Nathanael Lee

June 24, 2010 

The Life and Times of the American Immigrant

            The American immigrant narrative has many structures. The essential thing to remember is that, most often, the American immigrant story has a chronological structure, even if it is disorganized. Every immigrant travels in time and often the stories of the immigrants follow this path. No one that I know of may resist the march of time. Some steps of the narrative may not appear, as some stories may focus upon being in America, and the act of assimilating into it, not of returning some of the ethnic identity. However, most often, when the whole story is told, there are these certain steps: The need for change, the journey, the arrival, the struggle, assimilation, and the reassertion of ethnic identity. 

            The American immigrant narrative seems to start with a desperate need going unfulfilled, or an unusual and life-upsetting change in the country of origin. It is from this that the desire for change is born. America, upheld as the land of opportunity, is the “ideal choice for the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” according to the poem inscribed upon the Statue of Liberty, a poem written by Emma Lazarus titled “The New Colossus” (Liberty State Park). The beauty and the appeal of this part is that it can immediately inspire sympathy. Part of the American dream is that one can breathe free, and that the poor and the tired may raise their status if they work hard enough. Andrew Carnegie, in his autobiography, writes how his father sang to his mother, “’To the West, to the West, to the land of the free,
Where the mighty Missouri rolls down to the sea;
Where a man is a man even though he must toil
And the poorest may gather the fruits of the soil.’” (Carnegie) This song represents a certain degree of aestheticism in that it rhymes, it is catchy, and it hints that one may be manly and strong in this free land, and that the poor can rise above their sad and sorry station to achieve the American dream! His father, who has had repeated difficulties with the loom business, gives up everything, heroically auctioning off the parts of the business, in order to come to America in search of a better tomorrow. Though he tries his best, he comes up 20 pounds short and is clueless. Carnegie’s father is finally aided by a good friend of the family and they are able to make the journey.

            What comes next is usually the journey, although these initial parts may often be skipped. They usually serve to encourage sympathy or inspire wonder. Their aesthetics lie in the emotional responses they evoke in the reader and serve to draw the reader into the world of the writer. Andrew Carnegie’s journey comes by ship and the initial emotional strain is great. It is the shocking parting of a teenager from the place that he knows and loves and from close family ties. He writes,

On the morning of the day we started from beloved Dunfermline, in the omnibus that ran upon the coal railroad to Charleston, I remember that I stood with tearful eyes looking out of the window until Dunfermline vanished from view… During my first fourteen years of absence my thought was almost daily, as it was that morning, "When shall I see you again?" …As I was about to be taken from the small boat to the steamer, I rushed to Uncle Lauder and clung round his neck, crying out: "I cannot leave you! I cannot leave you!" I was torn from him by a kind sailor who lifted me up on the deck of the steamer. Upon my return visit to Dunfermline this dear old fellow, when he came to see me, told me it was the saddest parting he had ever witnessed. (Carnegie)

What hard-hearted soul can resist the circumstances of Carnegie’s departure? Separated from beloved hometown, separated from beloved relatives, he travels to the mysterious and far off destination of America.

Often, in an immigrant narrative, the aftermath of the journey is also very important. When the immigrant first steps into his or her idea of America, an event that usually sets the tone for the rest of the story occurs. In “In the Land of the Free,” by Sui Sin Far, the reader meets the son of Lae Choo and Hom Hing, two Chinese immigrants. Known as “The Little One,” he is brought to America without papers, visa, or passport. The parents are not aware of this, but they cannot enter America with the child. They encounter resistance when customs officers, who, in accordance with American law, cannot permit the child to enter America. They experience the resistance and shock immediately, as soon as they step off of the boat. They must give the child up and work to assimilate into the American culture by filing papers and information in order to have their child back. An excerpt from Anzia Yezierska’s “Bread Givers” begins Max’s story from just after his journey and gets him right into the thick of things. In his case, Max states, “’I still see that first day when I got off the ship with my little bundle on my back. I was almost lost in the blowing snow of a freezing blizzard. Then I came upon a gang of men clearing the street with great shovels. At once, I saw that these men must be paid for their work. So I pushed myself in among them and begged for a shovel” (Bread Givers). Max begins humbly, with apparently nothing to his name except a few things in a small pack. He comes to the country with little and works his way up. He starts from a humble background with nothing but a small bundle, and works his way up to better surroundings and a better life.

