Betty Vasquez

Voices of Compassion

When I first read the course title “American Immigrant Literature,” my mind immediately jumped to the thought that we are all immigrants in this country and therefore anything written by someone who is not Native American should be considered immigrant literature. After all, this country was not originally discovered—but inhabited— by European immigrants.  Yet after a few classes, it was established that immigrant literature was not defined in the same terms that I was thinking, but instead as “a central story of the American experience,” stories that often concern themselves with the personal journeys of those in search of the “American Dream.” The much publicized idea of the American Dream can be summed up in one word: opportunity. We also learned that the characteristics of the immigrant narrative can be identified by the stages of immigrant narrative (or a combination of them):     1. leaving the old world; 2. going to the new world; 3. experiencing shock, discrimination and/or resistance; 4. conforming to the culture; and 5. recovering some ethnic identity. In the readings to come, we would establish and identify these patterns of immigrant narratives and would have a better understanding of their importance in the diverse makeup of our modern day nation.

From the very conception of our present day country, immigrants were escaping the rule of the king and his divine right of superiority. This conception and advertisement of the “American Dream” are held in the famous lines of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These words and the ones that follow in the Declaration of Independence are a representation of leaving the old world and going to the new world, the first two stages of the immigrant narrative as established in class. The Declaration embodies the voices of those escaping an unjust world; therefore this document has become a timeless account of immigrant ideals. In fact, the words quoted above are so powerful that they not only inspired the uniting of a nation but it became a poster advertisement for other immigrants starving for those same rights—even today. In this manner it extended an invitation for all of those in search of “inalienable rights” and “the pursuit of happiness” and inadvertently made America the immigrant capital of the world.

As we moved on to other readings in class, I felt that the poem by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni entitled “Restroom” was a very strong representation of the immigrant narrative stages of going to a new world and experiencing shock. In her poem, Divakaruni takes the reader straight into the emotional storm of arriving at the new world of America. This poem captures the shock of the new world with such a simple act as that of using the restroom. Although it can be difficult to understand, anyone who has left this country can empathize with the protagonist’s admiration for the sinks, the cleanliness and the amount of space. Emphasizing how simple things, we as Americans take for granted, are drastically different in other parts of the world. Also in her poem, she calls attention to the voices heard within our psyche, their origination, and how they make up who we are. The protagonist’s voices restrict her from speaking of bodily functions. These voices originated in her upbringing, in her country, by her family. In this manner, they transcend location and time because although her family is not with her, their teachings are. We all have the same psyche makeup. We have our own voices that originate from our families, our land, and our upbringing. In the same manner, the experiences that we read about stay with us, become part of those voices, and bring a compassion for those who immigrate to join us.

While we may not have shared the same experiences, the narratives help us appreciate what some people are willing to sacrifice to make the journey. Such was the case of Lae Choo “In the Land of the Free.” Her ultimate shock was the removal of her child when she reached the border of San Francisco. Although this story concerns itself with Lae, after further analysis, we see that there are really three immigrant stages that are being portrayed. The baby who is in fact a new immigrant is instantly assimilated to America because he was taken from the source of his cultural background. Unfortunately his assimilation causes him to reject his mother who represents the old world. The husband has been assimilated for quite some time, to the point where he gives up custody of his son. He accepts the law and keeps to his business. He understands that in this country many things are motivated by money. At the end his only real concern seems to be his wife, the last stage of immigrant narrative, the part of his culture he is trying to recover. Although Lae has resided here before, she is treated as a new immigrant by customs. This pushes back her experience to the stage of shock and discrimination by the lawyer.

In the short story “Silver Pavements, Golden Roofs,” Jaynati also experiences shock in Chicago when the reality of America does not meet her romanticized expectations of America. She also experiences discrimination for the first time on the streets of the city by ignorant kids. It is then that she discovers that the land of opportunity is not accepting to all, nor can they differentiate between an Indian and an African American. She is faced with the harsh realization that although she desires to assimilate to American culture, she is rejected by some. This in turn makes her long for her home and resent her new one. Her aunt Pratima on the other hand, has completely assimilated to her husband and his ideas. She has accepted her husband’s bitter perception of America, his treatment of her, and is caught between her Indian culture and the restraints of her husband in the American world. This places her in both the resistance stage and the stage of conforming to the culture. Because of his attack, her husband is in the stage of discrimination and resistance, from which his anger will not let him leave. He is disillusioned with America and feels that is it hopeless to assimilate. This story gives us a good insight to the various stages immigrants within the same family can find themselves in.

