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Midterm2 (2013 midterm2 assignment) Sample Student Midterm Answers 2013 #1: Essays on New World Immigrants |
LITR 4333
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Cesar Cano
White and Black Nation: With Hues of Brown
Resentment. Fear. Anger. These three emotions mix with awe
and desire to define New World Immigrants, those coming from Latin America and
the Caribbean. It is a much different set of emotions when compared to the early
European immigrants. Dorothy Noyes in “Resistance vs. Persistence: How Does
Immigrant Literature Differ,” states the first waves of immigrants were
“striving to assimilate in the land they have chosen”, while New World
Immigrants, like minority groups, show resistance to assimilation. What makes
recent waves of immigrants different? In this essay, I want to explore the
reason New World Immigrants share traits with minority groups, analyze the
love/hate relationship towards America, and the effects bonds to their home
country have.
One of the most astonishing discoveries this semester has been in regards to
Afro-Caribbean immigrants. Upon arrival in this country and based solely on
appearance, these groups of people, mostly from Haiti and Jamaica, are clumped
with the existing African American culture already present in the United States.
The ancestors of African Americans were robbed of their cultural identity and
language when they were uprooted and forced into slavery. Likewise,
Afro-Caribbean immigrants are robbed of their culture and language upon entering
this country and assigned a history not their own, exclusively based on skin
color. This involuntary reassignment by the dominant culture is the defining
trait of minority groups and gives Afro-Caribbean immigrants a minority aspect.
It also speaks volumes of the color code present in our society, where “skin
color [serves] as a marker of identity and difference in race [and] class”
(White, 3). In both popular literature and film, the colors white and black
serve as symbols for good and evil. White is presented as a lofty ideal humanity
strives for, but the color black represents undesired peril. Pop culture is one
example of how pervasively subtle the color code finds its way into everyday
life. Economically, individuals with lighter skin tone are better off than those
with a darker shade. This holds true in countries with a minimal population of
African descent. In Mexico, indigenous groups, naturally darker than their
Spanish descendent peers, are the “blacks” of society and have suffered
generations of abuse and injustices at the hands of their fair skinned
compatriots. This behavior creates a blatant irony because Mexican immigrants
voice their concern over the same inequalities here in America. Immigrants from
Latin America have varying degrees of skin tone from fair to dark and see
themselves affected by the color code upon entering the United States.
Now, Mexican Americans find themselves in a unique situation. This group makes
up the largest wave of current immigrants to the United States, particularly the
southern states. When they arrive, they are happily surprised to find a vibrant
Spanish speaking community already in place. The members of such communities can
be first generation immigrants or members of families that have lived in these
territories for generations, dating back to when Mexico owned these same lands.
These individual lost rights to their lands at the hands of the dominant
culture’s government and armed forces. The same way Native Americans were forced
to give up their lands by force. Mexican Americans thus fall into a minority
group not just simply an immigrant group. Having such a presence of people from
their same culture slows down or even inhibits assimilation. It no longer
becomes necessary to learn the language of the dominant culture because their
native language is just as abundant. Thus, the dominant culture is not necessary
to survive or succeed in their new country. The duality in regards to American
culture also covers other aspects of the immigrant’s outlook.
Their attitude towards the dominant culture is both positive
and negative in nature. The first instance of this in our readings was in “The
English Lesson” by Mohr, where we are introduced to the fiery Diego Torres who
exclaims “the United States control most of the industry” in his home country
and it “is political to get a job” (Mohr, 25). Mexicans
willingly migrate to the USA for economic opportunities but do not wish to adopt
American culture as their own. Some even acknowledge they are forced to migrate
in part to the USA’s exploitation of their home country. When Mexican immigrants
give birth to children in the United States, it becomes an even more complicated
dynamic.
A common fear amongst all parents is the inability to protect their children.
For immigrant parents this fear is often directed at the dominant culture, who
strives to kill tradition in their children and place them out of their loving
grasps. Pat Mora’s poem “Immigrants” deals with this “dark parent fear” or
alienation from their children through the assimilation of said children into
the dominant culture. Immigrant parents wish for their children to succeed but
not in exchange for their cultural identity. And, thus these first generations
regard America as the land of opportunity and loss. Economic freedom is within
their reach at the expense of a generational gap with their offspring. Tito and
his father Vicente, from Candelaria’s “El Patron”, exemplify this parent child
relationship. The story explains the majority of quarrels between Vicente and
his children stem from Vicente’s desire to cling on to tradition, to have his
children grow up and follow his footsteps. His daughter refuses to subordinately
cook in the kitchen while the men talk, and Vicente laments he ever let Tito go
to college. It is in college he learned new ideas that created and widen the gap
between the two. The new generations become a hybrid of tradition and modernity.
They continue to give importance to certain aspects of their culture like
extended family ties, food, and respect for the advice of elders but combine it
with new found information obtained in the educational and entertainment
institutions of American culture. The children of New World Immigrants become
the burnt Barbies in Cisneros’ “Barbie-Q”, able to appear American but forever
carrying “la mancha” which identifies
them as outsiders (Cofer, 181).
Amongst New World Immigrants, it is common to feel an outsider amongst the
dominant culture. It more difficult for these immigrant groups to wholly buy
into the American dream because of the previous contact with the United States
in their home countries. It is more often than not a negative in nature. Junot
Diaz, of the Dominican Republic, gives voice to this fact in his short story
“How to Date a Browngirl…” where the main character’s mother “recognized [the]
smell from the year the United States invaded [her] island” (277). Dr. White
summed up the reality of these immigrants by making the observation they “love
but are not fooled by America”. To them America has two faces, good and bad, and
they have experienced both. The exploitation of their homelands and
discrimination coupled with the opportunity to advance socially and economically
in this country leaves them in limbo between both worlds. Paule Marshall shares
that “at a level beyond words they [New World Immigrants] remain fearful and in
awe” of this country. The author of “Coca Cola and Coco Frio” marvels at how
Puerto Rico natives prefer a manufactured product over the natural coconut milk.
The culture of America with its technology and convenience products undermines
the tradition and natural products of their home countries.
I believe part of the reason fear is a constant emotion in immigrants is due to
the proximity of the home country. The bonds are never completely severed and
many remain in constant communication with family members back home. The
opportunity to travel with greater ease between the USA and Latin America
creates two viewpoints in the immigrants mind. Such communication creates
distress of losing the past but forsaking the present. One part of the immigrant
is thankful for the opportunity to escape oppressive governments or poor
economic conditions. The other half longs for the “old ways”. This longing can
become a need to reconnect to their traditions and slow down or negate
assimilation into the dominant culture. In “Visitors” by Oscar Hijuelos, we see
the effect visitors from Cuba have on Hector. He is “sick at heart of being so
Americanized” (317). He wishes his Spanish was better and feels shame at having
lost his cultural identity so easily. It is the ties to his motherland that
bring these feelings to the surface and cause him to regress in the assimilation
process. The proximity to their homeland makes New World Immigrants a unique
group.
Unlike their early European counterparts, immigrants from Latin America resist
assimilation, giving them minority traits, in their search for the American
Dream. A persistent color code short changes several of these immigrants of
their culture. The relative closeness to their homelands keeps tradition alive,
and the desire to not be clumped into either white or black America but
acknowledge as a rising brown nation.
