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2019 Midterm1
(assignment) |
LITR 4340
American Immigrant Literature Model Assignments |
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Kaytlynn Smith
5 March 2019
Comparing, Contrasting, and
Examining the Overlap in
Immigrant
and Minority Narratives
Immigrant and Minority narratives
attest to the cultural diversity found within the U.S., revealing much about the
historical inequalities that permeate American society even today. Although
similar in terms of certain themes, Immigrant and Minority narratives diverge in
several ways, most noticeably at the point involving choice, minority narratives
often lacking in any form of choice whatsoever. Despite the key differences,
Immigrant and Minority narratives remain similar in terms of alienation,
potential and sometimes inevitable discrimination, hardships, and differing
attitudes towards assimilation into American society.
While the narratives portray some
overlap in terms of defining “choice” by exhibiting moments of gray area that
suggest limited choice, minority narratives typically involve forceful removal
of people from their indigenous or home land. To truly contrast the immigrant
and minority narrative, a black and white definition of choice must be instated
to specify that immigrant narratives result from the choice to leave a native
country, in many cases for a brighter future, while minority narratives,
described as “voiceless and choiceless,” lack any form of choice. Most notably
driving this idea of choice, the perception of “the American Dream” largely
constitutes whether the narrative falls under minority or immigrant. In her
short story, Soap and Water, Anzia
Yezierska exemplifies the ways in which “the American Dream” drives immigrant
narratives, pushing herself to obtain a professional education, earning her a
secure position in American society and working towards socio-economic success.
Yezierska describes the American Dream, claiming “the impossible was a magnet to
draw the dreams,” explaining that the American Dream represented the only form
of hope that pushed her immigrant narrative forward.
Similarly, Anchee Min’s
The Cooked Seed allows insights to
the immigrant narrative, while also exhibiting the gray areas in the idea of
choice that allow her story to relate to her roommate, Takisha’s, minority
narrative. After Takisha accuses Min of not understanding “what it is like to be
owned,” to which Min reflects that she didn’t actually know what it was like to
not be owned, recounting her harrowing experiences under the Communist Party of
China. Although Min’s only path to survival lies in her emigration to a foreign
country to escape the dangers of the oppressive Chinese government, Min still
ultimately possess the choice to leave that minority stories simply do not
contain. In The Interesting Narrative of
the Life of Olaudah Equiano, . . . the African, Equiano describes his
capture and removal from Africa into slavery as “fate,” suggesting a level of
choice that does not exist in his circumstances. In fact, Equiano later reveals
the motivation to assimilate to the dominant culture actually lies in his
longing to return to Africa after gaining freedom. In this sense, the immigrant
narrative often revolves around an individual’s ability to take their fate into
their own hands, while minority stories largely result from involuntary removal
from their homeland and their attempts to navigate their circumstances.
Another way to examine the differences
and similarities between minority and immigrant narratives stem from
receptiveness and aptitude in assimilating to the dominant culture. In her poem,
Blonde White Women, Patricia Smith
recounts her apparent desire to resemble the blonde white women of her world,
revealing a growing awareness to the cultural and visual markers that separate
her from the dominant culture. Smith recounts attempts to assimilate as a child,
wearing a dull gray mop head to cover her “nappy” hair, and rubbing the pink
crayon on her hand “until the skin broke,” revealing the extent to which society
conditioned her to inherently resent her natural appearance and culture.
However, the poem shifts in perspective, as seen through her diction, indicating
a growing sense of self and confidence, noting that she can find no shade of
crayon “darker, more beautiful,” than the color of her own skin. Characteristic
of a true minority story, Smith’s struggle to find her place in a society of
white women exemplifies the struggles and discrimination that minority cultures
experience, where these cultures often find themselves resisting assimilation to
a society that does not necessarily allow them to assimilate due to the cultural
markings that stamp minorities as different from the dominant culture.
Similarly, some immigrant narratives reveal instances of
resistance towards cultural assimilation to the dominant culture, as seen in Le
Ly Hayslip’s, Child of War, Woman of
Peace. After leaving Vietnam and marrying an American man, despite her best
efforts to assimilate to her new family’s culture, she faces constant criticism
and speculation that further alienates her from the dominant culture. However,
after receiving a vision of “purity” at a state park, Hayslip’s motivation to
assimilate reignites: “I was starving now and ready for anything from the great
American banquet” (IV.II 125). While her cultural practices and even her image
and dress marked her as different against the dominant culture, Hayslip’s
narrative embodies the immigrant narrative in that she rediscovers the American
Dream and thus readily accepts the path to assimilation.