            This leads to the next part of the typical immigrant narrative. With hard work, even if there are setbacks, an immigrant will become a business owner, an entrepreneur, rich, or even just happy, if the immigrant never gives up and keeps trying. The next part of the immigrant narrative tends to be the struggle. This can often entail alienation, assimilation, discrimination, exploitation, resistance, and shock. However, this does not seem to be true in all cases! Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur, in his Letters from an American Farmer, writes, “Here are no aristocratical families, no courts, no kings, no bishops, no ecclesiastical dominion, no invisible power giving to a few a very visible one… …The rich and the poor are not so far removed from each other as they are in Europe.” (Crevecoeur) Crevecoeur does not seem to experience alienation or discrimination by America. Instead, Crevecoeur is shocked by the discrimination against minorities, (Indians, Blacks) not immigrants. Any alienation comes from himself, from his own resistance to the master narrative of America that says, in opposition to the Declaration of Independence, that not all men are created equal and that some should have more rights than others. Crevecoeur resists the American culture of slavery and instead considers joining an Indian community. However, the speaker in Anzia Yezierska’s “Soap and Water” comes against a wall. The speaker is dirty and so is rejected by the “clean society.” She works, exploited, in a sweatshop. The clean society resists the speaker because the speaker does not assimilate into the culture. Because she attempts to elevate herself, her fellow sweatshop workers avoid her and look at her askance. She becomes alienated from all sides and states, “But to whom could I speak? The people in the laundry? They never understood me. They had a grudge against me because I left them when I tried to work myself up. Could I speak to the college people? What did these icebergs of convention know about the vital things of the heart?” (Soap and Water) However, unlike Crevecoeur and the speaker of “Soap and Water,” Carnegie experiences no real exploitation, no real resistance. His only shock comes from the great city of New York, which bustles and has such unusual things that it is only natural for a young boy to become enticed by the many treats made available to him. Rather, the shock and resistance mainly comes from his family. His mother resists certain jobs (“’What! my son a peddler and go among rough men upon the wharves! I would rather throw him into the Allegheny river. Leave me!’”) Instead, Carnegie himself only experiences minor resistance. In his story, Carnegie does not experience harsh resistance. America seems to do its best to lift him up and give him a steadily improving life. His story is truly inspiring and moving as a literary construct. He states,

I insisted upon going alone upstairs to the second or operating floor to see the great man and learn my fate. I was led to this, perhaps, because I had by that time begun to consider myself something of an American. At first boys used to call me "Scotchie! Scotchie!" and I answered, "Yes, I'm Scotch and I am proud of the name." But in speech and in address the broad Scotch had been worn off to a slight[Pg 38] extent, and I imagined that I could make a smarter showing if alone with Mr. Brooks than if my good old Scotch father were present, perhaps to smile at my airs. (Carnegie)

He encounters no real resistance other than admitting to, proudly, being of Scotch descent. Andrew Carnegie works hard and assimilates into American culture well.

             Assimilation is usually the next step. Sometimes it is a hard process to catch, but as Gregory Djanikian writes in his poem, “In the Elementary School Choir,” “I had never seen a cornfield in my life, / I had never been to Oklahoma, / But I was singing as loud as anyone.” (Djanikian) The speaker does not understand the concepts being espoused, but still, he sings the songs to fit in. In the previous Carnegie quote, Andrew Carnegie leaves behind his father in order to meet with Mr. Brooks. Carnegie’s thinking is that the lack of a Scottish accent may help him in attaining a job, and he did not want his father present to believe Andrew was “putting on airs,” believing himself higher than being Scottish. In this way, Andrew Carnegie assimilates into American culture and works to show that he is more American than Scottish so that he may get a better job.

