America then and now...
I'm currently teaching Jewish-American literature this term to a group of highly sensitive teenagers, and the experience so far has been a profound one. These kids are really thinking about some of the larger issues involved in studying what is commonly referred to as a "minority group" through the literature created by people who are by heritage identified with it. We are reading E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime at present, and the discussion the other day took on a wonderful and thought-provoking twist.
Three of the students in the class are of Jewish heritage; as to the rest, they are descended from a hodge-podge of Christian sects - Baptist, Episcopalian, Catholic, Methodist. We have discussed the concept of the WASP in early 20th century America, of the inherent prejudices of the time associated with Catholicism, Irish in particular, and with Judaism, and compared them with today's conservative Christian views of the Muslim and Hindu communities.
My students discussed the modern tendency to identify primarily with their current lifestyle and the people with whom they have grown up, rather than with their religion. For the most part, the Christian students maintained that the phrases, "I'm a Baptist," or "I'm Catholic" come rolling out easily, by practice, but that they don't actually identify with this particular aspect of their identity; most of them rarely go to church and don't really practice religious traditions at home. My Jewish students claimed that they were more likely to follow Jewish law on a regular basis within the home and more likely to attend synagogue. They also identify strongly with the struggle for the preservation of a Jewish state; although only one of them has spent any extended time in Israel, all three of them are considering joining the Israeli army for a year or more when they graduate either high school or college. I asked why this might be: "What does this say about our various cultural heritages, about our ancestors' beliefs about community and what constitutes society? How does this relate to what we have been reading in Doctorow's book?"
The conversation that followed was a whirlwind of ideas and of critical thinking, as the students tried to apply their own experiences and thought about religion and community to the characters in the novel - the Jewish Eric Weiss, whose talent is only bankable so long as he hides his religious heritage from the public under the pseudonym Harry Houdini; Henry Ford, whose position as a WASP allows him never to stop for a moment to consider that there might be limitations to what he may accomplish on American soil, Father and Mother et al. and their comfortable middle-class existence, in which Younger Brother feels free to make comments on the immigrants of lowly aspect whom they pass on the streets; Emma Goldman, who uses her Jewish heritage and feminist doctrines as strengths, reaching out to other outcasts rather than trying to assimilate to a country that does not welcome them with the open arms promised, Freud and his disdain for the illusions presented to him when he visits, who comments to the effect that 'America is simply Europe in translation, with all of the best parts left out.' And, of course, dear Tateh, who pulls and pushes and makes it to the top in spite of his
heritage due to simple talent and a fabulous, innovative, distinctly American idea.
"What has changed?" I asked my students. They believe that Jews for the most part have been
assimilated into American culture, as of course also have the Catholics, but that the Jewish heritage, because of its origins in prejudice and in community, remains stronger than that of most Christian sects. they think that the Muslim and Hindu religions are "the new Judaism and Catholicism" in America, the new outcast communities. They don't think that the country has improved for immigrants, but that the situation has changed: in the 1900s, immigrants worked at the particularly dangerous and low-paying jobs in mills and factories that already-coined Americans didn't want, and now in the 21st century they are the migrant farm workers and the meat-packing warehouse workers, still working at the jobs already-coined americans don't want for the lowest possible wages and without much hope for an improvement in circumstance - no health insurance, no tax breaks, no public assistance.
They think that the upper classes still distance themselves and distract themselves from what is going on in the lower-class communities; they talk about aid and assistance and government sepnding and such, but they don't really do much to set things in motion. In Ragtime, the upper classes distracted themselves with spectacle, tennis, trips to the seaside, and scandals such as Evelyn Nesbit's "Crime of the Century." In our time, the upper classes distract themselves with concerts, the theatre, the ballet, the opera, with tennis and skiing and ballroom dancing and pilates/yoga classes, with vacations to island resorts and Europe, and with scandals like Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachay's divorce, or Britney Spears' quickie marriage. My students think the upper classes are more remote than ever from the lower,
despite protestations of aliberal mindset and fair practices, and that we have created more
distractions than ever before in our efforts to "color the world pretty."
