Meryl Bazaman

That Burning Melting Pot

Enamored with his new country, the immigrant author Crevecoeur asserts candidly: “Here (in America, my addition) individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.” So enraptured is the man (Crevecoeur) with his new man, he fails to distinguish the promise of the American Immigrant Narrative from the process of American Immigration; a process where the schism of resistance divides and separates the American Immigrant Narrative from Minority Narrative. Drunk on American Dream, he forgets the simple truism that before something can melt, it must burn.

             That burning, the pain, these are unavoidable aspects of even the most willful of immigrations, and the one stage in the Basic Stages of the Immigrant Narrative where immigrant and minority narratives intersect (Objective 2c). In both the immigrant and minority narratives, conflict and the desire to resist play a necessary role in the two versions of how America became America. For example, in Anzia Yezierska’s short story “Soap and Water”, the narrator demonstrates her shock and resistance accordingly:  “I came against the solid wall of the well-fed, well-dressed world—the frigid whitewashed wall of cleanliness” (17). Despite her industry, efforts, and complimentary desires, Yezierska’s narrator and characters in minority narratives must confront “the wall” of the dominant culture. For Yezierska’s narrator, there is no immediate melting; rather, she like those in the minority narrative must engage in active conflict against the instructors who have acquired prestige and position through their shared associations with those earlier immigrants who have obtained status and lost their hyphen. As stated in Katherine Rearick’s “America is a Country Built by Immigrants”, “…the immigrant narrative often depicts great struggle or exploitation at the hands of the dominant culture” (Rearick,1).   For Yezierska’s narrator, the American Dream is not given on merit: it is given only after extensive trial where time and the dominant culture will determine whether she can be melted or not.

            Yet it is this promise of trial with its possibility for melting or assimilation that separates Yezierska’s immigrant narrative from the minority narrative. Unlike Toni Cade Bambara’s Miss Moore, Yezierska’s narrator is still white, willfully chose to leave her Old Country for the American new, and has a degree of vocational mobility which allows her to move beyond her own enclave (Objective 3a). In contrast, Miss Moore is defined more by what is not known about her and the prevailing message of the lessons that she offers. While Miss Moore celebrates Sugar’s question, “Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough don’t it?” (Bambara, 151), we as readers are left to wonder why Miss Moore finds Sugar’s lesson so worthy of praise? Why does Miss Moore emphasize what her students are denied? Do her lessons reflect Miss Moore’s own frustration with the dominant culture not allowing her to move beyond her enclave? Or do her lessons mirror the active form of resistances so essential to the minority narrative (Objective 3c)?

            However, if teaching is a form of active resistance, what about acts of vandalism in the name of social justice? In Alice Walker’s “Elethia”, the character Elethia uses the camaraderie she has with her “her tight buddies” to destroy the statue of Uncle Albert that is displayed in the restaurant window. Because the Uncle Albert statue represents subservience to the dominant culture, Elethia, after burning the statue, takes it upon herself to maintain the”…  jar of ashes, the old timers’ memories written down, and her friends who wrote in the army they were learning skills that would get them through more than a plate glass window” (309). Using the physical remains of her act of resistance as motivation to learn despite the messages of the dominant culture, Elethia is yet another extension of the minority narrative. In addition to engaging in active and passive acts of individual resistance, Elethia uses the resistance of her own community (Objective 3c), another prevalent theme that separates immigrant from minority narratives.

            Also this drawing strength from the community to reject the dominant culture’s social contract can also be found in Chrystos anarchic poem, “ I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government.” In her poem, Chrystos repeatedly uses the defiant, communal “We”. She declares, “We don’t recognize…”, and “We declare you terminated…”, as well as, “We’re going to tear all this ugly mess..” I believe this “We” is her Native American community. In her poem, Chrystos draws strength from her community, from her people. By alluding to the mass strength of numbers, she is confident in her defiance.

            Still what about those immigrants who are not white? Who arrive in America without community and consider themselves members of the dominant culture? What conflict does the color code and refusal to be considered a minority cause them? Bharati Mukherjee alludes to the conflict found when the color code applies to a model minority immigrant in her narrator’s husband’s complaint, “I told you not to wear the pants. He thinks you are Puerto Rican. He thinks he can treat you with disrespect” (65). Although not quite an immigrant, the narrator’s husband understands the color code that affects model minorities such as his Indian wife. He is aware that despite their shared goals and aspirations with the dominant culture and belief that they are part of this dominant culture, minority status does have an effect and can cause conflict and minimize status (Objective 2b). Despite being model minorities, they still encounter that burn of resistance.

            The burn of the melting pot is shared on the point of resistance between Immigrant and Minority narrative. However, the minority narrative is more defined by this resistance and frequently denied a chance to be part of the pot. In order to accommodate for this minority groups resist through teaching, acts of violence, and bonding with their community. Those that are effected by the color code but seek to become part of the dominant culture are model minorities that must exercise vigilance over how color is defined for them. Although varied, accepted, or denied, one characteristic is certain of the melting pot – its fire still burns us all.