpful, but imperative, to understand that, though
neither are part of the dominant culture, they are both coming from very
different places and have very different messages for the masses. These powerful
narratives show us all, in their own ways, that “America the Beautiful,” the
melting pot, the salad bowl, all of the above analogies and metaphors are
flawed. They are the ideas that are perpetuated by the dominant culture that
overpowers what is different as it attempts to change those who do not fit into
the mold. It is only in their acceptance or rejection of this molding that they
show us as their audience how they truly feel about the American Dream, and that
they ultimately should not be lumped together into one mass of “otherness” or
“less than” but as distinct and extraordinary groups of people striving to meet
personal goals and define their own dreams, whatever they may be.
