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Sample Student final exam answers 2019
(2019 final exam assignment) Part 1: Essays: dominant culture overview |
LITR 4340
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Kristen Hoover
I Am Not Me Without You
Everyone is searching for their story
that ends with a happy family and a white picket fence. Some have the advantage
of being home grown and part of the dominant culture, while others are set back
before they can even hit the ground running. The differences between being part
of the minority and being an immigrant, determines the level of work that has to
be put in by the individual to obtain some sort of freedom. The dominant culture
in America has the opportunity to either hinder or help in the process of
immigrants and minorities in their quest to reach their dreams. While in search
of the “American Dream” everyone faces obstacles, but many will only ever have
the dream without ever reaching it. With the status of immigrant or minority,
the idea of reaching this dream becomes even harder. Another status that makes
obtaining the “American Dream” harder to obtain, is the classification of being
a New World Immigrant. New World Immigrants are lost in the grey area of being
both an immigrant and part of the minority. While all of these individuals
struggle in similar ways, they use their narratives to show us how their journey
differs in obtaining the “American Dream.”
An immigrant narrative often has a
better beginning and ending than the minority narrative. Most immigrant
narratives start off with “escaping the OLD World” (Obj. 1) in search of the
land of many opportunities. Stories like
The Cooked Seed give us this sense of America being a safe place to run to
and seek betterment for one’s situation in life. When reading immigrant
narratives, we often get the image in our minds of a child learning to walk for
the first time, when hearing about the starts of their journeys. When they first
arrive, there is usually some kind of language barrier. While trying to describe
China to her roommate, Anchee says that “It was like you are hung, your neck
bone is breaking, but death doesn’t arrive” (IV VII, pg. 197). Her detailed
description of what life was like in China, gives us the sense that she came to
escape. We also see an example of the eagerness many immigrants have when first
arriving to America in Anzia Yezierska’s
Bread Givers. When first arriving, Max jumped straight into working and when
he received his first dollar, he “felt the riches of all America in [his] hand”
(Bread Givers). The drive that Max
has shows how as an immigrant he saw the need to work hard to succeed and get
the dream he was searching for. Many stories though don’t highlight the idea
that you must work to receive this dream or that there are obstacles in the way.
Unlike the immigrant narrative, the
minority narrative is filled with many trials they did not ask for and
discrimination from people who are from the same country as them. Most minority
narratives start with an individual being forced to move out of their homeland.
The most prominent examples of this are the history of how African Americans
first came to be in America. As we learn in our history classes Africans were
often “attacked, and … carried off” (The
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano,… the African, Ch. 2),
which led to them being boarded on ships headed to be sold into slavery.
Throughout his story we are able to read about his journey in moving up from
slavery and becoming more assimilated into the dominant culture. As we know
though, most stories did not have this kind of “happy ending.”
One-way immigrants and minorities vastly
differ, is their stance on assimilation. While this idea can vary case to case,
generally speaking immigrants come searching for the “American Dream” and are
willing to sacrifice what makes them who they are in order to achieve it. True
assimilation often takes place through a few generations but starts with the
original immigrants. One major example of assimilation for any immigrant is
learning a new language. Most realize “how much easier things would be for
[them]” (IA, pg. 21) if they were to learn proper English, while traditionalist
prefer to stick mainly to their native tongue and use broken English. In
The English Lesson, we see how Lali
is “accomplishing something all by herself” (IA, pg. 31) and how that forming to
the dominant cultures language she is able to break from having to depend on the
older more traditional man that she married. Another trait we see
immigrants/minorities feeling like they have to conform to how they look. In
Blonde White Women, we get to see how
the narrator, part of the minority culture, grew up “wishing [her]self golden”
(line 21), but as she grows older she shuns this idea of having to conform to
the look of the dominant culture and “can find no color darker,/more beautiful,
than [she is]” (line 54-55). We see how being forced versus choosing to become a
part of the race for the “American Dream” affects each writers attitude towards
assimilation.
