Cultural Myth Essay

The Intersection of Cultural Myths

America has always been defined by several cultural myths. The myths provide those within the country and those outside a mirror to how American society is set up. Cultural myths are important especially to people who are immigrants or who have a history of being immigrants in society. The two most important myths in immigrant research are the myth of individual opportunity as well as the myth of the melting pot. This study looks at how these two cultural myths intersect in the essay.

The myth of individual opportunity is a myth that pushes for success by creating a new set of tendencies which are able to propel a person to success in America. The myth of individual opportunity is the cornerstone of the American dream where anyone can achieve success by moving up the ladder of success. This myth is based on the assumption that every culture has different individual opportunities for success in the country. In the theory of individual opportunity, each race has a different likelihood for overall success. This proposes that people of certain cultural backgrounds have to work harder than those from other backgrounds in order to achieve the same amount of success (Liu, 2004).

The melting pot cultural myth indicates that despite the differences that people of different cultures have, people slowly start to acquire cultures slowly start making them American. This cultural myth is thought to be the basis of the American culture. America was initially inhabited by the Native American tribes. The other race came from various parts of the globe, and their interaction brought about the American culture. This means that American culture is a combination of various cultures based on the myth of t...

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...g point theory in Liu’s life originates from the parents wish to live in a unique an American society. This gave him an opportunity to assimilate further into American society. Finally he learnt the cultural values of whites in America and adopted the individual opportunity myth to create success in his life (Liu, 2004). The struggle to assimilate speech, eating and dating habits of whites in America was one of the proponents of individual opportunity in his life. The essay allows a combination of the two theories.

Eric Liu is first affected by melting pot theory where he has to assimilate white culture in his life before individual opportunity allows him to have a large amount of success. This is an interaction of the two cultural theories in the life of an immigrant child in lifting him to the heights of success of what many consider as the American dream.