Immigration

This week in class I saw an interesting comparison.  In American Literature we see in The Great Gatsby an amazing and extravagant life in New York, full of parties and money.  However in American Studies we talked about immigration at the turn of the century, we talked about sweatshops and the tenements and the lower class right off the boat.  Of course these two situations are twenty years away from each other, but the did coincide. More often than not I find myself thinking of New York in the 1920s, and even now, as the romanticism that is Gatsby's New York (at least in the beginning of the book), and not the horror that was and is still tormenting the lower class.  This is even more strange to me because that is what I come from, Southeastern European Jewish immigrants who came through New York, worked in sweatshops, lived in the tenements and then the projects before they got out and moved south and west.  What's even weirder is that I want to go back, and so do my cousins, we all want to go back to college there, where our parents and grandparents grew up.  I think that means all these immigrants established a community.  They did something important.  Because now we can go back and be accepted and feel at home and intertwined with our history.  But I can't help but wonder if it is fair that, after all the work our previous generations did to get out of there, we would go back and undo some of their hard work.  No one from previous generations of my family live there anymore, just my generation.  And their parents don't like to visit.  But maybe it is a testament to them that we can live in Manhattan, we can get a good education and a good job, and we can make a living.  That we can make it in such a place.

Billy Budd and The Bible?

I just finished Billy Budd, and I have a bit to say about it.  First of all I have never really been able to get into any of Melville books.  Usually when I say that people respond "oh you probably don't understand it yet"  but I keep going back to them and I realized...  I do understand them.  They are no more complicated than Shakespeare and I love Hamlet, I just don't really like them.  This is surprising to me because I like very literary books.  Regardless I was required to read Billy Budd, and throughout the book there were countless biblical metaphors and similes, the majority to the old testament male lead roles.  Billy is compared to characters like Moses and Joseph.  He is an innocent, and possibly over trusting.  I personally think he is the most like Joseph and the shipmates are his brothers, Jacobs other sons.  Claggart reminds me a bit of Laban, a less known biblical character,  I see similarities in their moral compass and arguable narcissism.  It was mentioned in class that captain Vere could be a metaphor for God, but I don't think so.  I would argue that he would be Abraham, devoted to what he was set on earth to do and perhaps there are parallels in the hanging of Billy and the near sacrifice of Issac.  Of course I am just spit-balling here, I could be completely off the mark, especially because I only have knowledge of the old testament, but it helps me to analyze the characters.

The Importance of History

I will start out by saying I am a history geek.  History may be my favorite subject, and possibly the most important for the future.  I truly do believe that if humanity was not to study it history would be doomed to repeat.  The first thing I thought of when we wrote journals on our opinions on history repeating itself was a saying in Hebrew: "לדור ודור לעולם לא " (pronounced L'Dor V'Dor Laolam Lo).  A rough translation of this phrase is "From generation to generation never again".  The reason I bring this up is because maybe it is the job of those oppressed or their ancestors to make sure people continues to remember mistakes.  Many who have more fortunate and oppressive ancestors would prefer to not talk about these issues because of the guilt and blame they feel regarding them.  So maybe it is the job of the formerly oppressed to not make others feel guilt, but continue to share first hand stories and accounts and insure that history is not forgotten.  We don't need just classes, though.  We need remembrance days that are actually observed.  We have Martin Luther King Day, but there are certainly other important historical happenings that we barley ever think about, other than when we focus on them for a day in history class.

Edgar Allan Poe!

Alright, so let's talk about Edgar Allen Poe.  I could list off weird facts about him from when he was my favorite historical figure in 5th and 6th grade, such as how he loved cats or how he wore his coat inside out on days that he was particularly depressed, however that really doesn't have much to do with why he is so interesting.  He is the Salvador Dali of words,  there is something very surrealist in the way he writes.  You can see what he says and you have to fill in the blanks.  He tells you what the character is thinking and feeling, but doesn't give you all the answers.  He forces his readers to create there own horrors and to relate to his works of love.  I, as well as many, consider him a tortured literary genius.

