Phuc To
Professor Sue Briggs
ENG 1050
Feb 12th, 2014
Part I: “othering”
What happened if there is a world without “Othering”?
I want to start this essay by asking what the definition of “othering” is. I am sure there
will be a lot of different questions for it because “Othering” has become a very popular topic that
lot of people are discussing about. “Othering” is a terms that people use to describe a majority’s
view on other races, minorities and people tend to compare themselves to other ethnicities. To
see how “othering” has not changed over the years we have to take a look at the history of
“othering” at the angles of both the majority and minority.
Since beginning of this class, we were assigned to read some pieces that focused on
minorities, immigrants, racism and cultural limits. I will pick at least four pieces that we already
discussed about in correlation with the term “Othering” to discuss on how “Othering” continues
and how we have and have not changed in our treatment of minority groups.
In the history of this nation, the “white” population has been the majority. By saying this,
it reminds me about the history about Angel Island, which says “Chinese immigrated to the
United States for better life. Their work included farming, mining, and building railroads and
they are willing to work for cheap wages.” (Angel-island). Our history shows how minority
groups have been pushed aside and taken advantages by the majority group through conquering
of Native American lands, slavery, and immigration checkpoints. Those events still have strong
impact on the idea of racism nowadays between majority and minority.
Immigration has shaped this nation identity and plays a large role in why we have so
many different cultures in America and why it’s called "the melting pot." Mary Gordon author of
an article titled, "More Than Just a Shrine: Paying Homage to the Ghost of Ellis Island." Her
roots come from immigrants that traveled through Ellis Island, an Island that had a processing
center that accepted or rejected immigrants. She states, "I suppose it is part of being an American
to be engaged in a somewhat tiresome but always self-absorbing process of national definition"
(434). No matter where are roots are from we are a part of this country thus we should be granted
our rights.
Another example of “Othering” that still continues today is whether or not American
believes the immigrants are willing to learn English. Mexican immigrant’s slow assimilation into
America is a big concern right now; there are so many Latino immigrants here illegally. Like,
Gloria Anzaldua’s prose, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”:
“I remember being caught speaking Spanish at the recess- that was good for three licks on the
knuckles with a sharp ruler. I remember being sent to the corner of the classroom for “talking
back” to the Anglo teacher when all I was trying to do was tell her how to pronounce my name.”
The teacher responses:
“If you want to be American, speak American. If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you
belong.” (521)
I find it very frustrating in that situation when I can’t speak my own language. And also I
will be devastated when someone doesn’t respect me, especially my country. As Min Zhan Lu
states in “From Silence to Words, Writing as Struggle”:
“In those days, I moved from home to school, from English to Standard Chinese to Shanghai
dialect, with no apparent friction. I spoke language with those who spoke the language.” (148)
As we can see how hard it must be for this little girl to participate in public discussion
because if you use the wrong language, they will take what you mean the wrong way. Lu said
that she is very frustrated and confused because she has to think about the transition between two
languages. So in the process of American assimilation and the impact of English, Lu’s identity
and culture are lost. So I think as a united country, we need to make some change to eliminate
the “Othering” that take away all the hatreds, unjust actions away from ethnic minorities. And I
hope there will be change in the future.
Part II: Rhetorical Analysis
Rhetoric of “We are all third Generation”
Margaret Mead was a cultural anthropologist who enjoys writing books about behavior of
people. In “We are all third generation”, she discusses about each generation as sequence from
the first to the third and she views that by the third generation, immigrants become fully
“American”. She is also trying to persuade the readers that each generations of American follows
the same process of their ancestors and they always want to be better than their parents,
grandparents.
Mead starts to give people attention by telling the story of two strangers meeting on
foreign ground and finding a common bond in the past. Her purpose is to relate this story to a lot
of people in their lives, such as people we know, we meet, or who lived in the same
neighborhood that we grew up in. And also she wants to make the audiences to continue reading.
Then she moves on by using the relationship between a father and a son, she draws our attention
on how from generation to generation families can lose their relation among each other.
Mead mentions the words “3rd generation” over and over again which forces the reader to
connect this word with her ideas. It is through those ideas that we then connect that word with
ourselves. The chapter is written in third and first person to show her ideas and to connect herself with the readers. Her process of first describing the generation of the American immigrant
encourages the reader to think about their own grandparents and the ways in which their parent
rebelled against them. She moves on to the 2nd and 3rd generations and the reader follows along
in their own stories. The idea she places in the readers mind is that the 3rd generation is
essentially doing what the 1st and 2nd did but in their own way. This lets the reader place
themselves as the 3rd generation no matter how far back they need to go to find the 1st generation
American in their line.
I think Mead did a great job of describing her theory and explaining why she felt this
way. She ends the chapter by summarizing this idea of the 3rd generation which leaves the
readers with a more personalized view to connect with.
Work Cited
Mead, Margaret. "We Are All Third Generation." George, Diana and John Trimbur.
Reading Culture: 8th Edition. Boston: Pearson, 201. 94-101.
Lu, Min Zhan. “From Silence to Words, Writing as a Struggle”. 147-157
Anzaldua, Gloria . “How To Tame a Wild Tongue”. 521-529
Angel-island. Feb 10th 2014 <http://www.angel-island.com/history.html>.
Gordon, Mary. "More Than Just a Shrine: Paying Homage to the Ghost of Ellis Island." Reading
Culture, pp 430-435.