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2016 Midterm1
(assignment) |
LITR 4340
American Immigrant Literature Model Assignments |
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Thomas Kibodeaux
October 4, 2016
Assimilation and Culpability
When
analyzing the nuance behind the ways in which immigrants assimilate into
American society, whether successfully or not, one must consider the features of
the cultures that fail in doing so like African-Americans, or ones that
assimilate fairly easily like Asian-Americans. These immigrant groups serve well
in distinguishing what the course has called, the “minority narrative” and the
“immigrant narrative.” Also, one must understand why these groups do or do not
assimilate, and who’s at fault for this. Assimilation is key in furthering any
society, so an immigrant must assimilate to a point in order to achieve
stability, and therefore, success in a society. This isn’t to say that complete
homogenization is the end goal because it’s not. Ideally, it is to find the
balance between retaining what is of value from another culture, while
simultaneously living under the acceptable standards of the new culture. This
process adheres to the term acculturation, which implies that one group or
culture adapts to the beneficial traits from another culture. And this is what
makes America special: that there is beauty in many cultures sharing values and
customs, while living together peacefully. It
seems with any text that was read so far, minority or immigrant, there is a
glaring distaste and disdain for the dominant American culture.
Now, the immigrant narrative, as it’s called in class, revolves around
the notion that people come to the U.S. from other countries in search of wealth
and prosperity through hard work. Eventually, the immigrant will work their way
up through the capitalistic “what you give is what you get” system, creating
movement of class upwardly for that person. Usually this narrative is
accompanied by the person, or persons, fleeing from an underperforming or
warring country. This is highlighted essentially, by today’s standards, by East
Asian immigrants. Usually due to the lack of economic agency, or the ability to
easily advance in wealth, in Asian countries, immigrants make the conclusion
that America better rewards their labor abilities. It’s also important to note
that they take advantage of these circumstances by going into work fields that
are in need of labor. This is shown in the story, “What Color Would You Like,
Ma’am,” in which the young main character’s parent’s business is in the field of
nail care. The Asian immigrants find markets that are in need of jobs and take
on the business, without paying mind to their personal interests because their
personal interests are the ways in which to be financially successful.
In the story, “Child of War, Woman of Peace,” the protagonist marries an
American man, in search of a better life as well as stability. This story begins
to tell the tale of sacrifice; the immigrant narrative always comes with it, but
it is seen as a sacrifice for a means of some sort of net gain, much like the
way in which a capitalist, ambition-driven system works. She is conflicted on
her sense of cultural belonging, as she has trouble understanding American
societal norms. Regardless, she knows that raising a family in the U.S. is the
better alternative to life in Vietnam. In fact, this story also tells of how
model minorities are able to forgive injustices that America has set out upon
their people in order to move forward as a society and nation. This shows their
respect and trust of the American system, since they realize that succumbing to
rule will eventually result in the system fixing itself; or, perhaps they
realize that it is futile to fight back against this, that it would only slow
their own progression in prosperity.
This realization is a noble cause, an intelligent one. They agree to not
only sacrifice parts of their previous culture for the betterment of themselves
long-term, they also forgive and trust the system under which they operate. This
premise is well articulated by, “In the Land of the Free,” I which the Asian
immigrants are forced to give up their young child temporarily due to a
recording error. The family must make this brutal sacrifice, so that they may
advance their lives in America. This further shows their ample trust of the
system in place, so much so, that they view it as a necessary evil in order to
achieve success. However, although these narratives mainly work to vilify
dominant American society or whites, every story’s main characters still seem to
make the logical conclusion that this way of life is more beneficial than the
previous one, even when one family’s child is taken from them for a period of
time. With this trust, maturity, and respect in their decision-making, it’s no
wonder that Asian immigrants are considered a model minority. Now, this is a
highly polarized example as to how immigrants are critiqued and measured.
A drastic contrast to the model minority narrative would be exemplified
by the minority narrative, which is best characterized by the hindrance to the
dominant culture, or a culture who despises the system in place. And whether it
be through apathy or outright aggression, the minority narrative seeks to attack
this system in any way possible with no long-term end goal in mind. The
narrative is also adherent to the notion that the minority didn’t ask for what
is in place currently, or doesn’t want to participate in it. Not only this, but
they view all those who participate by the rules of the dominant culture as an
enemy. This notion shows itself in, “The Lesson,” in which the protagonist is
taught how differently life just is between poor minorities and rich members of
the dominant culture. To which, she just regularly claims, “White folks crazy,”
repeatedly. Despite all efforts her black teacher attempts to make on
encouraging her minority students to try to change this disparity between
classes, she proceeds to ignore giving the lesson critical thought and steals
from her instructor. What a perfect example of the thought process behind
counter-culture: the character wants, like the model minorities, to better
herself and her situation, yet the way in which she goes about doing so is
detrimental to her experience and seeks to never move her out of poverty.
However, some still choose to rise above, as they come to the realization that
fighting against the dominant culture’s system benefits no one, especially not
themselves.
One such African-American, despite seemingly all possible odds, is able
to rise out of oppression and into freedom and success. Olaudah Equiano tells
his story of being captured by African slavers and then sold as an item,
eventually ending up in America. Eventually Equiano is able to amass enough
wealth in order to buy his own freedom through ambition, intellect, and work
ethic. These are all the characteristics admired by the dominant culture, yet in
a time when there were legal barriers against African people, he is still able
to overcome adversity.
There is yet another overlap of the minority and immigrant narratives.
This is mapped out by the story, “Sandals in the Snow,” in which the immigrants
are African that immigrated voluntarily to the U.S. In this story the family
takes pride in traditional values, even citing that they were more traditional
than the “white kids” in the dominant culture. The family values the American
system and uses it to become successful. This comes with some sacrifices of
their previous culture, such as using deodorant. This family made the proper
adaptations to American culture, while also retaining some of their previous
cultural values in order to attain moderate assimilation. This can be noticed
through their cooking practices; some days they cook American dishes, and some
days they cook Nigerian dishes.
The key to assimilation is to assimilate to a point. This point of
moderation that is America allows cultures to give and take traditions amongst
one another, while maintaining civility. Here, both parties benefit to their
fullest extent without imposing their culture on others. That’s the beauty of
America. One can have to choice, the option, to not move forward in life and
succession, to be counter-culture, but it will not benefit that person or anyone
else in doing so. Then, ultimate culpability is achieved, as one has no one else
but themselves to blame for his or her shortcomings in life, all of this as the
rest of society progresses to move forward.
