Katie Lucas (Parnian)

LITR 5731: Fall Semester

Midterm

Web Review

For the purposes of my web review, I purposefully chose midterms which would highlight and discuss the complex nature of minority assimilation in preparation for the focus on my midterm, which will center around the following the following research question, “How does “the Dream of African-American culture resemble and differ from the American Dream of the dominant culture?” I found these midterms most helpful in assisting me in formulating my position due to their insightfulness surrounding key issues present in both the historical narratives, which have been discussed in class, as well as relevant literature.

Rosalinda Ortiz (Midterm 2007): In her midterm titled, “Is it Better to Become Part of the Other Group”, Rosalinda discussed the ramifications African-Americans faced as a result of deciding to assimilate to the dominant culture and becoming literate at a time when such decisions opened mental doors to an understanding of their unjust predicament of being enslaved while being hindered, and often punished, for their decision to do so. She effectively integrated an example of such an effect from “The Classic Slave Narratives” in the words of Douglas himself, “I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out. In a moment of agony I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity…It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me (Gates 370). Rosalinda further discusses how slaves who either were not offered the opportunity to learn to read or who chose to remain ignorant escaped unwanted attention of their slave masters. They remained unaware of the true nature of their situation at a time when such enlightenment would have proved torturous and non-beneficial.

She further drew some interesting parallels in Morrison’s Song of Solomon between the characters of Macon Dead and his daughter, Corinthians, as relative to the ramifications literacy and assimilation imposed upon their life stories.  Despite Macon Dead’s continual struggle to maintain an ideal of success as perceived through the dominant culture, his illiteracy is his ultimate downfall, causing him to lose all he has struggled to maintain at the end of the novel. The education and worldly travels of his daughter, Corinthians, ultimately serves no real benefit to better her situation, since she remains a maid, an occupation she could have easily acquired had she not been educated or exposed to the world at large at all. While I believe Rosalinda made some valid points concerning the “glass ceiling” faced by the characters and African-Americans in general, I believe she could have offered more insight as to why Morrison would have designed Corinthians’ situation to have developed into the manner that it did. Such discussion could have proposed valuable discussion as related to the double minority status of women, literacy, and assimilation.

Christina Ford (Midterm 2010): Just as Rosalinda thoughtfully described the consequences of assimilation and literacy faced by African-Americans, Christina took the issue a step further by laying the groundwork for discussion concerning how many African-Americans who chose assimilation were able to use the dominant culture for their own benefit. Historical figures, such as Harriet Jacobs was compelled to submit to the unwanted sexual advances triggered by the allure of her lighter skin tone, a trait that is often seen as an attribute in the modern African-American community. However, it also was an ultimate magnet of unwanted attention and jealousy at the time in which Jacob and Douglas lived. This disdain was also experienced by Douglas himself, being a lighter-skinned African-American. After being denied a marriage of her own choosing, she submits to the unwanted sexual advances of an acquaintance of her master and bears his children, as an escape from her own master’s excessive brutality. Although Jacobs desires to uphold a moral way of living, she describes her predicament, as faced by many women of her time, in the following words, “The condition of a slave confuses all principles of morality, and, in fact, renders the practice of them impossible.” Christina further describes how despite the fact that Douglas proved himself to be more successful in literacy in comparison to some of his white counterparts, he was able to find solace in the company of free black men and whites through the occupation of a skilled laborer. She wraps up her discussion of both Douglas and Jacobs by stating, “For Jacobs and Douglass, problems with assimilation have less to do with losing cultural identity than with being allowed entry at all into dominant white culture.”

I found Christina’s midterm to be a very insightful contribution to my learning, in that I had not considered before how many African-Americans had been able to assimilate into the mainstream dominate culture, not out of a desire to become white and lose their own identity, but as a means of securing and handing down their own legacy by being able to read, write, and secure their own livelihood.

 In Juan Garcia’s midterm, entitled, “To Be or Not to Be: Racial Integration in the 18^th and 19^th Century”, Juan touches on the minority struggle as to assimilating into or resisting the White dominate culture. He illustrates the existence of both assimilation-related and resistant behavior in Song of Solomon through the characters of Guitar, Milkman, Macon Dead, and Pilate. One of Juan’s points I found most introspective and interesting was his perception of Pilate being a skilled manipulator of the police by convincing them to release Milkman and Guitar through the guise of a stereotypical “Aunt Jemima” routine. Although Milkman views this scene as demeaning, Juan puts the routine in perspective by stating that, “It was because it degraded her, that it worked though. The police only saw a sad old woman, and any other behavior would only have complicated the situation.” Ironically, Pilate uses her inherent “Blackness”, or non-assimilative behavior, to manipulate the dominate White culture into working in her own interests, while at the same time, Macon Dead and other historical figures, such as Harriet Jacobs, chose to assimilate in order to accomplish the same goal. I found this to be both an intriguing and ironic point, in that the historical figures of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglas used to route of assimilation to accomplish the same means.

Midterm

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of “The Dream”

            For the purposes of my midterm essay, I will focus on applying Objective Three, which is to compare and contrast the dominant “American Dream” narrative with alternative narratives of American minorities, to the literature discussed in class as relevant to the research question, “How does the Dream of African-American culture resemble and differ from “The American Dream” of the Dominant Culture?