A compromise that is seen often times
within minority narratives is the idea of acculturation. Acculturation is
"‘selective
assimilation’
a minority group may make with a dominant culture that does not allow or
encourage full assimilation” (Terms Index: Acculturation). This concept is seen
a lot throughout American Indian narratives. We see many examples of this in
Leslie Silko’s “The Man to Send Rain Clouds.” While the American Indians chose
to follow tradition in the burial of the elder, they made the choice to call
upon the priest to cover the deceased in Holy Water while also refusing to have
the Last Rites read, which was deemed necessary by the dominant culture. This
shows how they have managed to intertwine parts of the dominant culture while
still maintain who they are. Another example of this is in Mei Mei Evans’
“Gussak.” In this story we still see how remote this people chose to live and
how apart they are from average society, but they are still enamored with the
idea of T.V. and drinking on Fourth of July. Both of these examples of
acculturation show how these groups saw the necessity of blending parts of the
dominant culture in order to survive while they maintain their traditions.
Another branch in the diverse areas of
culture, is the New World Immigrant. These are people who can be classified as
both an immigrant writer, but also a minority writer. We know that immigrants
come to escape the Old World, Eastern Hemisphere, in search of a better life in
the New World, Western Hemisphere. New World Immigrants though, are classified
as already being part of the New World. Geographically they come from South
America, Mexico, or the Islands. They are still considered immigrants because
they had to make a move. On the flip side they are considered minorities because
they historically have unsolicited contact with America. These immigrants are
often more apt to show resistance against assimilation as well.
A story that supports the idea of
acculturation is Barbie-Q. In this
story we see immigrants wanting to be part of the dominant culture and play with
their Barbies. But like many
immigrants, when trying to find that American Dream, they run short on money for
frivolous things. While in the dominant culture, a Barbie may seem like an
essential item for a child, these immigrants put more value on their families
actual needs, like food, shelter, water, and more. This narrative helps give a
deeper look into the financial struggles of immigrants and how grateful they are
for little things, even burnt Barbies. Being able to see struggles like this,
give more depth and understanding of the immigrants craving for America.
Another, yet much different, example of
how immigrants conform to the dominant society they are in is in
How to Date a Brown Girl, Black Girl,
White Girl, or Halfie. In this story we see how the narrator is about to
change based on who they will be around. This shows how immigrants and
minorities often lose touch with their roots. You see how the narrator chooses
to ignore and “hide the pictures of [himself] with an Afro” (IA pg. 276). This
narrator is almost like a chameleon with how well he is able to assimilate to
the desires of each girl. Not only the details of the extent he goes to hide his
cultural background, but the conditions he lives in show the struggle many
immigrant and/or minorities face. The narrator does not live in the best of
conditions and has government cheese. Regardless of whether the status is of
minority or immigrant, the ability to climb any type of social or economic
ladder is significantly harder.
One story that perfectly imbodies the
beginning of the journey for an immigrant is
Children of the Sea. In this letter
style story, we are able to get the viewpoints of someone who is all but forced
to leave their native land for the safety of American shores and their lover who
they had to leave behind in Haiti. This young man was forced to flee due to the
alarming amount of militia that were taking over their island. These military
men forced the rules of not being able to speak how you truly feel and many
other vile crimes. Though he left his love behind, they both had bright hopes of
what traveling to America would be like. Form the pain and heartache they
experienced, they were able to hold the belief that once hitting American soil,
they would be able to obtain all they had ever wanted and more. This story leads
us to assume that the young man died in the ocean and never made it to Miami.
Though he did not finish his journey, his story is a perfect roadmap for what
some immigrants face when leaving home and they hope they have for a brighter
future.
