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2018 Midterm2
(assignment) Sample Student Midterm2 Answers Part 1: Essays on Immigrants, Minorities, and New World Immigrants |
LITR 4340
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Tammie Tran
Conflicts and Solutions: Immigrant and Minority Narratives
Because of the current hot topics in immigration and the oppression of women and
people of color in U.S. politics, people tend to have a “we vs. them” mentality
while throwing around terms such as “immigrants” and “minorities.” Although the
common interpretation of the two tends to be that immigrants are a subgroup of
minorities, the American Immigrant Literature course defines these terms a bit
differently. American immigrants are people who come to the U.S. by choice to
seek new opportunities and/or freedom while “true minorities” are people who are
forced to come to America and experience prolonged exploitation. Interestingly,
a subgroup of immigrants called the New World immigrants seem to include aspects
of both immigrant and minority narratives because they seek opportunities and
freedom but have also suffered from U.S. involvement in their home countries.
Because Old World immigrants, true minorities, and New World immigrants have
distinct narratives, their approaches to assimilation also vary. Examining their
conflicts and solutions pertaining to assimilation in literature will further
illuminate trends in immigration.
A brief history is necessary to understand the conflicts experienced by Old
World immigrants. A significant wave of Chinese immigrants came to the U.S.
around the 1860s to 1870s, although they faced legal discrimination in 1882 due
to the Chinese Exclusion Act that was not lifted until 1943. Many Vietnamese
immigrants came to America during and after the Vietnam War, especially in the
1970s to 1980s. One wave of Jewish immigrants came to the U.S. around 1880s to
1920s and another group of Jews fled from the Holocaust to America during the
1920s to 1960s, even though immigration was restricted. These examples are not
at all exhaustive of the many Old World immigrants that came to the U.S., but
their narratives may illuminate other immigrant experiences.
A common conflict for immigrants is their frustration for why they cannot be
accepted in society initially. Education is a pathway to assimilation and the
narrator in “Soap and Water” finally received the opportunity to go to college,
but she came across a barrier. The narrator says, “I rushed for [college] with
the outstretched arms of youth’s aching hunger to give and take of life’s
deepest and highest, and I came against the solid wall of the well-fed,
well-dressed world—the frigid whitewashed wall of cleanliness” (Yezierska 17).
She shows willingness, gratitude, and passion, but the “clean world” refused to
accept her even in college. Despite institutions that enable assimilation, they
may also hinder the assimilation process. Furthermore, Yezierska’s use of hunger
is effective as a metaphor for the immigrant’s drive to assimilation and the
“well-fed” dominant culture’s pickiness of “quality” people. In Hayslip’s
Child of War, Woman of Peace, she also details her determination to change
in order to be accepted by her husband’s relatives and friends, but she realizes
that “In a land of instant gratification and miracle conveniences, apparently,
there was no room for a spontaneous show of love through the labor of one's
heart and hands” (Hayslip 115). All of her efforts did not please them; they
just found more differences and faults to point out about her.
Although immigrants are pained by resistance from the dominant culture, they
eventually find ways to partially or completely assimilate and become accepted.
In “Soap and Water,” the narrator is welcomed by Miss Van Ness, a friend from
the “clean world” who finally accepts her. The narrator states, “Just as contact
with Miss Whiteside had tied and bound all my thinking processes, so Miss Van
Ness unbound and freed me and suffused me with light” (Yezierska 36). Through
her friendship with Miss Van Ness, the narrator can access the resources she
needs to assimilate into the dominant culture. Min makes a similar statement in
her memoir The Cooked Seed. She writes, “An hour hanging out with Kate
proved to be the most effective. I felt like I was walking out of the darkness
and into the light. I began to understand bits of people's conversations” (Min
208). Language is another pathway to assimilation and Min converses with her
English-speaking friend Kate to gain the English proficiency she needs to work
and succeed in America. Both writers describe acceptance and assimilation as the
“light,” a symbol of desirable goodness. This use reflects the notion that
immigrants want to assimilate in some way in order to be accepted in the U.S.
The history of Native and African Americans precede that of the East Asian and
Jewish immigrants. Native American ancestors traveled from Asia to North America
using the Bering Land Bridge 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. They are considered
true minorities because they received involuntary, and usually violent, contacts
from North European settlers (who become the dominant culture) between the years
1600 to 1890 and continue to be exploited today. African Americans were brought
to the U.S. by slave ships starting around the 1610s and were expected to work
for someone else’s benefit rather than their own. Even though slavery was
abolished in 1865, legal segregation lasted for another century and unofficial
segregation still persist today.