            I have looked hard for the last stage suggested by Dr. White in objective 2: Rediscovery or reassertion of ethnic identity. We have been presented with very few examples of this so far. However, I believe I have found a near-perfect example. After Andrew Carnegie has struck it rich, he follows his father’s example once more. Carnegie writes, “My father, as I have stated, had been one of the five pioneers in Dunfermline who combined and gave access to their few books to their less fortunate neighbors. I had followed in his footsteps by giving my native town a library—its foundation stone laid by my mother—so that this public library was really my first gift. It was followed by giving a public library and hall to Allegheny City—our first home in America.” Andrew Carnegie, who has become quite wealthy in his investments and work, has an excess of money. In turn, he decides to follow the philanthropic nature of his father and give books and learning to his less fortunate neighbors. This is a very small reassertion of his ethnic identity, but it stems from his father’s actions. Since his father was completely Scottish when he was doing those acts, Carnegie repeats what he remembered from Scotland, reasserting that identity in a small, subtle way.

Works Cited

Carnegie, Andrew. "Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie." Project Gutenberg. 13 Mar. 2006. Web. 24 June 2010. <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17976/17976-h/17976-h.htm>.

Crevecoeur, Hector St. Jean De. “Letters from an American Farmer.” Texts for Craig White's Literature Courses. Prof. Craig White. Web. 24 June 2010. <http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/texts/AmClassics/Crevecoeurexcerpts.htm>.

Djanikian, Gregory. "In the Elementary School Choir." Texts for Craig White's Literature Courses. Web. 26 June 2010. <http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/texts/AmClassics/immigrant/impoems/DjanikianChoir.htm>.

"Emma Lazarus; Famous Poem :"The New Colossus.” Welcome to Liberty State Park, The Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island. Liberty State Park. Web. 24 June 2010. <http://www.libertystatepark.com/emma.htm>.

Far, Sui Sin. "In the Land of the Free." Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land. Ed. Wesley Brown and Amy Ling. New York: Persea, 2002. 3-11. Print.

Yezierska, Anzia. “Excerpt from Bread Givers.” Texts for Craig White's Literature Courses. Prof. Craig White. Web. 24 June 2010. <http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/texts/AmClassics/immigrant/BreadGiversexcerpt.htm>.

Nathanael Lee

June 24, 2010 

The Way Minorities Interact with Dominant Culture

            Minority narratives can expose the darker side of the immigrant narrative. The minority narratives expose a darker, more malicious side to America and show how American culture tends to try to destroy other cultures and their values while forcing those they hurt to submit, forgive, forget, and assimilate into the dominant culture. They make the pain inflicted in immigrant narratives stand out in stark relief while trying to improve their own standing. In minority narratives, the main characters often fight back against the wall or will (depending on the story) of dominant culture as best they can. Some are forced to assimilate, some acculturate, and some purely resist, but they struggle to hold their culture intact.

American Indians may feel immigration deconstructs their cultural values, but they have learned to live with and in spite of it. In Leslie Marmon Silko’s “The Man to Send Rain Clouds,” Grandfather Teofilo dies under a cottonwood tree and is retrieved by two men. They perform Indian funeral rites and place his body under a tarp in the back of their truck. As they drive, they are stopped by a priest, a typical symbol of the dominant culture. The priest worries about Teofilo in front of them and the men do not tell the priest of Teofilo’s body. The priest, seemingly concerned for the grandfather’s well-being, then takes the time to encourage them to come to mass and bring old Teofilo if they can find him. The men simply drive away as the priest smiles at them. The priest is obviously trying to draw them into the dominant culture, to assimilate. Since the Indians have performed the traditional Indian funeral rites, a part of their minority culture, they are obviously resisting the priest’s influence and will. In fact, the Indians somewhat absorb the priest’s culture into their own and somewhat force him to conform and assimilate. In this way, they are acculturating. They use the priest’s idea of holy water to benefit their own culture. They encourage the priest to pour holy water into the grave for the old man, but not because they want him to go to heaven, but because they want the old man to send them rain clouds. The priest conforms, but is not fully aware of what is happening. These acts contrast to the American immigrant narrative because the Indians resist the dominant culture and only use it to benefit themselves and to advance their own culture. This is a form of reverse assimilation. The Indians do not assimilate, but force their culture on the priest, even if he does not fully notice it. This should be compared to Stephen Paczkowski from Nicholasa Mohr’s “The English Lesson.” Stephen Paczkowski was born in Poland, Warsaw and was forced to leave his country because its government forced him. He had degrees from a university in Poland. He had been a professor in music at University of Krakow for eight and a half years before he was forced to move out of his country. He came to America because his wife’s cousin had connections to help them enter. However, Stephen, a year and approximately two months after his departure, manages to find a job working as a lowly porter, a janitor, in the maintenance department of a hospital. He goes from a job for an educated man to one for no education because he must assimilate into the culture of America. Stephen is attending the English class, which is one of assimilation into the dominant culture, because he wishes to return to his high standing once more. To do so, he needs the approval of America and must assimilate properly into it. To summate: the Indians acculturate the white dominant culture and Stephen Paczkowski assimilates into it.

