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Importance of cultural identity
Importance of personal and cultural identity
Importance of cultural identity
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Terrorism and Personal Identity
Consider the personal comment of an ethnically foreign US citizen after September 11, 2001:
I became a United States citizen four years ago because of my long love affair with New York....I am a Bangladeshi woman and my last name is Rahman, a Muslim name...Before last week, I had thought of myself as a lawyer, a feminist, a wife, a sister, a friend, a woman on the street. Now I begin to see myself as a brown woman who bears a vague resemblance to the images of terrorists we see on television....As I become identified as someone outside the New York community, I feel myself losing the power to define myself... --Anika Rahman 1
In this poignant statement by a U.S citizen, ethnically Bangladeshi with Muslim linkage, the complex web of issues involved in immigrant identity is dramatically clear. Embedded in this statement are many of the issues that those of us concerned with categories of identification generally, and ethnic identification in particular, grapple with. Identification is typically a complex rather than simple construction, involving multiple aspects of oneself that may overlap or compete. Identification is a dynamic process, in which the meaning, the function, and even the basic labels can change from one point in time to another. Further, and most relevant now, identification is a socially constructed process in which the context and views of others have a significant role, shaping options and consequences for individual experience.
The events of September 11 have without question altered the context of identification for thousands of U.S. citizens and for those immigrants, legal and illegal, whose citizenship is still in flux. The current estimate of first generation Arab-American immigrants in the U.S. is 2,315,392. Current estimates of the number of Muslims in the U.S. are far less certain, varying from 2 to 6 million. (It should be noted that Arab-Americans and Muslims are far from overlapping sets. Many Arab-Americans are Christian; Muslims in turn come from a variety of ethnic groups in the U.S., including African American, Latino, and, as the highly-publicized case of John Walker Lindh illustrates, from Euro American backgrounds as well.)
Attitudes toward immigrants of any stripe have varied in the U. S. over the years. Prior to the restrictive immigration legislation of 1924, for example, opponents of immigration became increasingly strident, and the idealistic image of the "melting pot" offered by playwright Israel Zangwill in 1908 was challenged on both economic and racial grounds.
The term melting-pot has been used since the 1700s. It has always been a metaphor to describe immigrants coming to America. The melting pot is a fusion of cultures and ethnicities into one larger culture. Americans did not like the idea of immigration to their country, viewing their country as beautiful the way it was. Many thought America would be ruined if too many people immigrated and left their cultural mark on the country. The melting-pot concept on immigration seems to highlight historically how America came to be, but for more current immigration, Americans views are more negative. American attitude towards immigrants in the 1900s was not very favorable. Since they feared them, immigrants were often treated horribly by Americans. Robert H. Clancy says, “Vigorous complaint and more or less bitter persecution have been aimed at newcomers to our shores. Also the congressional reports of about 1840 are full of abuse of English, Scotch, Welsh immigrants as paupers, criminals, and so forth.” (Clancy,
Immigration has existed around the world for centuries, decades, and included hundreds of cultures. Tired of poverty, a lack of opportunities, unequal treatment, political corruption, and lacking any choice, many decided to emigrate from their country of birth to seek new opportunities and a new and better life in another country, to settle a future for their families, to work hard and earn a place in life. As the nation of the opportunities, land of the dreams, and because of its foundation of a better, more equal world for all, the United States of America has been a point of hope for many of those people. A lot of nationals around the world have ended their research for a place to call home in the United States of America. By analyzing primary sources and the secondary sources to back up the information, one could find out about what Chinese, Italians, Swedish, and Vietnamese immigrants have experienced in the United States in different time periods from 1865 to 1990.
Seeing through a multicultural perspective. Identities, 19(4), 398. doi:10.1080/1070289X.2012.718714. Steven, D. K. (2014). The 'Secondary'.
After 9/11 many people thought, people that come from Middle-Eastern decent or people that practice the Islamic region were looking to harm America. It changed these people’s lives and their futures. When someone is looking to get a job, housing or even education, first impressions are crucial. Since people look at them differently they can be denied all of these necessities. If someone is not granted these necessities, it is not fair but more importantly it can be hard to make an adequacy living. In
Targets of suspicion: the impact of post-9/11 policies on Muslims, Arabs and South Asians in the US. (2004, May 1). Retrieved from http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/special-reports/targets-suspicion-impact-post-911-policies-muslims-arabs-and-south-asians-us
To begin with, when young Heathcliff was brought back from Liverpool to live with Mr. Earnshaw at Wuthering Heights, the family members despise and show hostility toward the inferior child presumably because Heathcliff is lower class. Certainly, the landscape Heathcliff enters into is “exposed in stormy weather…power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun” (4). The detailed description of the dismal landscape demonstrates that the society is twisting and destroying humanity through a violent ravage. After Mr. Earnshaw’s death Hindley “[drives] Heathcliff from
The distance between the new arrivals and the natives fosters a sense of distrust on both ends. However, the concern that the growing population of immigrants will compromise America’s national identity undermines our national reality. Historically, those who have willingly immigrated to the United States have had a desire to become part of American society, crossing borders and seas t...