A story that gives us an example of how
quickly assimilation can set in within a family is
To Da-Duh, in Memoriam. In this story
we are able to see three generations of a family all in different stages of how
they deal and feel about the dominant culture. Da-Duh, the grandmother, holds to
the belief that her homeland, that she hasn’t left, is much better than anything
this “New World” has to offer. She often says to her granddaughter that “I know
you don’t have anything this nice where you come from,” (IA pg. 372) to drive
this idea into her head as well.
Though she is still able to appreciate some of the things from America and from
colonization. Then we have the mother, who is the first to move away from
Barbados, who still has much respect for where she came from and the customs.
But she is still acculturated to American ways, by not being exactly how she was
raised and staying with the family. Now the granddaughter, is a much more
drastic change, she loves living in New York and after patiently hearing out her
Da-Duh for a while, she chooses to speak up about what they have. She puts her
grandmother in utter shock when she tells her about h Empire State Building.
Da-Duh realizes that she has lost the battle between her granddaughter being
acculturated and fully assimilated. This quick transition through these three
generations shows the impact the long exposure to the dominant culture can have
to a person being.
In America, the dominant culture has
many privileges, but also shoulders a lot of responsibility. Since the first
landing, in what we now call America, the white man has taken it upon himself to
create a world that makes sense and uplifts him. There may have been times in
the past where the dominant culture has tried to understand and even accommodate
outsiders, but not nearly enough. As each generation passes, we are becoming
more aware and more accepting of people for whoever they are. It is the dominant
culture, here in America, that has to make the conscious decision to include and
highlight minorities and immigrants. We must upon our minds to learning more
about these people, where they come from, what they believe, and why.
First and foremost, when looking at the
minority and immigrant people, we have to remember that they are human to. When
the Declaration of Independence was written, times were different. Though
hundreds of year later we can see the hypocrisy in “all men are created equal,”
(Declaration of Independence) and how they really treated others, then
they saw the world through different eyes. Even before the transition to the New
World, slave trade and racism were both something the new Americans were
accustomed to. Regardless, there is no excuse for the inhumane things done
throughout our American history. As we move forward in the world, the new
generation is starting to see things much differently than our ancestors did.
The world is now being viewed through lenses that only see the heart of an
individual, and not the color of their skin or where they came from. We are
starting to truly value people as other human beings just like us and the idea
of what the “American Dream” really means is looking much different than it was
in the start.
Often times when someone with the status of minority or
immigrant tries to defy the ways of the dominant culture, they are shut down.
When these individuals try to reach that “American Dream,” they are typically
pushed aside and become “more socially isolated than ever” (Hillbilly
Elegy p. 4). Immigrants and minorities are not given the true opportunity to
grow, because people of the dominant culture are scared of having their perfect
societal castle being corrupted. But it is our responsibility to show these
individuals “how upward mobility really feels” (Hillbilly
Elegy p. 2). We can do this by being a guide on their journey towards their
“American Dream”.
The dominant culture needs to take
responsibility for the ability to be a guide and help the minority and
immigration groups. When looking back over our history, to the start of America,
we can see that the dominant culture did not start off that way. We needed
guidance to navigate the land for travel, shelter, and food. In our time of
need, some voluntarily and most not, Native Americans stepped in as our
rescuers. They guided us in this new territory, but sadly we took advantage of
that and nearly wiped them out completely. By learning from this experience, the
dominant culture can become “a special instrument sent of God,” (Of Plymouth
Plantation chapter 11). We can
help minorities and immigrants, and all that they are, become so integrated into
who we are, that there is no dominant culture left. We become one culture, that
respects differences and values the human, regardless of background.
Regardless of whether you are given the
status of minority, immigrant, or both, a person will have to face many
challenges when it comes to dealing with the dominant culture. We have seen
through some of these works how quick and easy the transition into almost
complete assimilation can take place within a family line. We have seen the
similarities and difference of how the status effects one’s ability to rise.
What impact their story has on the drive they have to reach the “American
Dream,” and we get a glimpse of what it is like to be a part of the minority or
immigrant class. We also get to see how the dominant culture can potentially be
a help in the rise of these cultures.