My students have come to the conclusion that times have not necessarily changed in the past hundred years, although the circumstances have been altered. As Henry Ford's automobile line, Tateh's moving picture books, and the railroad industry were the "promise of the future" in 1900, so now we have electric cars, high-speed internet, and the airline industry as our current "future day". As the upper middle classes were comfortable ensconced in New Rochelle rather than downtown Harlem, so now the upper middle classes seem to be performing a mass-exodus to places like Colorado, Northern California, Western Maryland - still seeking escape from the crowds, the dirt, the crime, the truth of the cities they helped to found and continue to patronize and fund.
Finally, my students have come to the conclusion that the past is important and needs to be reexamined for a more truthful interpretation. They don't want to see extremes; none of this "America is going to hell" or "America is and has always been the greatest country in the world." They want to see a more moderate study, in which they can look at and analyze more elements and aspects, compare more between then and now, and see the natural progression of what has come to pass on these shores. They think things are bad, but they do not believe they are all bad, nor do they think they are worse than they have ever been. They would like to see politicians calm down and step off their platforms and stumps for a minute to speak about the truth, as opposed to about what is going to incite American sentiment (which my students can't define and don't believe is a real thing) at the polls. They think the media needs to calm down as well, and report the news without pundits and commentary, which should be left to the tabloid and editorial writers, as was the case in the early 1900s; they would like to see a greater distinction between news writing and commentary, and they would like to see that distinction more carefully demonstrated to the public at large, so that the average American doesn't get wrapped up in editorial commentary and believe it to be the news simply because it is on CNN. Finally, they would like to see this democratic society continue to take steps to become more democratic. They believe that if the Jews and Catholics of the turn of the century a hundred years ago are now mainstreamed, then so too can today's Muslim and Hindu cultures be assimilated in time. They don't think there is an easy answer, but then again, they don't think what the earlier minority citizens of this nation went through was easy, either.
I am proud of my students' work in this class to date, and I think that their observations have been keen. What does it mean to be an American in the 21st century? Have times really changed, or did we begin on an unalterable path upon which we continue to move inexorably towards what can only be an ugly end, a la Roman Empire? Define society. Define community. Define heritage. Define American. We ask a lot of our students...but how many of us out of school and working and living in America today can complete the above-mentioned exercise?
Three of the students in the class are of Jewish heritage; as to the rest, they are descended from a hodge-podge of Christian sects - Baptist, Episcopalian, Catholic, Methodist. We have discussed the concept of the WASP in early 20th century America, of the inherent prejudices of the time associated with Catholicism, Irish in particular, and with Judaism, and compared them with today's conservative Christian views of the Muslim and Hindu communities.
My students discussed the modern tendency to identify primarily with their current lifestyle and the people with whom they have grown up, rather than with their religion. For the most part, the Christian students maintained that the phrases, "I'm a Baptist," or "I'm Catholic" come rolling out easily, by practice, but that they don't actually identify with this particular aspect of their identity; most of them rarely go to church and don't really practice religious traditions at home. My Jewish students claimed that they were more likely to follow Jewish law on a regular basis within the home and more likely to attend synagogue. They also identify strongly with the struggle for the preservation of a Jewish state; although only one of them has spent any extended time in Israel, all three of them are considering joining the Israeli army for a year or more when they graduate either high school or college. I asked why this might be: "What does this say about our various cultural heritages, about our ancestors' beliefs about community and what constitutes society? How does this relate to what we have been reading in Doctorow's book?"
The conversation that followed was a whirlwind of ideas and of critical thinking, as the students tried to apply their own experiences and thought about religion and community to the characters in the novel - the Jewish Eric Weiss, whose talent is only bankable so long as he hides his religious heritage from the public under the pseudonym Harry Houdini; Henry Ford, whose position as a WASP allows him never to stop for a moment to consider that there might be limitations to what he may accomplish on American soil, Father and Mother et al. and their comfortable middle-class existence, in which Younger Brother feels free to make comments on the immigrants of lowly aspect whom they pass on the streets; Emma Goldman, who uses her Jewish heritage and feminist doctrines as strengths, reaching out to other outcasts rather than trying to assimilate to a country that does not welcome them with the open arms promised, Freud and his disdain for the illusions presented to him when he visits, who comments to the effect that 'America is simply Europe in translation, with all of the best parts left out.' And, of course, dear Tateh, who pulls and pushes and makes it to the top in spite of his
heritage due to simple talent and a fabulous, innovative, distinctly American idea.