The Cold Harbor Diary

This is a picture of the diary of a man who was killed in the battle of Cold Harbor, June 3rd 1864.  In  case you can not read it, the night before he died this man "June 3rd, I was killed."  This man knew he was going to die.  He knew he was committed to the service of his country and did not even attempt to flee his impending death.  His comrades pinned their names to their jackets the eve of the day they would be killed so that they would be identified.  It makes me wonder what kind of trust one has to have in the people and ideas of their society to be able submit to the possibility of death to protect it.  I highly respect that drive and sacrifice and I know I will never be able to make it, and I wonder where that bravery comes from.  Which is why I find it incredibly appalling that these people, these HUMAN BEINGS that fought for their country were left to rot for on the battle field on which they gave their lives.  There was no respect for their sacrifice, or for their lives.  And it is highly disturbing to me.

School House Rock

In class recently we watch a video from School House Rock, an American history video.  I know that this may not seem to relate to an actual concept, but trust me it does.  After watching Elbow Room, a song and video about the moment out west after the Louisiana Purchase, I was incredibly disturbed, and went back to watch more similar videos.  The bias that is shown to young children in these videos is extraordinary.  Though you can not tell children every gory detail of history, there is a difference between making a historical event PG and making it only reflective of good choices.  These videos show children at a very young age that they should oppress and ignore people who look different then them and not think of the effects of their decisions.  Therefore I highly disagree with School House Rock.

Language!

In class recently we discussed the idea of a lack of vocabulary that can be used to describe slavery from an inside perspective.  This is interesting to me because it symbolizes how not only history is written by the winners, but so is language.  Communication in the time of slave trade and kidnapping was extremely difficult for those being captured because there are a momentousness amount of languages in Africa and they can not all understand each other, therefore basically the only option was to assimilate into the English language.  This is obviously not ideal because not only does it require learning how to communicate in total immersion, but it also does not accommodate African culture as the original languages do.

The Assimilation of Equiano

So, even though I was assigned to write this post for American Studies, since this is cross disciplinary, I will start by addressing the reading on Equiano's life.  In class we were asked the question "To what extent was Equiano European, and to what extent was he African?", to which I would answer that Equiano was capable of assimilating to life in European culture because he was captured in a crucial stage of cognitive development.  Between the ages of  approximately 7 and 12 children form concrete operational cognition (see link for details).  In this stage Equiano would have been below the level of development that would make it difficult for him to learn a new language or assimilate to a new culture, but mature enough to understand his situation to a certain extent and make connections about how to best handle it.
However, regardless of cognitive developmental facts there is no way he could ever completely assimilate.  Overall his skin color, or race if you will, was his limiting factor.  Equiano could be the most diligent, smart, well-mannered slave in the world and he would never be considered completely human.  Rather, in many of the households he served, he was treated somewhat like a well loved pet.  He was taken care of, but denied a portion of basic human rights.
Essentially, the point I am attempting to get at is that Equiano was to no extent European in a sense that a Caucasian European would have been.  If he was considered European in any sense by his captains or masters it would have been in a way similar to a domestic animal.  Unfortunately, in their world, and partially in ours too, race is everything.

Greetings To My Blog!

Hello Friends, Enemies, Classmates, and Teachers alike,
Since this is most probably a year long assignment I figure I will introduce myself in order to make you aware of any bias that may unintentionally permeate these posts.  (It is understood that this post will not count for credit). My name is, obviously, Zoe.  I love history, it is one of my passions, both of my parents are Asian historians and my father is a Asian and Women Studies professor.  I have never been very patriotic towards the United States, even though I know there are lots of reasons to be, I suppose it is because I am pessimistic and often see the bad things before the good.  But there are things that I have missed about the USA when I have lived other places, and I am an avid fighter for them.  My knowledge of American history is slightly limited compared to that of Asia ,Europe, and the Middle East, but I do hope to learn more and to form more fact based opinions.
Thanks for reading this even if it was only because you were required and my apologies for not only talking your ears off in class, but online.