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2019 Midterm1
(assignment) |
LITR 4340
American Immigrant Literature Model Assignments |
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Ronni Abshier
The
Difference Between Minorities and Immigrants
Without knowing the true working definitions of “minority” and “immigrant” as it
pertains to those not a part of the USA’s dominant culture, it could be hard for
people to understand the intricate differences between the two subgroups of
people. Not knowing those differences could also make it even harder to
appreciate the ways in which they are similar. Before this course, I thought
that immigrants and minorities were essentially the same, with only some minor
differentiating factors. It wasn’t until I delved deeper into literature and
poetry such as Anzia Yezierska’s “Soap and Water,”
“American Dream: First Report”
by Joseph Papaleo, Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson,”
Patricia Smith’s "Blonde White
Women," Olaudah Equiano’s “The
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” and J. Christine
Moon’s, “‘What Color Would You Like, Ma'am?’” that
I realized there are very key differences between not only the immigrant and
minority stories, but also how they view the world around them, and how they
view the dominant culture, as well as their own culture.
Anzia Yezierska does a great job of painting the difficulties that she faced as
an immigrant when moving to the United States and struggling to fit in. As an
immigrant from Russia, she found it hard to adhere to the dominant culture’s
strict ideals of cleanliness when she worked eight hours every day on top of
going to school. “Where was the time and the strength for the “little niceties
of the well-groomed lady”?” Anzia was too exhausted at the end of the day to
keep herself clean or to keep up with her fingernails to the standards of her
teacher Mrs. Whiteside, who refused to pass her through school due to her lack
of conformity. Because of this, she struggled to fit in with the dominant
culture and was treated more like the minorities were treated by their peers.
Joseph Papaleo paints a similar image to Yezierska in his poem “American
Dream: First Report.” Papaleo details the same idea of being looked down upon by
the dominant culture due to his Italian family’s lack of cleanliness and also
their slightly darker skin. Fortunately for him, his family was “married” to the
TV programs which taught them much about the United States. They immersed
themselves in the new culture, keen on assimilating. They washed and took care
of themselves and their home, moving from the tenement rooms and slums to become
proud American Citizens. “Who would have guessed that the end of those
voyages…would end this way, as well-dressed citizens devoted to the disinfection
of our carpets?” These Italian immigrants embraced the new culture they’d
escaped to and were accepted by the dominant culture, thus were able to be
successful in assimilating.
Minorities who aren’t immigrants, on the other hand, face some different
struggles than that of their immigrant counterparts. In Toni Cade Bambara’s “The
Lesson,” it becomes apparent to the children of the short story that there are
even more differences between African-American people and those of the dominant
culture who happen to be mostly Caucasian than they had originally thought. The
kids come to learn that the money the dominant culture seems to be spending on
things that they deem as toys could be used to feed all of them or their
families for an entire year. In the end, Sugar, one of the girls in Miss Moore’s
class, determines that “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?” With this trip, Miss Moore was able to
teach her students that although the constitution promises life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness, that the pursuit is definitely a different trek for
those who are disadvantaged as minorities.
Further explaining the divide between the USA’s dominant culture and that
of minority culture is Patricia Smith in her poem “Blonde White Women” and
Olaudah Equiano in his novel The
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. While Smith’s
poem focuses mostly on appearance and not socioeconomic factors, it is still a
very large part of the reason African-Americans aren’t able to assimilate into
the dominant culture, and why now most no longer want to ‘fit in’. Smith and
Equiano both explain that as a child they longed to be accepted into the
dominant culture; and even at a young age Smith knew that with “nappy hair” and
without being “blonde and white” she couldn’t adhere to the beauty standards
that were set in America. Smith details longing to be white, to have pink skin
and long flowing hair, so much that she tried to color herself white. Equiano,
of course, rather than trying to color himself lighter as a child of about the
same age, tried to wash his skin to make it match that of his Caucasian peers.
Both African-American narratives culminate in the realization that there was no
way for the authors to turn themselves into the light-skinned people they wished
they could be. As an adult, however, Smith was able to embrace her own beauty,
thumbing through Ebony magazine and expressing the idea that there are no
crayons more beautiful than those that match her own skin. After years of
feeling outcast by the dominant culture, from her white teachers to the women on
the train with her, she finally surpassed her longing to be accepted into the
dominant culture and embraced her differences.
Bridging the gap between immigrant and minority is often seen with Asian
families more than any other immigrant groups so far in our studies. The
narratives that come from Asian immigrants see them as both a minority group as
well as an immigrant group, but they are generally considered to be a ‘model
minority’. Being labeled as such is because many Asian families prescribe
heavily to the traditional values that already exist within American culture
such as hard work and tight familial bonds. While outward appearance seems to
play a major factor in whether or not a person is able to assimilate, speaking
the language and adapting to the culture plays a larger part as evidenced in J.
Christine Moon’s “What Color Would You Like, Ma’am?”. Teenage Thien has no
trouble fitting in with his peers due to his parent’s sacrifice to make sure he
is able to study and partake in extra-curriculars, though he does have trouble
balancing his home life and his school life. Such difficulties include not
wanting to let his peers know that sometimes he works at his family’s nail salon
when he’d rather be having fun with his friends who know nothing of the
pressures he is under to perform well in school and go to college, many times
without the incentives that his non-minority and non-immigrant friends expect.
