The gorgeous mosaic and the melting pot are two different theories about the United States. America is mostly considered a melting pot because the people (despite their differences), manage to coexist and live together as one nation. America is a nation of diverse cultures assimilated into one. A mosaic is different in that it is a picture created by diverse cultures
Although our country is known to be very diverse, in a melting pot, everyone shares the same culture. Since we all share the same culture, we can take pride in that together. Also, it is less likely for their to be conflicts and tensions between ethnic groups due to the fact that everyone first and foremost identifies as an American. As citizens of a melting pot, we can all have
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a feeling of nationalism which everyone can bond on. These different cultures coming together allows for us to create one unique culture. The gorgeous mosaic is similar to the melting pot because both theories allow for different cultures, but it’s the way that each theory accepts these cultures that makes them different. A mosaic values everyone's heritages and differences and believes that these differences brought together will benefit the nation and make it become stronger. The gorgeous mosaic is much more accepting and open because there are a lot of religious, ethnic, and cultural diversity. An important part of culture in a gorgeous mosaic is that most people are bilingual or multilingual. This is important because it allows for cultures to assimilate and experience new things. The essay “Two Ways to Belong in America” written by Bharati Mukherjee is a great example of how America is a melting pot.
This essay is about two sisters, Bharati and Mira, who move from India to America to pursue their dreams, achieve their goals, and further their education. Mira wants to continue her Indian heritage and move back to their homeland in India but Bharati wants to create a new lifestyle and experience different cultures in America. Bharati understands that America is full of different cultures that become one American culture but Mira chooses to go against her sister’s beliefs. Mira would much rather live in a gorgeous mosaic rather than a melting pot because her culture would be accepted in a place where diversity is encouraged to benefit a nation. In the essay “The Myth of the Latin Woman”, Judith Ortiz Cofer talks about her life in America as Puerto Rican. She uses her own experiences to describe the difficulties her culture faces when living America. She wanted to fit in with everyone else but couldn’t because of the stereotypes she faced. She believes the challenges that she faced weren’t only because of the fact that she was an immigrant, but also because she was a woman. Cofer would also rather live in a gorgeous mosaic so she could feel more accepted by others around
her. Each one of these ideologies have many differences. They go against each other in a number of ways. Although they both involve a mix of cultures, a gorgeous mosaic encourages people to be different while the melting pot tries to create one culture. “Two Ways to Belong in America” differentiates between a melting pot society and a gorgeous mosaic because of the different views of each sister.
America was founded on change. Past revolutions were fought to make new ways in which to live life in this country. Our families all came to America, at one point, to feed into this definition of being an American. The term melting pot in my mind means structure, meaning what we, as Americans, are made of. It was many ethnic backgrounds that came to make up our country. So as more and more people migrate to America, stand up for the changes they believe in, this country will only continue to get stronger.
Islas, Arturo. From Migrant Souls. American Mosaic: Multicultural Readings in Context. Eds. Gabriele Rico, Barbara Roche and Sandra Mano. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1995. 483-491.