Instead of coming to America through sheer willpower, African Americans often were kidnapped to the Americas, where they found mostly slavery and few opportunities. The story “American Horse” somewhat parallels this story of kidnapping. Buddy American Horse is ripped from the land of his heritage, from his Indian mother, a member of the minority who somewhat follows the minority culture, and he placed into the care of an American social worker, who comes from the dominant culture. He is kidnapped from his home in the most violent way and is forced into the white culture. This is another form of reverse assimilation. The dominant culture does not assimilate, but forces its will upon others. This does not mesh with the American dream, where everyone is equal and is free to pursue happiness. Buddy is violently ripped from his mother’s protection and from his happiness. He experiences shock as he is taken from her and the story ends with him unintentionally screaming uncontrollably. Vicki Koob, agent of social security, and, in the story, agent of the dominant culture, sees the American Horse family’s world through her dominant culture glasses of what is defined as the norm. Louise Erdrich writes,

Not one thing escaped Vicki Koob’s trained [by dominant culture] and cataloguing gaze. She made note of the cupboard that held only commodity flour and coffee. The unsanitary tin oil drum beneath the kitchen window, full of empty surplus pork cans and beer bottles, caught her eye as did Uncle Lawrence’s physical and mental deteriorations. She quickly described these “benchmarks of alcoholic dependency within the extended family of Woodrow (Buddy) American Horse” as she walked through the room… (Erdrich, 216)

In a white household, such a tin oil drum might have been described as a “recycling bin.” Koob quickly sweeps through the room, noting what she expects to see only. The age of the beer bottles is not considered, for maybe they were consumed recently during a party, or perhaps more over time. Uncle Lawrence’s “physical and mental deteriorations” could have been the result of any number of things beyond alcoholism. In fact, there are no signs of mental deteriorations in Uncle Lawrence. He displays no deterioration beyond a lack of a sense of dominant culture decency that says one does not wear oddball clothes outside one’s home. Koob does not “celebrate difference,” welcome change, or recognize that this is a different culture. In fact, Buddy is already determined to be gone. He has somehow undergone a miraculous name change to the name of an American president (Woodrow Wilson) and his name, given to him by his mother, is deemed a barely relevant nickname. He is victimized not only in person, but in identity as well. Because the mother, Albertine American Horse, has not assimilated fully into the dominant culture, she is punished and her child is forced to assimilate because he is dragged away from those who might educate him in minority traditions and values. His story parallels the American Immigrant story in the worst way. He is forced to leave his family and begin a journey. It is an internal migration, but a forced leaving in any case. His story somewhat parallels the African-American minority narrative here. He suffers shock from this transition, barely can resist, as he is a child, and is discriminated against with the name change and being fed a mass-produced chocolate bar. This is more ageism, but is still a form of discrimination. His youth is exploited as Koob feeds Buddy the chocolate bar and Buddy, who is in deep pain, releases his pain, frustration, and fear in a primal scream after consuming it, rather than say thank you in politeness to the woman who ripped him from his mother. This strangely compares and contrasts to Stephen Paczkowski’s story. He was not forced out of his home by American dominant culture, but Polish dominant culture. However, he traveled to America and has plans to lift himself from his troubles. Stephen, however, is almost emotionless about the story, while Buddy’s is charged with emotion. Buddy is being forced through an internal migration (moved to another place inside the U.S.) while Stephen leaves his country. There is hope for Stephen in America, while Buddy’s is likely to be troubled and painful.

