Amy L. Sasser

19 June 2012

Discerning Differences:  Exploring How Minority and Immigrant Narratives Differ"

          The Immigrant Narrative tells the reader a story of hope and struggle as it follows the events in the life of a newcomer to a strange land.  Minority narratives, while often mimicking the organization or structure of an Immigrant Narrative, will tend to focus more on the experiences that contribute to the “otherness” of one who belongs to the minority group.  While these two different genres will invariably have some overlap, they should be regarded as separate entities with differing sets of expectations and problems.

          Often, when one considers minority literature, he will automatically envision only African-American writers.  The world of minority narrative is much wider and more complex than that; however, African-American narratives offer a strong starting point to begin to analyze the differences between minority and immigrant work.  While African-Americans may not be native dwellers in the United States, their story is also not one of chosen migration and the search for something more.  Many African-Americans were brought to the states under duress, forced into labor and inhumanly cruel work conditions.  Frederick Douglass’s autobiography speaks to his experiences as a young child, watching his aunt be whipped viscously for no apparent reason or being denied food or warm clothing simply because of his station (Douglass).  While his first experience of city life after moving to Baltimore was positive—even awe-filled—it is important to note that he was still a slave and forced to move there; immigrants moved to cities of their own volition.  Immigrants might have felt obligated to stay in one place or another to find work, but slaves were not given any option in the matter.  Some were even snatched away from their homes, as is the case with Olaudah Equiano.  He and his sister were abducted when intruders “got over our walls and in a moment seized us both, and, without giving us time to cry out, or make resistance, they stopped our mouths, and ran off with us into the nearest wood. Here they tied our hands, and continued to carry us as far as they could, till night came on” (Equiano).  Equiano and Doulass tell a minority story, the all too familiar narrative of the life of a slave in early America.

Even later on, African-American narratives are fraught with examples of otherness and extradition from the dominant culture.  The poignant “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara shows how black children have already been taught their place in society, and how difficult it is to change those roles.  When Miss Moore takes a group of poor African-American students to see some of the toys at FAO Schwartz, the narrator details how she knows she must be different, despite her knowledge that she shouldn’t be.  “I feel funny, shame,” she says, “But what I got to be shamed about?  Got as much right to go in as anybody” (Bambara 149).  Miss Moore is trying to teach the children about the disparity in treatment and expectation of their minority group, “imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven” (151).  Rather than draw a specific conclusion, however, she leaves it to the students (and by extension, to the reader) to decipher what this all means.

          When one considers further, however, there are other groups which should be examined.  For example, Native Americans, who were the first known occupants of what is now American soil, have a very distinct narrative of their own.  Assimilation issues are paramount amongst traditional immigrant literature, and the American Indians have had to contend with similar concerns.  The consensus amongst the Indians, however, seems to be to pick and choose what bits of the dominant culture they wish to assimilate.  For example, in “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” by Leslie Marmon Silko, this syncretism, or combining of different and often contradictory beliefs, is seen in the actions of the entire tribe after Grandfather dies.  The men and women of the tribe treat his body in the traditional way and, without benefit of embalming or a coffin, they commit his corpse to the earth to nourish the soil and send them rainclouds.  However, the priest from the mission in the area is still asked to attend the burial.  Rather than allow the priest to perform last rites or offer a “Christian burial” to the old man, they simply want the sprinkling of the holy water in order to increase their chances of rain—not for the cleansing of the body (Silko 209).  They know that the water is special and holy in some way, but have not adopted enough of the dominant culture to understand the rite and ritual that goes along with it.

Similarly, in “American Horse” by Louise Erdrich, we see that Uncle Lawrence has become a caricature of the trappings of the dominant culture.  He is bizarrely dressed in a corset with a striped sneaker lace for a tie and a black satin smoking jacket complete with embroidered gold dragons and tassels (Erdrich 213).  He has a “three-dimensional picture of Jesus that . . . when plugged in, lights rolled behind the water the Lord stood on so that he seemed to be strolling although he never actually went forward” (216).  Despite this gathering of American symbols and ideas, Uncle Lawrence proves he will lie to law enforcement and go to jail if necessary to protect his family.  In contrast, though, the police officer Harmony is the example here of assimilation gone too far—so far, in fact, that “Harmony thought he always had to explain about Indians or get twice as tough to show he did not favor them” (213).  He’s gone so far off the deep end, that he wants to brook no arguments about favoritism, and works doubly hard—as do many immigrants—to stay in the good graces of the dominant culture.

Immigrant narratives trace the stories and events that newcomers must face when they confront the differences between their old way of life and their new “American” lifestyle.  They may also detail the disappointments immigrants face when they discover the differences between the American Dream and the realities of daily life.  Minority narratives, on the other hand, may cover similar struggles, but have a distinct set of issues all their own, often centered on assimilation and feelings of betrayal of one’s people.  The two can be intertwined and mixed, but the conscientious reader will carefully determine whether they are reading an immigrant or a minority narrative before drawing conclusions from the text.