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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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Rosa Ramos
Welcome to America
The American dream is the belief that everyone has the
God given right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; it is thought
that if one works hard and makes sacrifices, riches and success can be attained.
The consensus is that this statement is true, and it is believed that an even
playing field for all exists. While minorities are often thought of as any
ethnic group that is not part of the dominant culture, this American Immigrant
Literature class has divided the immigrant experience and the minority
experience into different categories. The immigrant, the minority, New World
Immigrant, and the dominant culture narratives all serve to describe the
American experience. Although the immigrant and minority groups tend to be
disadvantaged, their experience is quite different. An Old World Immigrant is a
person who makes a choice to leave the old world for the new, while a minority
is one that was not granted the choice to join the new world but forced to do
so, and the New World Immigrant has also chosen to travel to the new world
voluntarily, but they have a history of exploitation or involuntary contact with
the USA. The dominant culture is the culture to which these previous groups are
expected to assimilate to in order to live out the American dream.
The most recurrent example of the
American dream is the Old World Immigrant narrative, this is where people leave
the old world for a land with more opportunities. Although immigrants face
hardships similar to minorities, the Old World Immigrant narrative tends to have
a happier theme or ending. The reasons for leaving their homeland differs from
person to person and it can be for economic prosperity or to escape political
persecution. Many times they arrive to the new land with little to nothing to
their name, but are able to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” and become
successful.
Old
World Immigrant narratives include hardships, but they are told through the
rose-colored glasses of hope. In “Bread Givers” by Anzia Yezierska, the Old
World Immigrant narrative is perfectly displayed. In the short excerpt, Max
tells Sara how he arrived with nothing but a “little bundle on [his] back” and
after a little walking was able find work. By the end of the day he made his
first American dollar, pushing the narrative that those who work hard will be
successful. He says that he, “felt the riches of all America in my hand” after
receiving his first dollar; by the end of the week and without speaking English,
he is in business for himself and will own a chain of stores. Although Max had
to start out by doing the “dirty” job new immigrants are usually left to work,
he does work his way up and becomes successful. In, “The English Lesson” by
Nicholasa Mohr, it tells of a group of adult Old World Immigrants enrolled in an
Adult Education class taking Basic English. Mrs. Hamma, the English teacher,
reiterates the American dream when states that she teaches that class in part
because her grandparents were poor immigrants from Germany who worked their way
up. The notion that upward mobility is available to all those who are willing to
work hard is present throughout this narrative. Again, the general feeling of
this story is upbeat, with the majority of the students expressing their desire
to become American Citizens. When Stephan Paczkowski makes his introduction, he
reveals that he was a professor at a university in his motherland but is now a
porter at a hospital. This relates to the notion that new immigrants must “clean
toilets” at some point before they are able to succeed.
Old World Immigrants arrive to the new
world and usually want nothing more than to assimilate into the dominant culture
so that they will be quickly accepted into it. This process does not occur over
night and it can be an embarrassing and confusing ordeal. For example, in
“Sandals in the Snow” by Dr. Rose Ihedigbo, the Ihedigbo children notice how
some of their neighborhood friends talk back to and disrespect their parents.
Knowing that this would never be allowed in their household, they are shocked by
the lack of respect.
The dominant culture may also have cleanliness standards
that are not aligned with the Old World Immigrant’s culture. In “Sandals in the
Snow” the Ihedigbo children did not wear deodorant and did not know that their
smell was not pleasant to their American peers. To the Ihedigbos their “Nigerian
smell” was not unpleasant and that was what they were used to. Similarly, in
“Soap and Water” by Anzia Yezierska, Miss Whiteside looks down on the
protagonist because she does not deem her clean enough to be a teacher. Because
she was not as clean as Miss Whiteside, she considered her dirty, “She never
perceived [she] had a soul.” Meanwhile, Miss Whiteside never bothers to question
why she isn’t clean, she merely looks down on her and assumes her dirtiness is
part of her Old World Immigrant culture.
In
“Child of War, Woman of Peace” by Le Ley Hayslip the culture clashes that new
Old World Immigrants may experience is clearly displayed. While at the grocery
store, Hayslip discovers that even buying rice proves to be a complicated matter
when she realizes there are so many options. Hayslip is also criticized by Erma
for not feeding her children “a proper meal” and only feeding them rice and
noodles. Erma isn’t taking into consideration that in Vietnam, Hayslip’s diet
would consist of rice and noodles and the children would not starve. Hayslip
attempts to be closer to Leatha and Erma by working harder and longer but
everything she does is still wrong to them. Like the protagonist in “Soap and
Water”, there is a time Hayslip ends up feeling alone and has no one to
communicate with.
