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2016 Midterm2
(assignment) Sample Student Midterm2 Answers Part 1: Essays on New World Immigrants |
LITR 4340
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Amber Boone
New World Immigrants: Blurring the Lines
Due to being somewhat of a “melting pot” of a country, the United States
is rich with literature describing tales of those who have migrated to dwell
within the realms of its borders. However, the method of migration continues to
represent a defining dichotomy that is present within this literature. For
example, voluntary migration coincides with immigrants, while involuntary
migration, coupled with exploitation, represents minorities. One group that
seems to blur these boundaries, however, is known as the “New World” immigrants.
These immigrants, originating from those of Hispanic or Afro-Caribbean descent,
have voluntarily immigrated into the United States, yet are still overwhelmingly
subjugated into a socioeconomic status that was essentially chosen for, and not
by, them. In these ways, therefore, New World immigrants demonstrate key traits
of both immigrant and minority groups. However, there exists several elements
that set them apart from both immigrant and minority identities. One thing that
sets these later immigrants apart concerns their prior history with the United
States, and their overall continuous proximity to their homeland upon
immigration. Additionally, after these immigrants arrive into their new land,
they experience discrimination due to color code, and they also face the risk or
losing their primary culture at the promise of the ‘American Dream.’ Because of
this, New World immigrants not only represent immigrant and minority identities,
but also, they forge an identity all their own.
Historically, New World immigrants (Hispanic and Afro-Caribbean) differ
from Old World immigrants, because they oftentimes already have had past
historical experience with the United States, as well as other First-World
nations. This history, unfortunately, is usually characterized by a past
strikingly colored with involuntary contact and exploitation dealt upon them by
the hands of the USA, which therefore leaves many New World immigrants with a
predisposition to resist assimilation into the dominant culture. Additionally,
immigrants from the Caribbean, as well as those from Central and South America
already inhabit lands that are either currently part of the United States, or
who have lost land at the hands of the United States, as in the case of a large
portion of what was previously held as Mexican territory. Therefore, New World
immigrants pose an interesting position whilst immigrating into the USA, for
they generally come to their new land with quite a different view of it than
many Old World immigrants. The New World immigrants seek freedom, but they do
not generally buy into the notion of the “American Dream.” For these immigrants,
they are simply seeking a better life, but they arrive in America not usually
wishing to assimilate, and they are usually discriminated against upon their
arrival due to the color code. Therefore, their identity crosses many immigrant
and minority lines of definition, and they set themselves apart as being a
unique group of immigrants.
Before demonstrating how New World immigrants differ from immigrants and
minorities, we must examine the meaning and key factors present within each
respective group, and we must thereby begin by establishing and examining the
basic elements that comprise both immigrants and minorities. As a whole, one
rather defining aspect of immigrant and minority narratives is not only the
element of migration but, specifically, the mode. Immigrants have voluntarily
chosen to come to America. Oftentimes, they come to America seeking refuge, and
they see their new land as a beacon of hope, freedom, and opportunity-
essentially the embodiment of the "American Dream." However, there are large
groups of people that this very same "freedom" has seemingly ostracized. These
groups include minorities such as African and Native Americans who were either
forced to come to America, or who were forced to relocate within America. These
groups did not choose the "American Dream," and their experiences, therefore,
may oftentimes model the "American Nightmare.” New World immigrants, for
example, do not always wish to assimilate into the dominant culture, and
oftentimes instead remain loyal to their initial culture. Often, these latter
immigrants come to America for reasons such as Diego Torres, who in “The English
Lesson” says, “the United States control most the industry… so I come here from
necessity, pero this no my country” (IA 25). Therefore, as Torres demonstrates,
it is generally a voluntary action for New World immigrants to immigrate, but
after doing so, they do not always feel a connection to the dominant culture,
and therefore, they demonstrate certain minority traits.
The
voluntary migration that emerges from necessity manifests into a struggle for
identity, and for New World immigrants in particular, their ties to their
homelands often represent a struggle against the United States itself, because
many New World immigrants have faced involuntary contact and exploitation by the
USA in a way similar to African-Americans and Native-Americans. In “How to Date
a Browngirl…,” Junot Diaz writes about how his mother “recognized [the] smell
from the year the United States invaded [her] island” (IA 277). This quote
generates such an emotional connection to an immigrant’s homeland, and past
events carried out by the United States further serves as a dividing factor
withholding full assimilation. This fact also serves up a longing within many
immigrants, because what was once their beloved country has now been shattered
into a place they must flee from. Many immigrants touch upon a love and a
longing for things native to their homeland, such as in Paule Marshall’s “To
Da-Duh, In Memoriam,” when Da-duh’s “voice almost broke under the weight of her
pride [when she said,] ‘Tell me, have you got anything like these in that place
where you were born?’” (IA 355). Upon her saying this, she immediately conveys a
sense of pride for her homeland, and she initially scoffs at the notion that
anything could possibly compare to the beauty of her land in Barbados.