Unlike Jayanti’s aunt and uncle, the characters of “Thank God for the Jews” are completely assimilated to American culture. Fatima and Ali have quite the opposite problem of attempting to recover something typical from their culture in order to please a visiting aunt. From the very beginning of the story, the description of the “Tetly tea bags,” “Corningware,” “cans of formula,” and other household goods immediately let us know that we are in an American home. The mannerisms of the couple, unlike those of the previous story, are completely Americanized. The woman tends to the children and home while the husband goes off to work, she makes lists during commercial breaks, and plans out her shopping. She has her own hierarchy of Pakistani friends, whose rank depends on how many years they have resided in America. Her assimilation works for her until she has a Pakistani aunt over for dinner who follows the Quran book to the letter. Her story becomes quite comical as she begins to do research on her own culture and falls into the final narrative stage of trying to recover some part of her heritage. More so than this, it is a commentary on how assimilation can become a problem when you forget a part of who you are.

The poem “In the Elementary School Choir,” is perhaps the best representation we have read in terms of having experienced all stages of the immigrant narrative. The poet uses a comical approach to his assimilation. His experience is innocent and conforming, as he was a child at the time of his immigration. Therefore he merges the images of his two distinct cultures and is able to disconnect from prejudices and focuses on trying to understand the difference in places. We can identify certain places in the poem where the different stages are made evident. His assimilation, much like Fatima’s is complete but unlike her, he has kept or recovered a part of his heritage in his heart and mind. Although he is a first generation immigrant he has deciphered the combination of the two and seems to have a balance: “How could anyone not think America/Was exotic when it had Massachusetts/And the long tables of thanksgiving?/And how could it not be home/If it were the place where love first struck?” He has reached a plane where although he knows his cultural make up is to be valued, he has still made a place for America to be a part of his home.

  In the end, the immigrant narratives enlighten the thought process of how we view our fellow Americans. While the sacrifices made, things left behind, discriminations encountered and the assimilations made will not be the same in all stories, it builds a canvas of many individual textures and colors which all combine to make an entire portrait. While each segment holds it own personal beauty and sadness, as a whole it is a much stronger portrait for having been composed of so many individual’s technique.

Immigrant vs. Minority: Similarities through Differences or Differences through Similarities?

Now that we have established and identified the stages of the immigrant narrative, we can begin to explore the minority narrative. This has proven to be a little difficult to me because before taking this class, I never stopped to recognize the difference between immigrant and minority narratives. In fact, as someone who was taught to define herself as both an immigrant and a minority, it never occurred to me that there was a difference.  I always believed that some of us were here by choice and others by necessity. But I also believed that both of the latter groups could equally agree that there is greater opportunity here than in other countries. Since beginning this class, I have learned that one major difference between immigrant and minority narratives can be traced back to the individual perspective of the “American Dream” and the “American Nightmare.” This notion is further broken down by the classification of who chose to come here and who was recruited into this country by enslavement or invasion. Within the terminology of this class, the two major minorities are Native Americans and African Americans. To these two groups, the appeal to our nation was not made up of opportunity and prosperity. Unlike immigrants, they do not assimilate to the dominant culture, nor is it expected of them. Minority narratives do not concern themselves with the anticipation of a new world, nor the desire to be accepted. Instead, they convey the lack of fairness in their personal experiences and how they cope with it. We will begin by analyzing minority narratives, then contrast a minority and immigrant narrative, and finally analyze how although some narratives have been categorized as a particular type, it does not necessarily maintain exclusivity to the characteristics of that narrative type.

Texts such as the “Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, the African” and “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave,” are clear cut examples of the manifestation of the American Nightmare. In these stories, both protagonists were trapped here by slavery under no accord of their own. They experienced hardships, discrimination, and abuse by the dominant people. Even after their freedom was given to them, they continued to struggle as “free men” with separatist action and their place within the color code for the remainder of their days.  Because of the time frame, full assimilation to the dominant culture was not an option to their generation. The only assimilation performed by these men was the learning of trades, entrepreneurship, and literacy. To Gustavas, his skills of speech and ability to read were the assimilation that kept him from being considered a slave and, to a certain extent, safe. To Douglass, retaining his status as former African American slave was of great importance to him. Throughout his life he took pride in both his personal history and color. Even after he was accepted by the dominant culture, he refused to be a part of it. In turn, by choosing to remain distinct, he inadvertently “assimilates” to the minority of African Americans. By deciding to remain separate, he reinforces the definition of a minority group.         

