Covarrubias 1

Ivan Covarrubias
Professor Briggs
ENGL 1050
August 4, 2015
Reflection Essay
In this class Ive had the opportunity to learn about various cultures and
different stories about how our society is what it is today. There are many
different aspects that make our society what it is today. Everywhere you look
there are signs of different cultures and different backgrounds of people. Although
our society today is the result of many different backgrounds, I still feel that one
of the major diversity issues we face today is that immigrants are struggling to
keep hold of their roots when immigrating to a different country. Often I notice
that with the newer generations a lot of their roots are lost due to Americanization.
I feel that this is an issue because a persons heritage is part of their identity and
often they have to give up part of that identity in order to be accepted and to fit in
this new country. I am an immigrant to the United States and because of this I
have witnessed first-hand the struggles that my family and I faced when moving
to a new country and having to adapt and try to leave our culture and beliefs
behind. This class gave me the opportunity to look into authors views on the past
and to see many different ideas and beliefs about peoples cultures. Based off of
what I have gotten out of these readings I will explain why I believe that
immigrants are struggling to retain some of their roots when immigrating. I will

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also use what Ive learned to explain how I see that this issue is being addressed
or has been addressed over time.
Immigrants coming into the United States are struggling to hold on to their
roots, but why? I think that there are many reasons as to why immigrants are
ditching their culture when coming to the United States. Reading the views of
Mead and Anzaldua I get many hints showing that people believe that one has to
Americanize in order to move forward and be successful. Anzaldua describes how
she got punished for speaking Spanish at recess and was told by her mother that
she had to learn to speak English in order to find a good job (Anzaldua 521).
Mead then explains how newer generations try to Americanize themselves more
than the previous generation (Mead 97). The measurement of success to the newer
generations is how much they have improved themselves over their predecessors
based off of what the American culture sees as successful. These readings show
how an immigrant may believe that they must ditch their culture in order to
quickly assimilate and build on to the new culture in which they are trying to join
in order to be successful. Again, going back to Anzaldua being told to speak
English to find a good job, I think that immigrants face an economic disadvantage
if they dont adapt to their new culture (Anzaldua 527). Often an immigrant wont
be able to find a job unless they learn to speak the English language. One of the
course objectives is to identify a social groups power over another group based
on an aspect such as language. I believe that by limiting the opportunities that a
non-English speaker has in a foreign country clearly shows the power of the
majority and how they suffocate the minority and how they make them powerless

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in their country by using language as a barrier. This can make an immigrant

believe he has to desert what he knows in order to move forward.
I think that Anzaldua addresses the language barrier issue very well in her
writing How to Tame a Wild Tongue. Growing up being told that she had to lose
her accent or learn to speak English in order to get a good job, she decided to have
pride in her language identity. The way that she uses Spanish and English in her
writing is very strong because she is talking about how proud of her roots she is.
If she was using just English to describe how proud she is of the language that
they adapted, it would not be as strong of a message. By adapting to the English
language, yet embracing her Spanish roots, Anzaldua shows how an immigrant
can defeat the English barrier without having to give up their culture or identity.
The way she uses both languages in her writing truly shows how a person can
adapt to a new culture while integrating their own identity. June Jordan provides a
good example of this as well. Jordan and her students use Black English to write a
letter to the authorities. This is important because it provides an identity with the
words and shows how they arent succumbing to the language barrier (Jordan
165).
Reading Meads views on how a family Americanizes throughout the
generations I think that we lose a lot of our culture just trying to adapt to the new
culture. Mead mentions how the newer generation is trying to build on the new
culture and be more American than the previous culture. By doing this we lose a
lot of the old culture. I think that this is addressed in many ways. One way this is
addressed is by seeing people who are trying more and more to connect their

