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2016 Midterm1
(assignment) |
LITR 4340
American Immigrant Literature Model Assignments |
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Austin Green
10/3/16
Culture Clash
The ideas I had of what this class would be when signing up for it have differed
greatly from what, to me, has become the most engaging aspect of it. While I was
correct in the types of readings we would be assigned to read and study, I was
completely unaware of how common, or how similar the experiences of immigrants
coming to the United States were. Right from the start of class, my eyes were
opened when we were presented with the five stages of the immigrant narrative. A
guideline basically, of how the typical immigrant experiences goes. The reason
this was so interesting to me was twofold. One being that the experiences were
similar enough a guide could be made, and the other is that it was here when we
first see how the experiences of immigrants and minorities differ. I feel bad to
admit that this is not a topic I am too familiar with, and even worse admitting
that while I do understand the clear distinction of immigrant and minority, if
you had asked me how their experiences differed from each other I would not have
had an answer to give you. Luckily that has changed. There are clear
distinctions between the immigrant experience and the minority experience in the
United States.
To help understand the immigrant experience, we can refer back to the 5 stages
of the immigrant narrative mentioned previously. The first two stages go hand in
hand with each other: leaving the Old World, and journeying to the New World.
These two stages represent the basic definition of an immigrant. They are
someone who has left their home country in order to live in another, foreign
country. This is the beginning to every immigrant narrative. Leaving everything
behind in order to start new in a new place. We see this journey mentioned in
"Bread Givers" when Max is telling our narrator or speaker about when he first
arrived in America: "I still see that first day when I got off the ship with my
little bundle on my back. I was almost lost in the blowing snow of a freezing
blizzard." He arrived in America with nothing more than a bundle of belongings,
and was lost (almost) in this new land.
Upon arrival in the new land, we then run into the next two stages of the
immigrant narrative experience. Stage three is "Shock, resistance, exploitation,
and discrimination," while Stage four is "assimilation into the dominant
American culture" which may include "Loss of ethnic identity" (Objective
2c-Course Homepage). These stages are where we can see the immigrant and
minority experiences become similar (Stage 3), but it is also where the two
greatly differ from each other (Stage 4). The typical immigrant experience when
first arriving is a culture shock. So much they see may greatly differ than what
they were used to back in their original homeland. They can feel out of place,
and it is not helped when the dominant culture here recognizes that, and can
make them feel more out of place, or unwelcome. The best example of shock from
our readings so far has been in "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of
Olaudah Equiano, . . . the African" by Olaudah Equiano. When our narrator first
sees white people: "I asked them if we were not to be eaten by those white men
with horrible looks, red faces, and loose hair." He was not sure if they white
people whose ship he was on were going to eat him. Also, we can see a similarity
in this story between immigrant and minority narratives in the journey from the
Old World to the New World (Stages 1 and 2), but under different circumstances
of course. We also see the resistance mentioned in stage three in Anchee Min's
"The Cooked Seed." When our narrator is looking for a job, "The one Chinese
carry-out-only restaurant owner who had a help-wanted sign in his window said to
me, "No English, no job."
Stage three for the immigrant runs directly into stage four. In order to get out
from this feeling of different, or standing out, the immigrant basically does
what they can in order to fit into the dominant culture here. This assimilation
is also where we see the biggest difference, or breaking away point in
experiences from immigrants and minorities. An immigrant has come here on
purpose, and wants to be a part of America. America is typically considered a
country that was built from and of immigrants. The minority experience we have
discussed in class has been one of being either brought here to America against
their will (slaves/slavery, like in the previously mentioned "The Interesting
Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, . . . the African”), or the Native
Americans who were here before the Old World made its way over and outnumbered
and took over their land from them. Both cases of groups who are now considered
part of America fully, but did not intend to be initially.
These minority groups do not necessarily have any interest in assimilating to
the dominant culture. Part of assimilation is leaving behind customs,
traditions, and culture and accepting the dominant cultures. These minority
groups do not want to do this (nor should they feel the need too). We see this
in "The Man to Send Rain Clouds." After convincing a local priest to come
sprinkle holy water on a grave during a funeral (under the guise of
assimilation), we learn the true motives with the closing line: "...he was happy
about the sprinkling of the holy water; now the old man could send them big
thunderclouds for sure." He used the priest's holy water for his own culture and
beliefs. He never truly wanted any type of Christian burial rites. Another
example of a minority's experience or frustration with not wanting to be
assimilated into dominant culture can be found in Louise Erdrich's "American
Horse." After being removed from his home and family by members of the dominant
culture, Buddy "...opened his mouth to say thank you to the woman, as his mother
had taught him. But instead of thank you coming out he was astonished to hear a
great rattling scream, and then another, rip out of him like pieces of his own
body and whirl onto the sharp things all around him."
Once assimilated (or even during), we see another type of immigrant appear: the
"Model Minority." These are immigrants who do not clash with or threaten the
dominant culture. A good example of this model minority can be found in "What
Color would you Like, Ma'am?" Right from the start we see assimilation with
Thien: "Even though all he could think about were his college plans, he figured
this summer he would play basketball and Play Station games for months while he
had the chance." We see Thien described here as pretty much any other teenager,
fully matching the dominant culture in terms of being one. As the story
progresses, we see more glimpses of why Asian Americans are considered a model
minority. When Thien's family is being described we learn "Every member of the
family worked at the nail salon, whether they were licensed nail technicians or
not. Without knowing and understanding English, they would find it difficult to
work even down the street at a restaurant or fast food chain. Without college
education or even completing high school, they couldn’t be considered for
corporate or professional positions." We see the entire family falling "in line"
and working one of the jobs our dominant culture has seemed to approve of Asian
families running. I believe most Americans would not even give it a second
thought if very little to no English was spoken at a nail salon they visited.
It's one of the rare occurrences (or "privileges"?) of the dominant culture
showing support of the model minority. We then see Thien's future plans, and
again we can better understand the model minority: "Afterwards, he would go to
medical school and become a doctor." He plans on becoming a doctor, one of the
most respected professions in the country.
The last stage of the immigrant narrative is reconnecting back to parts of these
cultures or traditions that were lost during assimilation. Only once you are
fully ingrained in the dominant culture can you start to reel back in some of
the customs you or your family may have lost during immigration.
Ultimately I have found both the
immigrant and minority narratives we have read in class to be far more impactful
than I thought I would when the class began. Knowing (and seeing, and
recognizing, and understanding) the differences between immigrant experiences
and minority experiences make the readings much more rewarding. The highs are
higher and the lows are lower when you have the added context and information on
these narratives.
