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Sample Student final exam answers 2016 (2016 final exam assignment) Part 1: Essays: dominant culture overview |
LITR 4340
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Amber Boone
The Ones Who Would Not Assimilate
Generally speaking, the United States “dominant culture” is one that has roots
established as far back as the early Pilgrim settlers. They, like many
immigrants who have since come to this country, sought freedom from persecution
upon their arrival into a new land that seemingly embodied an unspoken promise
of endless opportunity, and the chance to start a new life. However, the early
Puritan settlers quickly lost their sense of community, refused to assimilate to
the Native Americans who were already living in their “new land,” and they
established their presence firmly as one that others must assimilate to; they
shaped what is today known as the dominant culture. Throughout American history,
this is the culture which other immigrants and minorities are expected to
assimilate to if they wish to pursue the “American Dream” and become successful.
The dominant culture is marked by literacy, plainness, pursuit of education, and
it is, as a whole, considered to be an “unmarked” status. America as we know it
today continues to be shaped by this culture, so it is therefore important to
examine its roots, and to look at how such a culture came about.
Historically, the Puritans supported an overall simplification of the methods
through which their religious doctrine was relayed, which posed itself in direct
opposition with the Catholic “ecclesiastical institutions” rife with grandiose
rituals. Rather than retaining the Catholic tradition of withholding “some
reservation of literacy to the priesthood,” Puritans emphasized a “personal
relationship with Christ,” with “every person reading the Bible for him- or
herself” (Protestant and Protestant Reformation, Craig White). This emphasis on
literacy later came to establish a key principle regarding the dominant culture,
and henceforth a primary component in regards to the process of assimilation for
later immigrants. This shift from traditional religious ideology manifested
itself in the Seventeenth Century with the “separative religious movements that
began in late-Renaissance Europe in reaction against the Catholic Church, and
became known as the “Protestant Reformation” (Protestant and Protestant
Reformation, Craig White). Therefore, the Puritans resolved to move to Holland
in search of religious freedom. However, in his work entitled “Of Plymouth
Plantation,” William Bradford describes how Holland posed new problems for the
Puritans, as “many of their children, by… the great licentiousness of youth in
that country, and the manifold temptations of the place, were drawn away by evil
examples into extravagant and dangerous courses… [which led to them] departing
from their parents” (Bradford, 4.4).
For the Puritans, this sort of assimilation was deemed unacceptable, for it
deviated from their core beliefs, and so they soon thereby set their sights upon
America in order to “declare in Zion the work of the Lord” (Bradford, 1.9). This
sort of declaration is also evident in the Jewish Exodus when the Jews migrated
out of Egypt and into Canaan. In the Bible, it is written in the Book of Numbers
that the Jews, being instructed by God, were to “dispossess the inhabitants of
the land, and all therein; for I have given you the land to possess it” (Numbers
33.53). This model of “national migration” was closely modeled by the Pilgrims,
and is even referenced by Bradford both directly and indirectly upon many
occasions throughout “Of Plymouth Plantation.” However, a point of utmost
importance is the comparison made between the Canaanites and the Native
Americans. While the Jews were instructed to overtake and deny assimilation
amongst the Canaanites, the Pilgrims felt an equivalent sentiment in regards to
the Native Americans. Bradford, in his writing, describes the land of what is
now America as having been “devoid of all civil inhabitants, where there are
only savage and brutish men which range up and down, little otherwise than the
wild beasts” (Bradford, 4.7). This sentiment, whilst generating utmost shock
upon its reading, lends credence in regards to the sentiment felt by the
Pilgrims upon their rigid notion of upholding a culture which maintains an
absolute resistance to assimilation.
While this resistance was clearly demonstrated during their stay in Holland, it
is even more strongly exemplified upon their arrival in America, for not only do
they refuse to assimilate, but rather, they expect to be assimilated
to. In this way, the Pilgrims are
already beginning to clearly define the dominant culture while simultaneously
casting others aside, and subjugating them into a minority status. It is also
important to note that, during the second wave of British immigration into
America, there included a “forced migration of African Americans into slavery,”
which is “in contrast to voluntary immigration for economic opportunity”
(Immigration to America, Craig White). This event further solidified the
dominant culture, whilst simultaneously further stratifying others into a
minority status. A similar sentiment may also be said of later Mexican American,
New World, and Model Minority immigrants. Though their minority status has
certainly come about differently than that of either Native Americans or African
Americans, it is clear that their realm of opportunity in America has also been
at odds with the pre-established dominant culture. Sadly, the “American Dream”
outlined as one in which “All men are created equal” initially referred to
white, property-owning men, and anyone who fell outside of those guidelines has
since been forced to fight an arduous battle for equal rights amongst the
dominant culture (Declaration of Independence).