While Old World Immigrants made a choice
to travel to the new world in search of better opportunities, minorities were
brought to the new world against their wishes. Minorities do not choose their
contact with the dominant culture. The contact is involuntary, they are
voiceless, and subject to exploitation. Their history is one of oppression by
the dominant culture and thus have resisted assimilation. Minorities are
commonly associated with poverty and crime and unfortunately excessive police
force. Minority narratives tend to have a more somber feeling and the characters
are more willing to acculturate rather than assimilate.
In
“The Man to Send Rain Clouds” by Leslie Marmon Silko, the Native American family
that just lost their family member ask a Priest to bless his body with holy
water. They follow their own rituals, but ask the Priest to sprinkle Holy Water
so that their grandfather “won’t be thirsty.” They have taken something from the
dominant culture and adapted it to their culture; the Holy Water has taken on a
different meaning to them than what it means to the dominant culture.
The minority groups are also known for
fearing police or those in authority due to great injustices that have been
committed against them. In “American Horse” by Louise Erdrich, Buddy and his mom
Albertine are hiding from the police because social services want to take him
and place him in foster care. Albertine and Buddy hide, hoping they will not be
found, where as someone from the dominant culture would have likely called their
lawyer. In our society today, minorities can feel just as helpless to jump in
and stop injustices from happening. Equiano must have felt similar in “The
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano…the African” by Olaudah
Equiano. Equiano fits the minority narrative when he witnesses atrocities being
done against his fellow slaves, but he is unable to speak up against it or help
them. He describes witnessing whites committing violent crimes against female
slaves, some not even ten years old. Equiano also remarks that he is confused
why it was not seen as wrong for white men to rape women, but he knew of a case
where a black man was tortured and killed after he slept with a white
prostitute.
Another facet of the minority narrative
is the desire to resist the dominant culture. In “The Lesson” by Toni Cade
Bambara, Miss Moore takes the children on field trips attempting to expose them
to experiences pertaining to the dominant culture that they would otherwise
never encounter. I enjoyed reading this narrative, especially the way in which
Miss Moore exposes the children to new experiences. She knows that some of the
things they will experience will bring them discomfort, but she allows them to
live it for themselves. For example, when it came time to walk into the toy
store and none of the children wanted to walk in due to nervousness; Miss Moore
hangs back and waits for them to make a move. Once they walk in, Miss Moore
notices how uncomfortable the children feel in the toy store but she simply
watches them. She does not try to explain what they are feeling or try to
comfort them. Instead, she questions them, and it seems like she wants them to
come to their own realization that they are living in a completely different
lifestyle than the people from the dominant culture that shop there. Sylvia
becomes upset looking at all the luxurious expensive toys, maybe because she
realizes that she will never be able to have them. When Sugar says, “this is not
much of a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to pursue happiness means an
equal crack at the dough, don’t it?”, I think that is the realization she wanted
them to come to. Miss Moore knows that these children are at a disadvantage, but
she wants them to be aware of what could be available to them.
Similarly, the poem “Blonde White Women” by Patricia
Smith she tells of a time in her childhood when she wanted to be “golden”, she
wanted to be white. She goes on to explain that when one of her white teachers
hugged her, she wanted her to be her mother until the teacher pulled away and
she saw the look of “too much touch.” By the end of the poem, Smith has come to
the realization that she loves the color of her black skin and no longer wishes
to be like the white women she idolized as a child. She wanted to assimilate
into the dominant white culture as a child but as she came into her own, she
realized that she could never be them so she has embraced herself and her
culture. Due to this realization, she feels like the dominant culture resents
her for not wanting to be like them any longer.
The New World Immigrant narrative is a “combination of
immigrant and minority narratives and identities.” New World Immigrants include
Mexican-American, Hispanic, and Afro-Carribean people. The close proximity of
their home country to the New World, has allowed the New World Immigrant to
travel back and forth, making assimilation more complicated. To complicate
matters more, families have often times moved back and forth from their homeland
to the U.S throughout generations. New World Immigrants want the American dream
but also want to continue practicing parts of their culture.
The desire to want to belong to both the
New World and the homeland is an important facet of a New World Immigrant. In
the poem “Coca-Cola and Coco Frio” by Martin Espada, we meet a boy from
Brooklyn, New York that is on his first visit to his family’s homeland. He is an
American, looking to connect with his roots in Puerto Rico. The fat boy is
initially disappointed, as he only finds more of the same things he has in
Brooklyn. Although he is able to make a connection to his family’s homeland, he
notices that people on the island are neglecting their own cultural views in
favor for American views.