True minorities’ conflict is feeling forced to assimilate in a culture they are
involuntarily a part of. In Erdrich’s “American Horse,” Albertine and Buddy are
hiding from the police because the latter wants the Native Americans to
assimilate. Vicki Koob says, “I want to find that boy and salvage him” (215). In
other words, she wants to ensure Buddy is assimilated into the dominant culture
since Albertine refuses to assimilate them both. Moreover, the diction of
“salvage” suggests that the boy is like an object or some concept rather than a
human being, which adds to the insult minorities feel when confronted by the
dominant culture. Miss Moore from “The Lesson” wants the children to get an
education, which as stated before is a pathway to assimilation. The children are
left with Miss Moore and are forced to endure her lessons, which the children do
very grudgingly. Because Miss Moore is the adult and their parents expect them
to be with her, they have to stay with Miss Moore. However, as Sylvia shows in
her narrative, it does not mean she has to agree with what Miss Moore says.
As hinted in the previous paragraph, the solutions true minorities use are
resisting assimilation and distancing themselves away from the dominant culture.
Albertine in “American Horse” resists the police by fighting head on with
Officer Harmony and is ready to die gloriously against the dominant culture. The
speaker in the poem “Blonde White Women” laments that the pinkish crayon could
not cover her black skin, but later realizes that “Even crayons fail me now— / I
can find no color darker, / more beautiful, than I am” (Smith 53-55). She
resists assimilation by embracing her own skin color and culture. In “The Man to
Send Rain Clouds,” Leon does not reveal Grandfather’s death to the priest
because he does not want the priest’s ways to impede on the ceremony and thus
distances himself and his family away from the dominant culture. Leon also
politely declines any Christian rituals the priest offers, another rejection to
assimilation.
Although the conflicts and solutions are different between immigrants and
minorities, they have similar experiences to certain degrees. For instance, both
groups experience exploitation. In “In the Land of the Free” Hom Hing interprets
James Clancy’s meaning to Lae Choo. He states, “to get our boy we have to have
much money” (Far 9). James Clancy is profiting off of this new immigrant
family’s loss of their son. He knows that the family would do anything to get
their son back, so James Clancy pretends to leave in order for them to give up
their valuables. Equiano in the Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, The African
is taken from his family and eventually brought to the slave ship in which the
traders take him to America. Slave owners will profit off of Equiano’s labor and
those of other slaves while treating them inhumanely. Both groups also
experience some degree of acculturation, or selective assimilation. Hayslip in
Child of War, Woman of Peace cuts her hair to appease her husband’s
relatives and friends, making her identity less Vietnamese even though she
maintains her family values—a common element of the “model minority.” In “The
Man to Send Rain Clouds” some of the Native Americans are seen with a “pair of
stiff new Levi’s” and a “green Army jacket” (Silko 206). Both of these instances
show that both immigrants and minorities acculturate their appearance but may or
may not change their cultural values to fit the dominant culture.
The history of New World immigrants support a mix of immigrant and minority
experiences. With the push of the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965,
many New World immigrants came to the U.S. and continue to do so today. However,
current politics may complicate this trend in the near future; negotiations on
policies pertaining to illegal immigration are currently being discussed in
Congress. Although immigrants, they also faced great exploitation and US.
imperialism similar to true minorities. The U.S. engaged in the 1846
Mexican-American War and the 1898 Spanish-American War. The nation also
intervened in countries like Nicaragua in the 1920s, Cuba during the
1950-1960’s, Dominican Republic in 1965, and Haiti during the 1990-2000’s, just
to name a few. The U.S. has been involved in Latin America and the West Indies
before, during, and after the 1965 wave of New World immigrants, making their
experiences relatable to both immigrant and minority narratives.
New World immigrants commonly experience conflicting desires. They mainly want
the opportunities available in the U.S. but also want to identify with their
home country. In her memoir The Distance Between Us, Grande details her
overwhelming desire to follow her father across the U.S. border, but when she
does, she also experiences a pull back to Mexico. She writes, “I wished I could
tell him that even though this was my home now, my umbilical cord was buried in
Iguala” (Grande 104). In addition to its literal meaning, the umbilical cord
symbolizes her roots and cultural livelihood. To bury the cord in Iguala means
that Grande’s cultural roots are in the motherland, Mexico. Both “home” and
“motherland” have weighty connotations, illustrating the difficulty of choosing
between them, even if Papi wanted her to.
