Karina Ramos 

Fall 2012 Midterm Exam 

Part I: Web Review

The Dream

In her midterm, Michelle Stephenson makes a point of differentiating the American Dream from the minority’s American Dream. She quotes the course objectives saying that, “The dominant American Dream narrative involves voluntary participation, forgetting the past, and privileging the individual while the alternative Dream narrative of American minorities involves forced participation, connecting to the past, and privileging the group-the traditional (extended) or alternative families.” I find this interesting. While true that the American Dream is different than the minority American Dream, both are essentially the same. While minority groups may have been forced into an American standard the Dream remains fundamentally the same. Minorities still dream of to become better, yet, as Michelle pointed out minorities are often prevented from achieving it purely on the basis of their heritage, the Color Code.

It is important to keep in mind that while what Michelle said regarding the differences of the achievability, and reasons for the American Dream, it is essentially the same no matter how or why someone ended up in America. Psychologically humans are fundamentally the same and we want the same things. While one aspect of the Dream might take precedence over another it essentially always leads to becoming better in some for or fashion. In her midterm she gives plenty of examples of how the Dream can be different from person to person.

While not one of Michelle’s examples, Harriet Jacobs is one example of an individual forced to come to America who fights for the American Dream. While still a slave, she manages to make things as good as possible for herself. Then when her children are born the Dream extends to them. But for the Dream to happen sacrifices had to be made. Karen Hrametz wrote, “Still, in order to live her dream, she had to leave her grandmother and other relatives behind, a most painful decision for her indeed. Through hardship and sacrifice, she remained steadfast on her mission: to unite mother and children together as family.” That became her American Dream.

The modified American Dream while fundamentally the same cannot be denied its differences. More than being different it feels that the modified American Dream runs deeper than the traditional American dream. An individual in the minority category often has something that was taken from them. While the traditional immigrant left his past behind willingly, the minority individual often had his taken forcefully. In her midterm, Jennifer Thurik states that the minority, “are drawn to reconnect with their past and their roots. Until they do so, their dream remains unrealized.” While this might be true in some cases it is not a requirement for the minority to achieve their Dream.

However, in the end it seems like the Dream, my never truly be achieved. While the people who came before might get one step close to achieving it, such as in the case of Harriet Jacobs humans always want more. The bar for the Dream is placed higher in every generation leaving only fractions of it to be reached by each. The American Dream, modified or otherwise, is just that a Dream. It is something to hold on to and fight for. The Dream is what in the end drives humanity to better itself.

Part II: Essay Assignment

An Equal Dream

According to the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This document shaped a nation. The American people still hold fast to this statement. For them there is no doubt of the truth of the words printed in this hundreds year old document.

However, this was not always the case. In 1776, when the United States constitution was drafted not all men were created equal. At the time when the founding fathers were signing the document declaring their freedom, many of them were denying it to people living in their own lands. During this time the practice of slavery was still commonplace in the colonies. Slaves, merely because of the color of their skin were considered less than human and therefore not applicable for the unalienable rights dictated in the Constitution.

The rode to equality has been long and hard for the minorities in this country. People like Martin Luther King, Jr. gave their lives for the idea that the rights stated in the constitution applied to his people as well as any other. In his 1969 Lincoln Memorial speech, nearly two hundred years after the Declaration of Independence was signed, King addressed the American people and declared that as far and as much as they had accomplished since 1776, unalienable rights were still being withheld from a large number of Americans.

I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream, that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed – we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. (King)

Inequality holds consequences. Not only was a war that almost destroyed the country fought because of it but it also leaves innumerable psychological scars in both the dominant population and the minority people. Some on these scars might be more commonly be seen as a direct result of the Color Code. Literature is littered with this concept however, it is easier to identify within minority literature.

Slave narratives such as that of Fredrick Douglass explain what it was like an African American child to grow up bound by slavery. Even as a child, Douglass knew that there was something basically wrong with the way he was treated differently from the white children. Things such as the fact that he was not allowed to continue with his reading lessons or that he was not even allowed to know his own age made it clear that he wasn’t like the white children around him.

Many years later, Toni Morrison wrote the story Song of Salomon in which she depicted how the African American people were still being treated. Early in the novel, Guitar encounters a woman who assume, bases on his ethnic background, that he is illiterate.

The nurse gazed at the stout woman as though she had spoken Welsh.  Then she closed her mouth, looked again at the cat-eyed boy, and lacing her fingers, spoke her next words very slowly to him. ‘Listen.  Go around to the back of the hospital to the guard’s office.  It will say Emergency Admissions on the door.  A – D – M – I – S – I – O – N – S.  (Morrison 13)

 This encounter does not only speak volumes about how the lack of literature still affects the African American population but it also depicts how in the eyes of others, the African American individual is less intelligent than other people. The fictional character of Guitar was not the only one to suffer this kind of humiliation. Thousands of African Americans went through very similar experiences.

Lack of education does not only have immediate consequences. Sometime ignorance extends to affect people generations after. Yet, the denial of education is not the only thing that carries consequences in the long run.

For many generations, slavery destroyed the concept of family structure. This combined with a poor education produced many unhealthy relationships within the family structure. In Sapphire’s story, Push, Precious has suffered through psychological, physical, and sexual abuse from her own family. When she finds herself pregnant her mother is very vocal in telling her to “Go down to welfare, school can’t help you none, now."  (35)

This sentiment can only be explained because the woman’s own lack of education. Because for generation the African American people and other minorities have been kept ignorant that is the only thing they know. However, Precious, like Douglass and countless others before her, knows that the only way that she can reach the American Dream is to break away from what has come to be expected by society.

She understand that in order to reach her goals she must learn. "I gotta learn more than ABCs now. I got to learn more than read write, this is BIG" (94). Just like with King, Precious realizes that the American Dream might not be accomplished with her lifetime, but if she takes that first step, her son will be that much closer to seeing it happen himself.

Another consequence of the lack of a stable family dynamic can be seen in Morrison’s Song of Salomon. In his quest for knowledge, Milkman finds himself residing with many people he comes to consider family. Yet, he has left his own behind. By doing so the bonds he once held with his own family have become damaged. And in some cases completely destroyed. His quest for family may have helped him gain information about his past, something very dear to someone who has never been allowed to know of it, but it also put at risk his future.

The American Dream is funded on the principals of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. While the same applies to the minority population their Dream goes a bit deeper. Life does not only mean to be allowed to exist in the place where you are. Minority populations Dream of being given the same opportunities as everyone else to not just survive but thrive. Liberty is not just the lack of freedom but the ability to take that freedom and all that comes with it. To be allowed to pursue the Dream, their dream without being held to different standards.

Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream. He fought for that dream and gave his life for it, as did countless others. And while we have come close to achieving that dream by leaps and bounds we cannot say we are there yet. The Dream for minorities still continues. People all over still hold certain truths to be self-evident. The people hold on to it with the hope that one day it will come to pass.

Part III: Research Plan - Journal

Tales for Survival

The stories of a people speak volumes of the people. They tell of how they lived and what they believed in. In class we have been studying slave narratives. These factual accounts tell us firsthand what life as a slave in America was like. This group of people created their own culture and with it their own stories.

African American folk tales differ from American folk tales and African folk tales. Because of the vast mixing of cultures that resulted from slavery, African American folk tales are entirely their own. They were created from a mix of many cultures to fit the new world they were living in now.

This I would like to investigate include:

How animal stories reflect on the slave’s experience

How the theme of Flying is presented and if it appears in more than one legend

How the tales keep the Dream alive