Due to the complex nature of their
upbringing, young New World Immigrants can grow up feeling as if they do not
belong here or there. Such is the case of Hector in “Visitors” by Oscar
Hijuelos. Hector has a desire to be more Cuban, but at the same time this notion
scares him. Although Hector is able to understand and read Spanish, he is unable
to speak it and it leaves him feeling like a failure. He feels regretful that he
is so Americanized and is anxious that his Cuban family will think of him as a
fraud.
The color code signifies a difference in race and/or
social status. In “Silent Dancing” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the family has arrived
to The United States from Puerto Rico. The father is dead set on assimilating
the family into dominant culture, while the mother feels more comfortable
holding on to their culture instead. The father is a fair skinned man and though
he did face discrimination, he finds it easier to blend into the dominant
culture. Whereas his darker skinner family have a more difficult time
assimiliating. The father takes the family clothes shopping at Penny’s and Sears
instead of the stores people in their neighborhood shopped at. The father wanted
them to shop at the grocery store, but mom wanted to shop at her locally owned
shops where she could read the labels of the items she was buying.
New World Immigrants have crossed into
the United States illegally; some have done it for a better life and others
running from political persecution. In “Children of the Sea” we see a group of
people escaping Haiti on a boat; the distance to the United States is far, and
the trip is long and arduous. The people on the boat know that if the Coast
Guard finds them, they will likely be sent back to Haiti, but being found is the
only way they will survive. Similarly, Reyna in “The Distance Between Us” is
snuck into the United States with her dad and siblings, in hope of a better
life. They are also caught several times and sent back to Mexico.
While the immigrants I have discussed
previously have adapted certain aspects of their culture to fit the dominant
culture, the dominant culture never did that. The dominant culture did not
assimilate to the culture that was already established in America; instead, it
brought over and developed its own culture. The dominant culture is made up of
the Pilgrim founding fathers and the Scotch Irish; it is the culture that
immigrants assimilate to and minority groups tend to resist. The dominant
culture values, education, literacy, cleanliness, and purity.
The Pilgrims have the characteristics of
a New World Immigrant when they try to leave England and settle down in Holland.
In Chapter 2 of “Of Plymouth Plantation,” William Bradford describes the
afflictions they faced due to their religion. Due to a lack of financial
security, New World Immigrants struggle to attain visas to immigrate to the
United States; similarly, the Pilgrims were not allowed to attain the needed
travel documents, due to their religion. The Pilgrims faced similar experiences
that undocumented immigrants face when they try to cross the border by
“coyotes”. The Pilgrims are robbed of their possessions by men claiming to help
them escape, like many New World Immigrants are taken advantage of by “coyotes”.
The Pilgrims further display the
immigrant narrative, when after being in Holland for some years, although they
were afforded religious freedom, the Pilgrims begin to dislike their new home.
Their children were assimilating to the Dutch culture and were involving
themselves in activities that the Pilgrims deemed as “corrupt.” Bradford goes on
to state that some of their children became soldiers, others joined far away sea
voyages, and still other strayed from Pilgrim teachings and indulged in a
dissolute lifestyle. There were many that would have preferred to be in the
English jails rather than in Holland subjecting their children to those
“afflictions.”
The Pilgrims make a choice to risk the
journey to America where they are hopeful their community will not be badly
influenced by outside forces. According to Bradford, the only people in America
are savages and brutish men. They do not seem to be concerned about the
inhabitants and make the trip to America bringing with them their culture and
religion. The only part of the Native American’s lifestyle that the Pilgrims
assimilate to is how the knowledge of how to survive in the wilderness.
The Scotch Irish go on to become part of
the American dominant culture; however, in “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance it is
evident that both immigrant and minority narrative characteristics are present.
It is similar to the immigrant narrative because like immigrants, his family
came from nothing. Also, similar to immigrants, Vance’s grandparents have to
move from a town that was once booming with work to an area where they can find
jobs. This narrative has minority characteristics sprinkled throughout.
Although Vance’s experience has similar
aspects of the immigrant and minority experience, he is able to play the part of
the dominant culture once he earns an education. Many immigrants and minorities
are not afforded that opportunity because they do not look like the dominant
culture.
Although the circumstances are different
for why minorities and immigrants travel to The United States, there are many of
the same feelings attached to their experiences. At some point immigrants and
minorities wonder if by adopting the dominant culture, they are losing a part of
themselves. The difference is how they decide to act on those feelings.
Immigrants welcome the assimilation to the dominant culture and are grateful to
be in the new world, while minorities are angry with the dominant culture
because they did not choose to be put in that position. I think that in order to
be successful, one must adopt certain aspects of the dominant culture. However,
care must be taken to not lose cultural identity in the process.
