|
Index
to Sample Student final exam answers 2016 |
LITR 4340
 American Immigrant Literature Model Assignments |
|
Ashley Cofer
We’re all Immigrants
Upon reviewing the model assignments and research reports, the one thing
that stuck out to me the most was the idea that we are all immigrants or the
descendants of immigrants. I have never really thought of myself in that way. I
have only thought of myself as a white American. The selections that got my
attention the most were two essays titled “Defining America” by Marissa Turner
and “America’s Dominant Culture: a Creation made by our Nation’s Founders” by
Sarah Gonzalez. A research report by Dorothy Noyes titled “What is “White” and
Why?” also interested me.
Growing up, I have always selected Caucasian/white as my race without
fully understanding why. My parents tried to explain to me that I was just
white. I can relate to Dorothy Noyes as she writes “unlike all the descriptive
choices given on the census forms, the box I check on all of those forms simply
reads “White.”” I have been curious to know how the white people became the
dominant culture and took over. Noyes also shares the same curiosity. “What
happened that allowed one group as varied as the European immigrants were and
are, to be transformed into a large, homogeneous group defined as “white?””
Through her research, she found that they became the dominant culture by
refusing to assimilate to those around them.
It makes sense that immigrants wanted to come to America for the
opportunity for a better life. Sarah Gonzalez agrees when she says “that notion
continues to stand as a way of viewing the United States as a place that
welcomes people from all over the world, people who share the hopes of obtaining
the American dream in a land of opportunity.” Sarah also offers insight as to
how the pilgrims’ culture became the dominant one. “They immigrated as a group
and community with the intention of not assimilating to the dominant culture.
The Pilgrims were able to resist assimilation because they had both power in
numbers and education as an advantage.” This helped me to realize the goals of
the pilgrims and how the dominant culture came about.
It is important for Americans to learn about their history and how it
began. Many Americans are grown so accustomed to the dominant culture that they
don’t feel the need to learn about it. Marissa Turner comments on this by saying
“people do not seem to be aware that there is a depth behind the dominant
culture because the most common aspects they assume is that they are simply
“well-off, selfish, white people,” and they do not feel the urge or see the
mysteriousness behind them to look past that.” The pilgrims wished to escape
conformity and wanted others to follow their ways. “They built and established
their own communities and from that point on, any new comers were expected to
conform to their ways.” This is why the dominant culture has not changed much
since the pilgrims established it.
