Carol Fountain           

17 June 2014

Hope is a thing with Feathers…like those on the American Eagle

            One of the prevailing themes running through the immigrant narratives is that of hope.  The genre referred to as the Immigrant Narrative may never have existed if not for the optimistic hope of finding new fame, new fortune, new affiliations with others attempting to fulfill or having already fulfilled the same dream.  The stages of achieving the American Dream—departure, arrival, acclimation, acculturation, achievement, assimilation, acceptance, and attention—are filled with hope either achieved or denied (Stuart). The Immigrant is what defines being an American.   Even those of us referred to as the “dominant culture” (white/middle class, Obj. 1) came from somewhere. There are no humans who are truly indigenous to the United States of America. We all came or are descended from those who had great hopes of achieving a difference in their lives, and the range of their stories is represented honestly and magically through their writing.

            As seen in the progression of the Immigrant Narratives, the hopes of those immigrants have run the gamut from dashed hopes and shattered dreams to hopes recognized and dreams gratefully acknowledged.  Immigrant history is like a bell curve and America is now at the apex of that curve. At the lowest point at the beginning of the bell curve would be those referred to in the minority narratives: those who came here without choice or voice in the matter.  (Obj. 1)  Seen quite clearly in the story of the life of Olaudah Equiano, the minority narrative quite clearly denotes that not all of the groups that came to America came willingly.  His account of the horrors of being separated from his family and his culture, his miserable voyage across the ocean, and the peculiar cultures to which he is exposed mimic many other slave narratives.  Hope came to him, though, through his clever entrepreneurship and likability which enabled him to eventually buy his freedom.

            Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur exhibited great foresight in “Letter III.”  He was able to see that the hope of the immigrant whom he encountered was to establish a new society, “leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners…”  Crevecoeur was not a stranger to dashed dreams and hopes, though, as he returned to his farm to find it in ruins, his wife dead, and his children gone. His story may be more typical of the immigrant of the time, as we learn from captivation narratives and other stories such as Crevecoeur’s.   Andrew Carnegie, on the other hand, is typical of the success story of his time, coming to America as a poor immigrant whose family needed financial assistance in obtaining their passage. Through diligence and hard work his hopes came true and he became the epitome of the success story of the American Immigrant who followed his hopes and dreams.

            Other stories of the European Immigrants indicate how they come to America with hopes of assimilating into the culture they find.  As witnessed in “Soap and Water” and “The Lesson,” many different interpretations of the lessons learned while hoping to assimilate are varied.  From the formal education that Anzia Yezierska is nearly denied to the hands-on education offered to the crew that Miss Moore takes to F.A.O. Schwarz, education is seen as a necessary evil to those who attempt to attain it.  But, it is part of the assimilation process and they both provide, in different ways, optimism for the future.  We see both Mrs. Whiteside and Miss Moore as representatives of hope for their respective students. 

            As we fast-forward through the multi-faceted stories of American Immigrants, the stories of the hopeful immigrants from the other side of the world begin to emerge. The Eastern Asians move toward the status of “model minorities” through their stories of assimilation and acculturation.  Chitra Divakaruni tells of her character’s experience of coming to America to further her education and encounters the reality of her aunt’s statement that “we live very simply.”   The shock of seeing how the circumstances of Aunt Pratima’s life and her arranged marriage do not daunt her hope of attaining her dreams, and she knows that the hope of beauty combines with the reality of pain and are “part of each other.”  Panna and Fatima’s hopes seem to have been realized as their two stories are almost perfect assimilation stories, and many American ways have already been woven into their lives.  Panna remains strong against her husband’s pleas for her to return to their homeland because she is determined to fulfill her hope of finishing her degree.  We see Fatima’s Americanized ways meld with her desire to at least show that she has not lost sight of her native culture as she aims to please the visiting Aunt Sakina. These women are truly realizing their hope of being assimilated into the dominant culture while at the same time honoring the cultures from which they came (Obj 2, 4).

Does the inscription on the Statue of Liberty pertain to all immigrants? “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses” has evolved through the hopes of the immigrants whose stories have changed through the years. Recent immigration has given a new train of thought on the situations for which they come to America—to better themselves while at the same time benefitting the folks they left behind in their native countries: giving them, also, the hope of a better life in better circumstances which may not have been possible without their journey to America.

Having the Courage to Face their Fears—and the Dominant Culture 

Ralph W. Sockman said, “The test of courage comes when we are in the minority.  The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.”  How do the writers of the minority narratives fit into this statement? Both courage and bitterness emanate the stories from minority groups, namely, the African Americans and the Native Americans, and in the more recent writings from both groups.  We see versions of the American Dream and the American Nightmare in the minority narrative.  It does not paint a pretty picture for either of those sub-groups who were either forced away from their land and their traditional way of life or who were kidnapped and enslaved and brought here. Their courage is displayed through their continued efforts to make better lives for themselves in spite of their circumstances. 