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generation with their ancestors. We see Mary Gordon who visits Ellis Island in
order to get a closer look at what her ancestors had to go through (Gordon 432434). She may be a third generation person, but she is actively looking to
remember her history. Again, Anzaldua is an example as well by the way she uses
language to tie herself back to her roots. By embedding words from her roots she
is actively trying to keep hold of her culture. In Cockcroft and Barnet-Sanchezs
reading we see a good example of how generations can use art to preserve their
history. Using art to pass on history is a great way to preserve a groups history. In
the reading they refer to the mural art as mural language (Cockcroft and BarnetSanchez 306). This is very strong to me because I never thought of art as a
language, but the more I think about it the more I realize its probably the
strongest language. There are many different feelings, emotions, facts, and history
that a person can embed in a single image. In the Banksy reading (George and
Trimbur 310) it shows how Banksy uses art to make bold statements. Art
placement, manipulation of images, and messages that Banksy uses show how art
can be more powerful than an oral statement. So by using art in public spaces they
can identify and preserve the collective feelings and cultures of a group.
Another big reason that I see causes people to separate themselves from
their roots when immigrating is hate and stereotypes and the need to fit in. If the
feeling of hate towards a specific group is strong enough, the minority group will
try as hard as they can to separate themselves in order to be accepted. You can
clearly see this in Orwells Shooting an Elephant, he was constantly put down by
the majority and he had the chance to fit in by killing an elephant, even though he

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knew it was wrong, and he took that opportunity so he could fit in (Orwell 506). I
think that June Jordans Nobody Mean More to Me than You and the Future Life
of Willie Jordan addresses part of this. When deciding to write a letter to the cops
they had to choose between their Black English and Standard English. They chose
to use Black English as they could embed their identity into the language and
provide a stronger statement, if it was read. This is important because they didnt
want to fit in, they wanted to represent the community and background and didnt
submit themselves to the majoritys views of standard language. Hate towards
minorities is also addressed in Obamas A More Perfect Union. Obama speaks
about the tensions that separate groups and how that tension drives us apart and
creates divides, but he mentions how we can change this and weve already made
a lot of progress. Obama says This union may never be perfect, but generation
after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. (Obama 482). This is
important because reflecting on the readings by Douglass, Jordan, and Chinese
Poetry and comparing them to the world I live in today, I can see that weve made
progress against the hate that drives groups apart. It shows that hate today can still
be overcome as shown by history.
Overall I feel like immigrants are struggling to preserve their culture when
immigrating, whether it happens as a first generation or third generation
immigrant. But looking at different readings I also see how this issue is being
addressed and has been addressed in the past. In this class Ive learned to see how
Jordan and Anzaldua use elements of their language to break the language barrier
that are sometimes imposed by majorities. Ive seen from Cockcroft and Barnet-

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Sanchez and Banksy ways that art can be used to preserve culture and show
collective feelings and how it can be used as a way to make bold statements. Mary
Gordon shows how a third generation person can still feel connected and find
ways to remember their ancestors. And using Obamas speech to reflect on the
progress weve made from the past it shows how we are moving forward towards
a land of acceptance which would make it easier for immigrants to live their own
culture.
Reflection and Course Objectives
Ive really had the opportunity to learn a lot of different things in this
class. One of the things Ive accomplished in this class is seeing how a group can
make barriers against other groups based off of language, gender, and race. Seeing
how Anzaldua and African Americans depicted in June Jordans writing were
robbed of their language and identity was very interesting for me to read. I have
always known that there was oppression, but to see how a group can be suffocated
just by getting their language taken away was a different experience for me to
read. I also have learned to see art as a language. Looking at examples from
Satrapis The Veil it was interesting to see how well she was able to tell a story
with almost all pictures. It was a powerful, clear, simple way to get the message
across and with pictures it gets a different message across than what words alone
could have done. In the reading Reading the Gaze I was able to see, as well, how
photos can be used to get provoke certain feelings. Overall, I think this essay
shows how I have been able to improve my critical thinking about diversity
issues. I never would have really cared about how I feel we are losing our cultural

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roots, but now I have been able to see different aspects of my beliefs pertaining to
the subject. I can explain how I feel that the issues are addressed and why the
issue exists in the first place.

Works Cited

Obama, Barack. A More Perfect Union. 476-483

Douglass, Frederick. What to the Slave is the Fourth of
July? 460-475
Jordan, June. Nobody Mean More to Me Than You and the
Future Life of Willie Jordan. 157-167
Anzaldua, Gloria. How to Tame a Wild Tongue. 521-528
Gordon, Mary. More than Just a Shrine. 431-435
Orwell, George. "Shooting an Elephant." George Orwell: Shooting an
Elephant. N.p., n.d. 498-503
Cockcroft, Eva Sperling., and Holly Barnet-Sanchez. Signs from the
Heart: California Chicano Murals. Print 303-309
George, Diana, and John Trimbur. 310
Satrapi, Marjan. The Veil. 360-369