Oftentimes, societal problems span across space and time. This is certainly evident in Julia Alvarez’s How the García Girls Lost Their Accents a novel in which women are treated peripherally in two starkly different societies. Contextually, both the Dominican Republic and the United States are very dissimilar countries in terms of culture, economic development, and governmental structure. These factors contribute to the manner in which each society treats women. The García girls’ movement between countries helps display these societal distinctions. Ultimately, women are marginalized in both Dominican and American societies. In the Dominican Republic, women are treated as inferior and have limited freedoms whereas in the United States, immigrant
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,
They both think they deserve the blanket because Maggie wants the quilt to use everyday as a blanket and Dee wants the blanket to have up. Maggie has a bigger culture than Dee because Maggie will use it everyday and she will have it when her and her man get married. Wangero said, laughing that “Maggie’s brain is like an elephant’s” , well they mean she has a memory as and elephant. Dee said “Maggie can't appreciate these quilts.” Their mom thinks maggie deserves it. My mom would have said Maggie deserves it too because my mom would want to to use it everyday. Their culture and my culture sees the same. It’s the same and a lot of ways. Maggies mom made a promised and she kept it , exactly like my family would have. (Maggie 64) by now was standing in the door. I could almost hear the sound her feet made as they scraped over each other. As I see it is that we all see culture in the same way but just by different
Perhaps, the “Melting Pot” myth gained strength during the Industrial Revolution. With millions of immigrants entering the United States, culture was changing within the United States. Americans set a high standard for there society and everyone wanted to be accepted. There was a social requirement to live in a civil society creating together the “American Dream,” which leads to prosperity. Many immigrants moving to the United States brought with them various traditions of their culture and after moving, they repressed such beliefs and forged ahead with a new way of “American Thinking.” The rituals and traditions of such societies should have brought diversity to this nation’s culture however, these ways would soon become a part of the past. The “Melting Pot” myth heavily influences American society and people believe that everyone no matter what skin color or religious belief is created equal. This belief of the American Way of life is idyllic to say the least. Unfortunately, this myth has been thwarted due to a high level of racial supremacy within the nations past and even present. There are two particular events in national history, which will forever hinder equality: slavery of African Americans and Japanese internment camps during World War II in America. These substantial events shape our society and are only the tip of the iceberg when it
Judith Ortiz Cofer, a professor of english and creative writing, tackles gender roles as well as cultural stereotypes in “ The Myth of the Latin Woman” and challenges them by attempting to replace the stereotypes with the realities. In “The Myth of the Latin Woman” Cofer discusses her life in America as a Puerto Rican woman. She also shares her stories of when she was stereotyped and how gender roles play a role in how Latinos are viewed. Stereotypes will follow you around because of your appearance and how the media portrays Latinas.
In America, it is a common misconception that all foreigners are similar; it is believed that they all have similar dreams and each of them end up chasing after the same jobs. However, this is not the case. Not only do immigrants from different countries hold different dreams, but those with a shared background even have varying hopes and dreams for the future. This is evidenced in Bharati Mukherjee’s essay, “Two Ways to Belong in America.” She utilizes several rhetorical strategies in order to show that immigrants have the ability to be assimilated into the American culture, but that they should not be deported if they choose not to conform to said culture.
Indeed, in all their schools from elementary to secondary schools, they already adopted curricula that will foster cultural diversity. Through this program, students from different levels had the chance to be exposed to different traditions and customs of various ethnic and racial groups. Even the government sectors in the United States are advocating tolerance for diversity, like how they commemorate Asian American, Hispanic, and Pacific Islander Heritage weeks (Margai, 2010). Even in their postage, they developed stamps highlighting some prominent Americans along with their diverse backgrounds. Despite all these efforts, sometimes the issue concerning multiculturalism causes significant political and societal conflicts. Right now, United States is widely known as the greatest melting pot where people from different countries and with different cultures could be united as one. However, people have divided views with regards to the issue whether the immigrants should adopt America’s culture, or they should be given the freedom to keep their own culture. The majority of the Americans believed that one must learn first how to speak English before permitting to have an American citizenship. In support of the notion of melting pot, many Americans still insist that their Creed should endure, and their nation is destined to be a prime model to
The struggle to find a place inside an un-welcoming America has forced the Latino to recreate one. The Latino feels out of place, torn from the womb inside of America's reality because she would rather use it than know it (Paz 226-227). In response, the Mexican women planted the seeds of home inside the corral*. These tended and potted plants became her burrow of solace and place of acceptance. In the comfort of the suns slices and underneath the orange scents, the women were free. Still the questions pounded in the rhythm of street side whispers. The outside stare thundered in pulses, you are different it said. Instead of listening she tried to instill within her children the pride of language, song, and culture. Her roots weave soul into the stubborn soil and strength grew with each blossom of the fig tree (Goldsmith).
