Jesse Arenas

Osman 3P

English 11 Period 0

The Intricacies of Cultural Diversity and Unification

A surprisingly big portion of Americans are in danger of losing their culture and identity.

Culture can be described as ​the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular

nation, people, or other social group. Though culture is essentially inescapable, it cannot define

a single person or individual, this is proven by Rodriguez in the text “Blaxicans” on page 91

lines 141-142 where he states: “One doesn’t get up in the morning as an immigrant child in

America, and think to oneself, ‘How much of an American shall I become today?’” Rodriguez’s

claim eludes to the evidentiality of society’s incapability to commerce and unify as one culture

or ethnicity altogether.

Furthermore, Rodriguez’s argument, “Blaxicans” provides yet another piece of evidence

for the claim that one cannot choose how much of their culture they demonstrate. Rodriguez

affirms this claim on page 89, line 72 in which he states: “It’s what I learned to do in college: to

call myself a Hispanic.” Rodriguez clearly substantiates the claim by essentially stating how he

had learnt to differentiate himself from those of his former peers through distinctive

classifications of race or ethnicity. Evidently, society has become too consumed by the

separation of individuals due to terms like Hispanic and African American, these terms, brought

on by President Richard Nixon have only created a bigger divide amongst individuals.

Rodriguez clearly exemplifies this through his argument on page 89, line 84-86 where he states

“Nixon’s conclusion has become the basis for the way we now organize and understand
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American society.” The author justifies the claim of society’s incapability to be truly unified

altogether through the mention of President Nixon’s classification standards. These organization

methods prohibit and restrict society from intermersing among themselves and from being the

so-called “Melting Pot” that is (supposed to be) America.

Sherman Alexie, author of “Indian Boy Love Song (#2)” also exemplifies this claim

through their work, in this case, a poem. Alexie provides evidence for this on lines 11-13 where

he states: “Indian women, forgive me. / I grew up distant / and always afraid.” Fundamentally,

the author epitomizes this as being an example of how one believes they cannot be a part of a

culture due to certain limitations, in this case the language barrier amongst one another. Any

individual within society must not be afraid to immerse themselves due to any kind of

“restriction”, rather indulge themselves in their community thus paving the way for true

unification as a society. Due to non-involvement, one may become regretful of their decisions

and dwell on what could have been, Alexie demonstrates this in his poem on lines 8-10 stating “I

never held my head / to their thin chests / believing in their heart.” The author conveys his

message through the use of metaphors, as he basically explains how he was too afraid to

commerce with the fellow Indians around him as he lacked the knowledge of the necessary

language to “properly” communicate with them. Communication through the proper language

however, should not be a limiting factor as many people endure this hardship without removing

themselves from society, this is especially apparent in the deaf as due to the fact that they cannot

hear, they cannot speak properly, and for some, they cannot speak at all, yet they still live

perfectly normal, everyday lives. One must not fear the immersement of themselves within
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society due to “limiting factors” as they are the only ones responsible for isolating themselves

and preventing true unification.

Amy Tan represents yet another author of which describes the situation of her mother’s

limited English thus inhibiting her ability to engage in the communes of society as a whole. Tan

exemplifies this in her work through the lines 73-76 on page 14 stating: “...the fact that people in

department stores, at banks, and in restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good

service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.” Due to the

limited English her mother had spoken, many aspects of the community had essentially refused

to provide service or hospitality to her mother. A possible cause for this would be the negative

stigma that surrounds those who cannot speak “proper” English, providing yet another example

of factors that inhibit society’s ability to become unified and commerce as a single unit. Tan also

demonstrates this claim once more on page 15 lines 108-112 stating: “And when the doctor

finally called her daughter, me, who spoke in perfect English--lo and behold--we had assurances

the CAT scan would be found….” The doctors (before calling the author) had told her mother

that they had lost the CAT scan, and there was no point in coming as well as there being no hope

in finding it, this was obviously in spite of her mother’s “broken” English. If society continues

to behave this way, with such negativity and hostility towards those who have certain limitations

in their community, eventually it [society] will degrade itself until it is nothing more than a

separative, prejudice region in which unification will not only be unlikely, but impossible.

Everyone must accept their differences with one another and embrace each other as individuals

under the same unified body that is America.

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Though it is somewhat apparent in some regions of America such as California,

unification as a society is currently an unachievable goal due to the simple factors that are

close-minded, ignorant individuals. Some may argue that those who live in America are already

unified under the term of American, however this is not the case. If it were, individuals would

embrace one another as true Americans, not just citizens, there is a difference between the two

and often times, immigrants represent a better, more true “American” than that of the citizens of

America. Rodriguez affirms this on page 90, lines 122-124 stating: “I notice immigrants are the

archetypal Americans at a time when we-US Citizens-have become post-Americans….”

Rodriguez is essentially agreeing with this claim by saying how immigrants represent the

American ideals better than that of U.S. citizens. Due to the incomprehensibility of equality by

some members of society, true unification as a nation is yet to be possible, ascribable to the

portion of the population that refutes the idea of individuals with certain differences enveloping

themselves with the giant cultural quilt that is America.

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Works Cited:

Alexie, Sherman. ​Indian Boy Love Song (#2).

Rodriguez, Richard. ​Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans.​ California Collections​, Grade

11.​ Kylene Beers, et al., eds.

Orlando: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017. Pages 89, 90, 91. Print.

Tan, Amy. ​Mother Tongue.​ ​ California Collections, Grade 11.​ Kylene Beers, et al., eds.

Orlando: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017. 14-15. Print.