Ethnic American Literature

Introduction

The idea that America is a nation of immigrants is arguably the most ubiquitous aspect of its national mythology. It is not surprising, then, that the tropes of immigration and acculturation constitute such an important part of the American literary imagination. Some of the earliest examples of what is now considered our national literature document the experiences of newly arrived settlers (Johnson, pp. 282), and the few hundred years of American literature that have followed are full of narratives that, in one way or another, engage with the arrival of people from other countries and the many ways in which they attempt make themselves at home in the United States.

Cultural responsibilities of the American writer

The development of the culture of the United States of America; music, film, dance, architecture, literature, cuisine and visual arts; has been marked by many different sources. The popular culture has told U.S. through almost all media, including film, television, music, comics and sports. What the Wind and Star Wars, Mickey Mouse and Marilyn Monroe, Sesame Street and The Simpsons, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Madonna, the jazz, blues, and Hip Hop, Popeye, Snoopy and Superman, the baseball, football and basketball, Barbie and GI Joe, hamburgers and Coca Cola, these names, genders and phrases related to U.S. products have been expanded far and wide (Bloom, pp. 187).

It is important to note that the U.S. writers tends to be an exporter of culture and other cultural traditions also absorbed relatively easily, such as origami, the football, the anime, the pizza and yoga through their writings. This marks a huge contrast with the early days of America when the country was seen as a remote place based on agriculture with little to offer advanced facilities such as Europe and Asia. At the beginning of its third century, almost all major cities offering classical and popular music centers, historical and scientific research, museums, musicals and plays, as well as artistic and architectural projects of international standard. This development is the result of contributions from writers, individual philanthropists, and government.

Thanks to recent revisions multicultural theories and charges applied to American literature, Latin production is increasingly found in many textbooks and curricula of the country, but sometimes is still a minority and as a response to a hypothetical fee (Milner, pp. 336), or a politically correct expectation and intention, or the imposition of the market rather than a thorough, critical knowledge of this production in its complex diversity.

New Immigrants Modifying the American Dream In Comparison To the Early Immigrants

For decades, this “melting pot” metaphor prevailed as the model for how immigrants in America should be understood. This paradigm ostensibly satisfies both those who believe in a unitary definition of what it means to be American and those who see America as a nation of immigrants: differences “melt” away as immigrants conform to American values, customs, and ideals; meanwhile the contents of the “pot” are enriched, but not too drastically changed by the inclusion of diverse peoples.

Certainly, between 1931 and 2009, ...