When the dominant culture tells minorities to "get over it" and "forget the past," they are urging minorities to act like immigrants, who leave their pasts behind voluntarily and keep moving. In Alice Walker’s “Elethia,” Albert Porter was born in slavery, even though it had been ended for 10 years. His “boss” kept his “slaves” ignorant of the law, so they did not know that they could be free. However, even as a “slave,” Albert Porter was resistant. He “broke stuff up,” (Walker, 309) and always resisted the boss’s pushes for Porter to “grin and act like a nigger.” (Walker, 309) In the microcosm, the white man acts for dominant culture and tells the minority, Albert Porter, to get over it and forget the past. Porter, on the other hand, resists this culture of white supremacy and fights where he can. However, when Porter dies, his body is punished and forcibly assimilated into the dominant culture. He becomes a (likely) stuffed, smiling, “nigger” for the white man’s restaurant, a symbol of the white man’s will as well as his wall, as no black people are allowed inside unless they serve and assimilate. His body serves as a negation of the past and he is presented as if he were always happy and servile, encouraging others to “forget the past” while being an ironic symbol of it. In the end, to end the lies, Elethia and some of her friends destroy the object of oppression and fight back against white culture’s lies. Stephen Paczkowski is not encouraged to forgive or forget, but is still encouraged to assimilate into the culture. In fact, Stephen is encouraged to remember when the teacher wishes to know from whence he came.

However, African-American minority narratives tend to have a strange comparison with the immigrant narrative. While there are many similarities, there are also many differences. In Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson,” unlike Stephen Paczkowski who wants to be in his English class, the African-American children do not want the class. The students are not forced into the country, they simply live their lives in the country they were born, and they feel repulsed by the dominant culture of Miss Moore, who has, in some strange amalgamation, both assimilated and acculturated. She exists in some strange betweenness. She may have adopted the mannerisms and education of the dominant culture, but she seeks to improve the lives of the younger of the minority culture. She seeks to help them find a voice by which they can defend themselves from the dominant culture, to speak up against the outrageous acts and behavior of the dominant culture. Every moment, she is asking them questions, trying to get them to show what they know or educate them more on the things in which they are interested. The children of the story somewhat follow the immigrant narrative by traveling in a taxi to a world foreign to them: A world of the dominant, rich culture. The children resist her knowledge, partly because they somewhat do not understand it all. They resist the culture and are in shock because of it. At F.A.O. Shwarz, they encounter objects so ridiculously beyond their price range, they go numb and can hardly process it. In the story, no one at F.A.O. Shwarz seems to notice them, so there is no will of the white man to be found. There just is no dominant culture action. On the other hand, the wall is plainly seen. The prices are so far beyond what the children can pay that they do not even understand it. However, the end of the story shows assimilation. The main character, Sylvia, and her friend, who is another of the children, go to run to a store of the dominant culture that sells “chocolate layers” and then they plan to shop for potato chips and ice-cream sodas. This is an assimilation into the consumer culture of the United States. However, Sylvia also states, in a soliloquy to herself, “We start down the block and she gets ahead which is OK by me cause I’m goin to the West End and then over to the Drive to think this day through. She can run if she want to and even run faster. But ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.” (Bambara, 152) This shows that Sylvia intends to take a lesson from this. That her friend will run faster implies that she will beat Sylvia in the footrace, so she must mean that she will win at the game of life and that she seems to intend to change her life and make something of herself. This can be a symbol of assimilation or acculturation. It all depends upon how Sylvia takes the lesson.

The wall and the will of the dominant culture are of great importance to the minority narrative that outlines the problems and difficulties of dealing with the white culture and society. The American immigrant is uplifted by American culture while the American minority is held back or strongly, in the worst sense of the word, encouraged to assimilate.

Works Cited

Bambara, Toni Cade. "The Lesson." Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land. Ed. Wesley Brown and Amy Ling. New York: Persea, 2002. 145-52. Print.

Erdrich, Louise. "American Horse." Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land. Ed. Wesley Brown and Amy Ling. New York: Persea, 2002. 210-20. Print.

Mohr, Nicholasa. "The English Lesson." Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land. Ed. Wesley Brown and Amy Ling. New York: Persea, 2002. 21-34. Print.

Silko, Leslie Marmon. "The Man to Send Rain Clouds." Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land. Ed. Wesley Brown and Amy Ling. New York: Persea, 2002. 205-09. Print

Walker, Alice. "Elethia." Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land. Ed. Wesley Brown and Amy Ling. New York: Persea, 2002. 307-09. Print.