Similarly to the African American minority, Native Americans rejected the overpowering of the dominant culture. Although they were not subjected to slavery, they were robbed of their home. In the short story “The Man to Send Rain Clouds,” we see a people who are non-combative and peaceful. While they do not wish to assimilate to the invading culture, they will not offend or ragingly object to our presence in their land. The assimilations that appear to be made are not real assimilations because they use them in a manner to fit their culture, not as a means to resemble the dominant. For example, the holy water—they did not want it because they shared the catholic belief of the “last rights,” they simply wanted it as an offering to keep the dead from becoming thirsty. In poems such as “I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government” by Chrystos and “How the White Man Came to America” by Handsome Lake, we can feel their anger and witness their rejection: “We don’t recognize these names on old sorry paper./Therefore we declare the United States a crazy person . . .” It is at these times that the notion of the American Nightmare we have imposed on them really comes to light.

By analyzing two stories side by side, such as the minority narrative “The Lesson” and the immigrant narrative “The English Lesson,” we can better articulate the differences between the two types of narratives. In “The Lesson,” the story takes place in a metaphorical classroom where Miss Moore, an educated African American woman who wants to give back to her community, takes the role of the teacher. In “The English Lesson” we are dealing with a classroom comprised of immigrants wanting to assimilate the English language. Miss Moore meets resistance throughout her entire lesson; whereas Mrs. Hamma (“The English Lesson”) has immigrants there by choice.  The latter group is in search of opportunity—the American Dream. Miss Moore’s class is learning how they can fit into the minority group they were born into. By showing her class how “the other half” lives (a visit to F.A.O. Swartz) Miss Moore is hoping to motivate her students to want to better themselves. Instead, what she finds is resistance to the life she is alluding to. Although there are some who are attracted to the toys she is placing in front of them, many resent what they cannot have and instead refuse to reach. At the end of the story, Sylvia chooses to live within her means, or rather— the means she has taken from Miss Moore. In contrast, Mrs. Hamma’s students—for the most part— wish to assimilate, become citizens, and show gratitude to the country that has opened its doors to them. Of course there are exceptions to all profiling and the immigrant narrative is not an exception. The character of Diego Torres in “The English Lesson,” does not wish to become a citizen nor to assimilate. He, much like Miss Moore’s students is resentful of America and is only here for his economic improvement. This brings attention to other similarities to the two types of narratives: both of these groups suffer discrimination at some point and an immigrant can refuse assimilation as well. While this overlapping can cause confusion, it is only temporary. An immigrant can accept assimilation and emulate the dominant or they can chose to remain separate and construct a minority of their own.

Finally, we will also find that although a narrative is defined as an immigrant or minority piece, the narratives themselves can contain both types of characteristics. In effect, this makes the lines between immigrants and minorities blurred at times. More to the point, the poem quoted earlier by Chrystos alludes to the Declaration of Independence which is traditionally considered an immigrant narrative because it speaks about the old world left behind and the reasons for it. This is in keeping with the stage of immigrant writing that describes the leaving of the old world and going to the new one. In this sense it does exemplify the course description of immigrant literature, and in this manner, the text can be seen as a pure immigrant narrative. However, the actions and exclusions of the founding people are not fully consistent with immigrant narratives. There was no assimilation to the new world; instead, there was the imposing of immigrant beliefs upon the residents of their new country and there was taking of land that was not rightfully theirs. In addition to this, the immigrants imposed in such a way that those native to the land became both the outsiders and the ones in need of conforming. For this reason, it is very difficult to state that the Declaration of Independence only contains the characteristics of the immigrant narrative when the written document resembles the minority narrative characteristic of refusing to conform to what already existed here.

In conclusion, while it may seem entirely irrelevant that a piece of narrative can exemplify both immigrant and minority narrative characteristics, its significance in defining the two narratives cannot be denied. If we are to accurately define these terms, it is beneficial to accept the fact that not all narratives only exemplify dominant narrative characteristics. Some narratives play with the use of characteristics between both types of narratives. Like the people they represent, they are not clear cut but complex beings. It is important to recognize that although most African Americans and Native Americans hold their minority characteristics dear, others do assimilate and become part of the American Dream. At the end of the day, those are the ones that help us evolve as the nation we are projected to become.