Similarly, many New World immigrants express a sense of loss when assimilation
begins to occur. In “Visitors,” by Oscar Hijuelos, Hector expresses his shame
whilst slowly losing his language and his culture, and he is “sick at heart of
being so Americanized” (IA 317). This pride is something unique to these
narratives, and it differs from both classic immigrant and minority literature.
In the latter two identities, longing for the homeland is a common theme, but
not quite with the exotic flair so boldly celebrated by New World immigrants.
In
many ways, New World immigrants possess characteristics of both immigrant and
minority identities, but their close proximity to their homeland forges more of
a minority identity for them in regards to familial relations and through
language. For example, New World immigrants inhabit a land that is so close to
their relatives, it causes them to stay in close relations with their family.
Additionally, many of these immigrants maintain a culture that celebrates
community and a unique cultural identity. Because of this, they usually maintain
strong family ties, and it is quite common for them to cluster into groups,
similar to minorities, and to maintain an overall sense of community. In “Silent
Dancing,” Judith Cofer was used to maintaining a “connection to all the other
lives being lived around [her], having come from a house designed for a single
family back in Puerto Rico- [her] mother’s extended-family home” (Cofer 180).
This quote demonstrates the connection that many of these immigrants have not
only with each other, but also with their homeland. They come from a culture
that is rich, vivid, exotic, and celebrated. Both immigrants and minorities
alike experience "shock, resistance, exploitation, and discrimination" upon
their arrival, but the similarities in this experience begin to dissipate as
immigrants assimilate into the dominant culture and begin to exemplify the
latter’s ideals in hopes of achieving the “American Dream.” One way immigrants
commonly achieve assimilation is through language, but many New World immigrants
instead try to hold on to their original language as much as possible, as seen
earlier through Hector in “Visitors.” Paule Marshall also offers a beautiful
example of this in “The Making of a Writer: From the Poets in the Kitchen,”
where she describes how the women newly in America would gather around talking,
and how they “had taken the standard English taught to them in the primary
schools of Barbados and transformed it into an idiom… imposing their own rhythm
and accent so that the sentences were more pleasing to their ears… [and how]
they added the few African sounds and words that had survived, such as the
derisive suck-teeth sound” (Marshall 86). In this example, Marshall demonstrates
how, although they have arrived in America, the women still attempt to retain
close ties to their original culture and language.
Minorities commonly experience
ostracism, exploitation, and sometimes even attempted eradication by the
dominant culture, especially due to the ‘color code.’ This stratification
usually produces a resistance to assimilation, which further ostracizes them
from the dominant culture. The color code, unfortunately, is an all too common
theme within New World immigrant literature. However, this literature not only
represents a discrimination faced at the hands of the dominant culture, but it
also shows discrimination present within the groups of immigrants themselves. In
“Silent Dancing,” Judith Cofer describes her envy due to the fact that “[her]
father could have passed as European, but [she] couldn’t” (Cofer 181).
Light-colored skin, throughout history, has sometimes served as a point of
survival, such as in the case of African-American slaves. Historically,
‘whiteness’ has been associated with the dominant culture, and in “How to Date a
Browngirl…,” Junot Diaz claims its appeal, saying, “white ones are the ones you
want the most” (IA 277). Mexican-Americans have also coined the word ‘mestizo’
to describe a person of mixed origin who is generally marked by being of lighter
skin. In “To Da-Duh, In Memoriam,” Paule Marshall writes that Da-duh “liked her
grandchildren to be ‘white,’ that is, fair-skinned” (IA 352). In this way, the
New World immigrant narrative seems to have similarities that they share with
minorities, as they are frequently discriminated against for the color of their
skin. However, their tendencies to discriminate in the same way reflect a
similarity to the dominant culture—it is almost as if it is a part of
assimilation, but these themes are present within their cultures sometimes
before they even move to the United States. Therefore, the color code present
within these texts connect these immigrants to minorities, but they also lend
them a comparison to the dominant culture, which may possibly be seen as an
aspect of acculturation, or of attempting to find a sense of belonging through
what they view as desirable.
New World immigrants share many similarities to both immigrant and
minority identities, but they also exhibit striking differences. New World
immigrants share a voluntary migration as seen in many classical immigrant
narratives, but their unique and exotic pride for their country, attempts at
maintaining their original language, and strong family ties help to set them
apart. This unique group of immigrants, however, does share many similarities
with minority groups. For example, they are commonly discriminated against due
to the superimposed ‘color code,’ and their overall resistance to assimilation
aids in their establishment of being a group all their own, within each
respective category that includes those of both Hispanic and Afro-Caribbean
descent. These two groups truly fit within both immigrant and minority
identities, but they are also set apart as being two distinct groups of their
own, seemingly blurring the lines between classical immigrant narratives.