In the novel Wuthering Heights, author Emily Brontë portrays the morally ambiguous character of Heathcliff through his neglected upbringing, cruel motives, and vengeful actions.
Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights, set in the countryside of England’s 1700’s, features a character named Heathcliff, who is brought into the Earnshaw family as a young boy and quickly falls into a passionate, blinding romance with the Earnshaw’s daughter, Catherine. However, Heathcliff is soon crushed by this affection when his beloved chooses the company of another man rather than his own. For the remainder of the novel he exudes a harsh, aversive attitude that remains perduring until his demise that is induced by the loss of his soulmate, and in turn the bereavement of the person to whom the entirety of his being and his very own self were bound.
Wang, Wendy, Kim Parker, and Paul Taylor. "Breadwinner Moms." Pew Research Centers Social Demographic Trends Project RSS. Pew Research. Social & Demographic Trends, 29 May 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. .
Heathcliff determination for revenge Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is not an actual love story; it is built on revenge and not on love. Love is weaker than revenge. In this story, Heathcliff spend most of his time planning his revenge instead of going after Catherine, who he loves. Being deeply in love with someone should show some kind of happiness for one another instead of seeking revenge. Heathcliff dedication for revenge is greater than the love he has for Catherine. An innocence gypsy boy grows up with the Earnshaw. As he grows up the Earnshaw and Linton families mistreat Heathcliff for so long. Revenge. Only shows us that getting back at everyone at any cost is better than being in love, plus love is for the weak and revenge is for the strong. Heathcliff has a grudge on the two families and is determined for vengeance sooner or later.
Suffering endlessly and betrayed countlessly, Heathcliff experiences emotional trauma, but in some cases it appears as if he likes suffering. Tolerating years of misfortune, Heathcliff finally decides to take his revenge against the two families that have wronged him. Ever since he was a boy, Heathcliff was hated and abused by many especially by his step-brother Hindley. Every event that takes place in the novel, Wuthering Heights, leads up to what occurs in the future. The negative actions taken against Heathcliff shape the type of vengeful, but loving character he has become.
Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights can be considered a Gothic romance or an essay on the human relationship. The reader may regard the novel as a serious study of human problems such as love and hate, or revenge and jealousy. One may even consider the novel Bronte's personal interpretation of the universe. However, when all is said and done, Heathcliff and Catherine are the story. Their powerful presence permeates throughout the novel, as well as their complex personalities. Their climatic feelings towards each other and often selfish behavior often exaggerates or possibly encapsulates certain universal psychological truths humans are too afraid to express. Heathcliff and Catherine's stark backgrounds evolve respectively into dark personalities and mistaken life paths, but in the end their actions determine the course of their own relationships and lives. Their misfortunes, recklessness, willpower, and destructive passion are unable to penetrate the eternal love they share.
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights employs one of the most powerful forces to drive its plot forward: the need for revenge. This is a force like no other because it thrives on negative emotions such as suffering, loss, and anger, especially from the pain of rejection in the novel. Not only is it influential, but also prevalent. Bronte depicts that the need for revenge is hidden in many characters, suppressed by love, until a single event unleashes its fury, corrupting characters and causing them to aggravate their misdoings, with one disaster following a first. Revenge, like abuse, is a repeating cycle; a sufferer becomes the inflicter of suffering on others so that everybody feels the pain, and only the power of love can overcome this
Alienation is a concurrent theme in many of the Faulkner’s novels. He presents us this theme clearly in Light in August with his descriptive choice of setting as we are walked through Jefferson from the Reverend Gail Hightower’s cabin to the mysterious estate of Joanna Burden. The slightly complicated plot tells the story of each character and how they reached to the present time of alienation. And his use of tone, misogynistic in nature, adds to the central theme. Faulkner’s use of these three techniques allowed the reader to recognize and relate to the feeling of alienation.