So many times the phrase "melting pot" is used to describe the United States of America. It is a country built on ideals such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and other basic human rights. These ideals, though they may have originated from European men labeled as liberals, eventually captured followers from all over the world. Soon, America was a mixture of peoples with different ethnic backgrounds, religions, and cultures all working together for the "American Dream."
police officers, judges, attorneys, correctional officers) the importance of social and cultural awareness; (2) understanding the demographics of various minority and immigrant groups; and (3) improve data collection on racial and ethnic discrimination. Some people depict America as a melting pot because they believe various ethnic groups in America has blended together as one. The melting pot theory aims at creating a unique American way of life. On the other hand, some people portray America as a salad bowl because America is diversified with various cultures and ethnicity, which makes this society multicultural. Diversity and multiculturalism in America will also create racism and hatred towards minorities and immigrants; furthermore, it will also promote separatist or hate groups. A multicultural society will create opportunities to share ideas and perspectives with each other; therefore, allowing ethnic groups to understand and have mutual respect for each other. Although there are disadvantages in a multicultural society, the advantages still outweighs all the negative criticisms. Multiculturalism promotes peace and good communications among ethnic
By having so many cultures and different racial groups in the U.S, opportunities and choices increase for everyone. The melting pot helps America to bring more people to this country, people that can help this country to become stronger than already is, to help this country to regain the same power it had before, not just power to be strong in war, but power of knowledge. Cultural pluralism is going bring smart people who can compete around the world representing the U.S that includes athletes, lawyers, teachers, and all these intelligent and strong people. The image that this country is going to have for having a melting pot is has increased and is going to increase much more in the future. Other countries are going to be jealous of America just by knowing that there is a little bit of every race or ethnicity. The impact that the “melting pot” has generated had been so big that not only the Mexicans want to come here, but now everyone around the world wants to come here. Thanks to the Melting pot these people can see that opportunities that they want are here with lots of things surrounding them. By having so many people immigrating to America not only the image of the country is going to increase, but also its economy. Cultural pluralism is bringing all the necessary to make of this place the best place on earth. In the article Ethics, Cultural Competence, and the Changing Face of America Terri Laws explains that “Cultural competence acknowledges strengths in all cultures, and its goal of service improvement focuses on members of four target minority groups: African American, Asian American, Hispanic American and Native American” (176). It seems that all this specific group minorities are growing really fast and that in one future they are going to become the majority, if they do not disappear during that time, because they can disappear if they keep mixing which is good, having
Being the melting pot of the world is what made America the great country that it is today. In today’s America though, that phrase has been pushed out of its vocabulary. The country went from letting everyone one in to almost kicking its own citizens out. People are even leaving the country on their own free will now because they hate the political and economic systems we have in place. Steadily increasing amounts of regulations have torn apart families and made it extremely difficult to become an American citizen. Overall, things need to change so America can be seen as the melting pot of the world
Bharati Mukherjee’s story, “Two Ways to Belong in America”, is about two sisters from India who later came to America in search of different ambitions. Growing up they were very similar in their looks and their beliefs, but they have contrasting views on immigration and citizenship. Both girls had been living in the United States for 35 years and only one sister had her citizenship. Bharati decided not to follow Indian traditional values and she married outside of her culture. She had no desire to continue worshipping her culture from her childhood, so she became a United States citizen. Her ideal life goal was to stay in America and transform her life. Mira, on the other hand, married an Indian student and they both earned labor certifications that was crucial for a green card. She wanted to move back to India after retirement because that is where her heart belonged. The author’s tone fluctuates throughout the story. At the beginning of the story her tone is pitiful but then it becomes sympathizing and understanding. She makes it known that she highly disagrees with her sister’s viewpoints but she is still considerate and explains her sister’s thought process. While comparing the two perspectives, the author uses many