            I will begin by laying the groundwork for such a discussion by first distinguishing immigrant from African-American minority literature (Objective Seven). According to the posted class notes, the American Immigrant Narrative is characterized by a voluntary journey to a new world, where hard work and inter-marriage are keys to assimilating to the dominant culture. Equal rights and opportunity abound for those who are willing to assimilate and undergo challenges that are feasible due to the increased ease of blending in. However, the African-American narrative exemplifies the conditions to the contrary, where legal marriage, profit and “social ladder climbing” are not possible avenues, even for those who immigrated to this country involuntarily.

            Due to this discrepancy, the focus appears to shift from individual success, as exemplified in traditional immigrant narratives, to the resiliency of individuals as relative to their identity as part of a group. To illustrate this point, I will draw upon a classic immigrant memoir, The Rise of David Levinsky, by Abram Cahan, to distinguish between the struggles of immigrant versus minority literature.

            Cahan’s memoir tells the tale of a young Jewish boy from a turbulent Russia who embarks on a solo journey to the United States after the loss of his mother. In order to make a new life for himself, David works relentlessly, night and day, to establish his own business and to assimilate into society, often through opportunistic means. When attempting to obtain the high favor of another admired businessman, the narrator reflects upon his perceived inferiority due to his ethnicity in the following words, “It implied that I was a shrewd fellow and excellent customer, singularly successful and reliable, but that I was his inferior all the same – a Jew, a social pariah. At the bottom of my heart I considered myself his superior, finding an amusing discrepancy between his professorial face and the crudity of his intellectual interests; but he was a Gentile, and an American, and a much wealthier man than I, so I looked up to him” (Cahan, 502). Despite being ostracized from mainstream culture due to his ethnicity and foreign background, the narrator eventually reaches the pinnacle of success and materialism, only to find himself alone as a consequence of consistently manipulating others for his own personal gain.

            The character of Macon Dead in Song of Solomon reflects strong similarities when compared to that of David Levinsky. Similar to David Levinsky, Macon Dead seeks materialism, assimilation into the mainstream dominant culture, and opportunistic endeavors as avenues to success. He marries a light-skinned Negro woman, the daughter of the town doctor, to increase his social status. He shuns his natural family, most particularly his sister, Pilates, because of their inherent “Blackness”, just as David often compromises his own Jewish religious and cultural laws. However, their polar- opposite fates result from Macon Dead’s inability to read coupled with sharply ingrained cultural prejudices against skin color, which are attributes that cannot be disguised, such as a religious affiliation or an accent. I found it to be an interesting technique of Morrison in constructing the character of Corinthians, a learned woman, well-versed in culture and literacy, to be his daughter. If Macon had strived for success and identity within his own family unit, his daughter could have easily taught him how to read, which would have then saved his career. His disconnection from his own people appears to be the underlying factor contributing to his loss and failure, as well as a theme in Morrison’s novel.

            Likewise, the same attitude appears to exist in Frederick Douglas as in David Levinsky in terms of going using assimilation as a means to an end in accomplishing their own goals. David Levinsky, for instance, compromised Jewish tradition by intermingling with Gentile businessmen, while Douglas used his newly found literacy to escape to the North and to freedom. He refers to these same intentions when he states, “…I wished to learn to write, as I might have occasion to write my own pass.” In both cases, the individual defies a cultural norm or expectation in order to benefit from the norms of another. However, the impetus for doing so is entirely different and unequal when compared with one another.

            The immigrant, for instance, is able to enter the country under the promise granted all men in the Declaration of Independence of “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Such a promise is, of course, normally the incentive for forsaking an old way of life and pursuing another thousands of miles away. While assimilation is an issue that requires adjustment for the immigrant, the African-American , while a born native,  has been forced for centuries to develop “a Dream” independent of these rights. Due to restrictions of unalterable features, such as skin color and race (which, of course, cannot be altered), individual accomplishment of the American Dream has been an unreachable attainment. Consequently, a group struggle and identity took hold, which has centered around what can be no better illustrated than that of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. While an immigrant may be an exile from his own land, he or she can very well find roots in a new way of life. However, as Martin Luther King himself so well put it, “(The Negro) finds himself an exile in his own land” and should “…work together, pray together, go to jail together, knowing that we will be free one day.” Aside from success, “the Dream” as illustrated by Martin Luther King, Jr. is the basic attainment of those rights, as the following words relate: “I still have a dream. It is deeply rooted in the American dream….I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

Research Plan

Such parallels and differences between the American dream and “the Dream” as nurtured within the confines of African-American culture and history have led me to develop a topic of relatable interest for the research component of this course. I would like to examine specific expressions regarding what the Dream is and how it differs and relates among minority literature. More specifically, I intend to locate expressions of ideologies, emotions, and motivations which appear to be “dream-like” and determine whether or not they are referring to a dream or simply expressing a struggle against anger, greed, and the like. I would also like to extend this technique to Native American literature and compare it with those idealistic patterns within African-American literature. The key question I will need to investigate and answer will be something similar to, “How does one distinguish between character traits and that of an ideology or “dream-like” pattern?” This will be a high-interest subject for me personally, and one that should not only enlighten me regarding themes in minority literature, but in stylistic devices as well.

Works Cited

Cahan, Abraham. The Rise of David Levinsky. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1993. Print.