"What has changed?" I asked my students. They believe that Jews for the most part have been
assimilated into American culture, as of course also have the Catholics, but that the Jewish heritage, because of its origins in prejudice and in community, remains stronger than that of most Christian sects. they think that the Muslim and Hindu religions are "the new Judaism and Catholicism" in America, the new outcast communities. They don't think that the country has improved for immigrants, but that the situation has changed: in the 1900s, immigrants worked at the particularly dangerous and low-paying jobs in mills and factories that already-coined Americans didn't want, and now in the 21st century they are the migrant farm workers and the meat-packing warehouse workers, still working at the jobs already-coined americans don't want for the lowest possible wages and without much hope for an improvement in circumstance - no health insurance, no tax breaks, no public assistance.
They think that the upper classes still distance themselves and distract themselves from what is going on in the lower-class communities; they talk about aid and assistance and government sepnding and such, but they don't really do much to set things in motion. In Ragtime, the upper classes distracted themselves with spectacle, tennis, trips to the seaside, and scandals such as Evelyn Nesbit's "Crime of the Century." In our time, the upper classes distract themselves with concerts, the theatre, the ballet, the opera, with tennis and skiing and ballroom dancing and pilates/yoga classes, with vacations to island resorts and Europe, and with scandals like Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachay's divorce, or Britney Spears' quickie marriage. My students think the upper classes are more remote than ever from the lower,
despite protestations of aliberal mindset and fair practices, and that we have created more
distractions than ever before in our efforts to "color the world pretty."
My students have come to the conclusion that times have not necessarily changed in the past hundred years, although the circumstances have been altered. As Henry Ford's automobile line, Tateh's moving picture books, and the railroad industry were the "promise of the future" in 1900, so now we have electric cars, high-speed internet, and the airline industry as our current "future day". As the upper middle classes were comfortable ensconced in New Rochelle rather than downtown Harlem, so now the upper middle classes seem to be performing a mass-exodus to places like Colorado, Northern California, Western Maryland - still seeking escape from the crowds, the dirt, the crime, the truth of the cities they helped to found and continue to patronize and fund.
Finally, my students have come to the conclusion that the past is important and needs to be reexamined for a more truthful interpretation. They don't want to see extremes; none of this "America is going to hell" or "America is and has always been the greatest country in the world." They want to see a more moderate study, in which they can look at and analyze more elements and aspects, compare more between then and now, and see the natural progression of what has come to pass on these shores. They think things are bad, but they do not believe they are all bad, nor do they think they are worse than they have ever been. They would like to see politicians calm down and step off their platforms and stumps for a minute to speak about the truth, as opposed to about what is going to incite American sentiment (which my students can't define and don't believe is a real thing) at the polls. They think the media needs to calm down as well, and report the news without pundits and commentary, which should be left to the tabloid and editorial writers, as was the case in the early 1900s; they would like to see a greater distinction between news writing and commentary, and they would like to see that distinction more carefully demonstrated to the public at large, so that the average American doesn't get wrapped up in editorial commentary and believe it to be the news simply because it is on CNN. Finally, they would like to see this democratic society continue to take steps to become more democratic. They believe that if the Jews and Catholics of the turn of the century a hundred years ago are now mainstreamed, then so too can today's Muslim and Hindu cultures be assimilated in time. They don't think there is an easy answer, but then again, they don't think what the earlier minority citizens of this nation went through was easy, either.
I am proud of my students' work in this class to date, and I think that their observations have been keen. What does it mean to be an American in the 21st century? Have times really changed, or did we begin on an unalterable path upon which we continue to move inexorably towards what can only be an ugly end, a la Roman Empire? Define society. Define community. Define heritage. Define American. We ask a lot of our students...but how many of us out of school and working and living in America today can complete the above-mentioned exercise?
posted by Melle | 4:33 AM
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