Generational and academic progression
can serve as another key indicator that differentiates an immigrant narrative
from a minority narrative, often exhibiting a strong sense of familial
obligation, educational advancement, while balancing cultural assimilation to
the dominant culture. In J. Christine Moon’s “What Color Would You Like,
Ma’am?,” she exemplifies the generational progression through protagonist,
Thien, who carries the evident burden to succeed in the STEM field, carrying his
family up the ranks of America’s social ladder, while also maintain his familial
duties to the family and their business. Thien’s narrative explores the
pressures experienced in “model minority” stories, where the children of
immigrant parents, likely Asian, aim towards academic success for the sake of
their parents’ sacrifices to initiate the possibilities towards a better life
through their immigration to the New World. Evident in the scene where he
returns the sixty dollars given to him by his mother, Thien displays a strong
obligation to his family and awareness of his parents’ sacrifices, both cultural
and financial.
In contrast, Toni Bambara’s
The Lesson paints a different
attitude towards assimilation and education, characteristic of a minority
narrative. In this text, Bambara recounts her own childish perspective growing
up, laughing at, and even hating, Ms. Moore, the neighborhood symbol of
education (IA 145). While it is not necessarily Bambara’s childhood attitude
towards education that constitutes a minority narrative, Bambara’s story reveals
the instinctive feeling that education, especially for African American youths,
seemed unnecessary and unnatural, interrupting the usual flow of routine that
Bambara and Sugar followed on a daily basis. Reflecting on the lesson, Bambara
implies a sense of internalized anger towards the unequal distribution of wealth
that Ms. Moore revealed to the group, noticing “something weird is going on,” as
indicated by a weird feeling in her chest (IA 151). While immigrant narratives
typically showcase the struggle to achieve high academic and financial success
for the sake of the previous generations’ sacrifices, minority narratives paint
a different picture in terms of reception towards education, based more so on
the societal conditioning that proper education is reserved solely for the
dominant culture, thus thwarting minorities from feeling natural in seeking a
higher education that society deems unnecessary on their behalf.
Another way to differentiate between
immigrant and minority narratives lies in the working class’s ability to relate
to the immigrant narratives of striving for socio-economic success, especially
when reflecting on their own distant ties to the immigrant narrative. In her
article, “The American Society,” Gisha Jen recounts Mrs. Lardner, a member of
the local country club who insists on advocating for Jen’s mother’s membership,
referencing her own Jewish ancestry (IA 162). Mrs. Lardner attempts to identify
with Jen’s family’s plight to assimilate and fit in to the dominant culture,
drawing from her own connection to her father, a third-wave Jewish immigrant,
declaring this information a “secret,”. Through her attempt to identify with
Jen’s family’s assimilation process, Mrs. Lardner reflects the dominant
culture’s tendency to misunderstand the true extent to which immigrants suffer
discrimination and difficulties in assimilating to American society, due to
their own lack of proximity to their immigrant ancestors. In this way, dominant
cultures tend to glorify immigrant narratives, largely fixating on the “rags to
riches” stories that drive capitalist society forward.
Similarly, Anzia Yezierska’s
Bread Givers explores the narcissism
that can permeate retellings of old immigrant stories that embody the rags to
riches stories, especially in Max’s story, comparing his eagerness to share his
story to “inviting him to a feast to ask him to talk about himself”.
Additionally, Yezierska implies a level of embellishment in Max’s rags to riches
story, as indicated by the rich language used to describe the American dream as
experienced by Max. In this story, Yezierska relays a true rags to riches story,
while using subtle shifts in diction and figurative language to suggest the ways
in which people can glorify immigrant narratives, typically very artfully but
sometimes unrealistically as well.
While immigrant and minority narratives
share many similarities that unite through the shared plight of otherness, and
the struggles to exist in a society against another, dominant culture, key
differences help define and shape the cultural backdrops of contemporary
American society, revealing historical progression towards cultural tolerance.
Although American society still requires much work in terms of fostering a
culture of tolerance, one way that society can continue to progress is by
knowing the differences between the immigrant and minority narratives, and how
both narratives serve as sources of immense cultural perseverance and strength
that can help promote a society appreciative of cultural diversity.