            In some cases, the adage of working hard in order to get ahead did work.  In the case of Equiano, his tenacity and cleverness helped him to overcome, if not forget, the hardships and heartbreak he encountered on his journey to America.  The tone of his writing is  energetic and hopeful, but his story is rare in comparison to most of the African American Minority Narratives and does not anticipate the difficulties which will arise as the African Americans attain their freedom and display the courage they must have as they attempt to assimilate.  The struggle is manifested in “Blonde White Women,” as Patricia Smith relates the frustration she feels as the typical “blonde white woman” is revered and envied in her childhood. To wish to be imbedded in a culture so different than that of your own and the courage that it takes to fight that desire can only be imagined by those of us considered to be already a part of that culture.  Her courage is invoked as she ends the poem with an answer to the demand that she explain her treachery of non-assimilation and the steps that she has taken to obtain that peace of mind.  Compare Equiano’s narrative and Smith’s Narrative to those of later Eastern Asian narratives whose assimilation is a bit more comfortable and not as violent.  We can contribute this to the fact that they fit into the mold of “model minorities” and they have not suffered the atrocities of the former.

            While other immigrants may lose their ethnic identity within one to three generations, the American Indian and African American minorities do not fit into this equation.  Because of their distinctive facial features and/or skin color, they find it more difficult to assimilate. Trina Silva says it best when referring to Patricia Smith’s poem: “…this speaks volumes on how influential the dominant culture is to minority cultures.”  For both cultures this is especially difficult because of their desire to remain proud of their heritage but at the same time be accepted and embraced by the dominant culture. Such a dichotomy underscores the “American Nightmare” attitude who some, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., fought so hard to alleviate. His goal was to afford greater assimilation of his culture into the dominant American culture. Malcolm X, on the other hand, encouraged rejection of the basic American value system.  He thought that American values were “white man’s values” and that the dominant culture wanted to keep blacks in an inferior position. These conflicting attitudes demand a decision on the part of the minorities which further their conflict of identity. 

            It is interesting to observe the levels of courage displayed in the minority narratives versus the immigrant narrative.  While the minority narratives reflect that they are in a place not of their own choosing, the immigrant narratives’ main conflict is the difficulty of assimilation even though they are here of their own volition. The bitterness of the American Indians’ situation is displayed in Chrystos Reis’s “I Have Not Signed a Treaty…” in which she has nothing good to say about the culture of the Americans.  In telling Americans to “pack up… burn down…and go so far away,” (which takes courage) she forgets that the insistence to leave America must apply to all. If she tells whites that they should return to Europe, then she must tell blacks they must return to Africa, Asians to return to Asia, and then she must look upon her own minority and decide to which continent they must return.  She has not taken the time or displayed the courage to think that far, and that is where the conflict enters.  We each think we deserve a piece of this pie called America.  Courage displayed in the latter immigrant narratives, however, is the courage to remain in this country to which they have come despite language difficulties, harassment by those already here, and, in some cases, pleas from their own families to return home. 

            The internal migrations by the minorities required courage of a different nature.  The migration of the American Indians was not of their own choosing, but the Great Migration of African Americans was. Both resulted in the movement of the groups within the country’s boundaries, and both provided each with more of an identity.  While the plight of some but not all of the American Indians was certainly improved by their movement, the movement (migration) of the African Americans served to establish themselves as a race which demanded attention and which has become an integral part of the American work force. This becomes clear when looking at the narratives of both.  We see how far the African American has come, from being enslaved and chained and forced to work hard labor to becoming prolific authors and writers such as Toni Bambera and Patricia Smith.  We see how far the American Indian has come, from being forced to walk the Trail of Tears and settle in a strange and different part of the country (imagine moving from the beautiful foothills of the Appalachian Mountains to the desolate, parched land of Oklahoma)  to having their own voice published as Leslie Silko and Louise Erdrich have done. 

“Immigration is about human dignity and the nobility of parents of different tribes and nations facing the risk of coming to a foreign land, a land of opportunity…”  (MLK)  The entire quote echoes the courage that immigrants must have to undertake the monumental task of assimilating into the culture of a foreign land. From the Indian legend of “How the White Man Came to America” to the child removal story of “American Horse,” from Equiano’s slave narrative to Smith’s tirade on “Blonde White Women,” the trials and the courage to overcome them are related in a way which we can empathize and understand.