The duration of time, however, has proved trying for Puritans’ religious
doctrine, and therefore, Puritanism has thence been overwhelmingly subjugated
into what many social psychologists now deem as having been manifested into what
is universally known as a "civil religion." This manifestation has generally
been formed within the contractual synopsis constructs of an overbearing, yet
seemingly autonomous government that coexists between the methodology and
predispositions of those who discourage formalized ritualization in contrast
with those who perpetuate or practice rhetorical reactualizations in cohorts
with their sociologically driven rhetoric. Nonetheless, it was the Puritans who
originally formulated the rhetoric of nationalism, (ambiguously and
pluralistically), and who thereby encapsulated the notion of what would later
famously become that ideology of the "manifest destiny" which came to be held so
dear to those in pursuit of what had now been defined as encompassing the
"American Dream." This ideology primarily manifested within the era of the
Enlightenment, when the Founding Fathers wrote documents such as the
Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, but the roots of this dominant
culture’s sense of individualism may be traced back much further.
Puritans initially migrated as an entire community, rather than as individuals,
which aided in the establishment of their place in the dominant culture. Their
plain style, religious views, and resistance to assimilation were ideals they
maintained and strongly held onto. However, their initial sense of community
slowly formed into an emphasis on individualism, as demonstrated above, and
which is also explained by Bradford when he beholds a sickness that has plagued
the Pilgrims in their new land. At first, when the sickness began, many of the
Puritans helped the others, and did “all this willingly and cheerfully, without
any grudging in the least, showing herein their true love unto their friends and
brethren,” which truly demonstrated their sense of community (Bradford, 11.5).
However, as the sickness continued, Bradford witnessed a stark change amongst
the Pilgrims, saying, “We let one another die as dogs” (Bradford, 11.7). This
type of shift towards individualism gradually took over as they integrated
further within their new homeland, and the effects of which have snowballed into
what is now a common theme within the dominant culture. As immigrants arrive in
America, this sense of individualism, further propagated by what is referred to
as the Protestant Work Ethic, has become a standard many immigrants assimilate
to. Nuclear families are dissolved, and meritocracy reigns as a way in which one
may attempt to fulfill the “American Dream.”
One group that is now considered to be a
part of the dominant culture was indeed once not considered to be so. This
group, comprising the third wave of dominant culture immigration, is known as
the Scotch-Irish. This group identifies with the dominant culture due to their
“northern European background, their Protestantism, and their cultural and
political conservatism,” yet they also have a history of “conflicted relations
with dominant-culture elites like big-government liberals or corporate
conservatives” which, in addition to this group “defining itself by opposition
and a history of grievances and exploitation, “resembles a minority narrative as
well (Scots-Irish, Craig White). This dichotomy serves as a further
representation of how oppressive the dominant culture can be, maintaining that a
group may identify with them whilst simultaneously holding a level of exclusion.
In “Hillbilly Elegy” J.D. Vance, a Scotch-Irish, describes a unique experience
he had while reading a book about the working poor and social policy. Within the
book, Vance read, “As millions migrated north to factory jobs, the communities
that sprouted up around those factories were vibrant but fragile: When the
factories shut their doors, the people left behind were trapped in towns and
cities that could no longer support such large populations with high-quality
work. Those who could—generally the well-educated, wealthy, or well
connected—left, leaving behind communities of poor people… the ‘truly
disadvantaged’—unable to find good jobs on their own and surrounded by
communities that offered little in the way of connections or social support”
(Vance, ch 9, p 144). This socio-economic stratification is one that is
oftentimes found within minorities, and Vance’s situation certainly reflected
the words he had read. He claimed he felt so connected to the writing, and it
was as though someone finally understood how it felt to live in opposition to
such an over-bearing dominant culture which leaves many behind with little
chance at true opportunity. However, upon further research, Vance discovered
that the author of the book was indeed not writing about his town, but rather,
was writing about African-Americans in inner cities. This further shows the
minority status the Scotch-Irish have often shared with other minorities, and
further, this example proves the unequal opportunities present for many who do
not fit in with the dominant culture.
The dominant culture represents
something that oftentimes feels intangible, or out of reach. Centuries ago, the
Puritans firmly established what this culture was to be, and they refused to
assimilate to any other. Instead, they expected to be assimilated
to. Thenceforth, there have been
numerous accounts in immigrant and minority literature detailing the struggles
to assimilate to this culture, the stratification they have faced, the laws that
have thereby been forced upon them, and their struggle to find an identity
within a new land held within the grasps of a firmly established culture. In
“Silver Pavements, Golden Roofs,” Chitra Divakaruni paints a vivid image of a
model minority attempting to assimilate. She writes, “In my Modern Novel class
at the university, I sit dressed in a plaid skirt and a matching sweater. My
legs, elegant in knee-high boots like the ones I have seen on one of the
afternoon TV shows that Aunt likes, are casually crossed. My bobbed hair swings
around my face as I spiritedly argue against the handsome professor’s
interpretation of Dreiser’s philosophy” (Divakaruni, 76). This goes to show that
the dominant culture is ever-present, though largely unseen.