Another conflict New World immigrants encounter is the dominant culture’s mixed
responses to them, depending especially on the color code. This code depends on
the values placed onto certain colors. The dominant culture places more value
and acceptance on White skin than darker skin. Consequently, certain New World
immigrants are treated differently than other New World immigrants due to the
color of their skin. Historically, Cubans have been relatively welcomed by the
U.S. because a number of them tend to look more European than the rest of the
New World immigrants while Haitians are generally the least welcomed because
they look the most “African.” (To be fair, politics and health concerns also
magnify these differential treatments from the dominant culture.) In “Silent
Dancing,” Cofer explains that her father could easily pass as a White person
with his light skin and brown hair while the rest of her nuclear family cannot
pass with their brown skin and black hair (181). In determining who can pass and
who cannot, Cofer suggests that people with lighter skin are treated better than
those with browner skin in the U.S.
The solution New World immigrants use to relieve their conflict is ultimately
choosing to assimilate, resist, or embracing both. In other words, there are
mixed responses to the assimilate/resist dilemma within the New World immigrant
community. Revisiting Cofer’s “Silent Dancing,” she describes her father’s
efforts to assimilate, such as carrying a Christmas tree into the apartment
unit, and her mother’s efforts to do the opposite, like gravitating toward other
Spanish-speaking female immigrants (182). Other New World immigrants negotiate
between assimilation and resistance. In Cisneros’ “Barbie-Q,” the narrator
obsessively details the Barbie doll’s appearance and that of her companion’s.
The Barbie doll is a symbol of materialism, an aspect of the dominant culture,
and thus it seems like the narrator is assimilating. However, when the narrator
goes to the market, she wants Barbie’s friends, boyfriend, sisters, brother,
cousin, and even the friends and relatives of Barbie’s relations. Although this
detail further supports materialism, it also supports the narrator’s inclination
towards extended families, a common characteristic of immigrant cultures.
Acculturation is the narrator’s negotiation between having to assimilate and
resist. Some New World immigrants decide to embrace both of their cultures. In
“The Making of a Writer: From the Poets in the Kitchen,” Marshall understands
the importance of the “kitchen talk” and the Western canon, thus embracing both
the spoken and written word. Because the former represents the Barbados culture
and the latter represents the dominant culture, she identifies with both
cultures rather than strictly choosing between assimilation and resistance.
Interestingly, Candelaria’s “El Patron” can be used as an extended metaphor to
illustrate the conflict and solution of New World immigrants. Senor Martinez
represents the traditional culture with his view of traditional gender roles,
such as requesting Lola to return to the kitchen “with the other women”
(Candelaria 222). On the other hand, Tito represents the assimilated culture due
to his education in the U.S. and his preference for U.S. fast-food chains.
Although Senor Martinez’s and Tito’s relationship has been tense for the
majority of the story because Tito has been avoiding and protesting the draft,
the two reconciled in the end and the narrator “saw in their uneasy truce that
love overrode their differences” (Candelaria 228). The traditional and
assimilated figures found reconciliation, even if it was not easy, because they
love each other. Likewise, New World immigrants have conflicting love for both
their home countries and the U.S. and most decide to embrace both even though it
may not be easy.
In summary, immigrants and minorities have different conflicts and solutions,
but do have some overlapping experiences. The immigrants’ main focus is to seize
freedom and opportunity in order to thrive, so they will find ways to resolve
their issues and enter the dominant culture. True minorities are forced and
expected to comply with the dominant culture, causing them to rigorously
maintain their own culture while distancing themselves from the dominant
culture. Both groups experience oppression and feel the need to acculturate in
some way in order to survive. Of course, labels are just general categories for
organizing people, so there are exceptions and grey areas. For instance,
refugees fall in the grey area of voluntary and involuntary travels because it
depends on whether refugees really had a choice to leave or their situations
forced them to leave. There are also some minorities who wish to assimilate,
like Robert in Mei Mei Evans’ “Gussuk” who wants to experience the dominant
culture through Lucy, a third-generation Chinese-American. Additionally, New
World immigrants have characteristics of both immigrant and minority narratives,
forcing them to grapple with competing wishes and to choose where they wish to
lie on the assimilation/resistance spectrum. Examining these groups of people
reveal the complexity of experiences each immigrant and true minority has,
making it difficult to accept the assumption that all “minorities” are the same.
