Throughout the play, Beneatha is constantly trying to find her roots while denying assimilation. It's clear that Hansberry supports this because of the way she portrays George and Asagai. George very strongly supported assimilation since it is what was "normal." He took a liking to a white culture because he had the money and class to be apart of it, so when Beneatha showed her natural hair he so graciously enlightened us with his opinion and said that it was "eccentric." By his definition that meant "being natural" (80). It's paradoxical and ironic. How can something be strange when it's natural? It just shows how he's had more than enough milk* to drink, and that he was "willing to give up his own culture and submerge himself completely in the dominant, and...oppressive culture" (80).
To contrast, Asagai encouraged Beneatha to find her African roots and reject assimilation. His opinion on assimilation is made clear when he described how Beneatha did her hair as "mutilation." He also casually called her an assimilationist causing her to respond "(wheeling, passionately, sharply)" (63) to reject his accusation. He also encouraged her by bringing back traditional African clothing, and offering to bring her to Africa with him. This quite starkly contrasts how George treated Beneatha's obsession with finding her identity. George was portrayed as rude and disrepectful while Asagai was portrayed as wise and kind. This was Hansberry's way of conveying her attitudes towards assimilation. She was very anti-assimilation just like Asagai so she made readers and viewers of the play see him in a favorable light.
My opinion on assimilation falls somewhere in the middle. While I believe that it's important not to give in to the "dominant" (80) culture, I think that we live in a time where it is impossible not to take in the influence from other cultures. I saw a post on Facebook where it was talking about what typical American families would look like in 2050, and they were all interacial multicultural families. If we were all strict anti-assimilationists, and kept our cultures to ourselves I strongly believe we would all be ignorant. It is important to learn from other cultures and become more knowledgable, while still keeping your own in tact. In some sense, I feel like I have created my own culture just by living in the states as an Asian American. I could be at the dinner table eating pizza with my family with a Disney movie turned on in the background, as rapid Korean fills the air in a heated discussion about Korean politics. So learn from other cultures, and teach others about your culture, and while it may seem silly to think that someone could be uneducated about your culture here in Troy, it's a whole different world outside of this bubble.
*hope you caught my Bluest Eye reference lol
To contrast, Asagai encouraged Beneatha to find her African roots and reject assimilation. His opinion on assimilation is made clear when he described how Beneatha did her hair as "mutilation." He also casually called her an assimilationist causing her to respond "(wheeling, passionately, sharply)" (63) to reject his accusation. He also encouraged her by bringing back traditional African clothing, and offering to bring her to Africa with him. This quite starkly contrasts how George treated Beneatha's obsession with finding her identity. George was portrayed as rude and disrepectful while Asagai was portrayed as wise and kind. This was Hansberry's way of conveying her attitudes towards assimilation. She was very anti-assimilation just like Asagai so she made readers and viewers of the play see him in a favorable light.
My opinion on assimilation falls somewhere in the middle. While I believe that it's important not to give in to the "dominant" (80) culture, I think that we live in a time where it is impossible not to take in the influence from other cultures. I saw a post on Facebook where it was talking about what typical American families would look like in 2050, and they were all interacial multicultural families. If we were all strict anti-assimilationists, and kept our cultures to ourselves I strongly believe we would all be ignorant. It is important to learn from other cultures and become more knowledgable, while still keeping your own in tact. In some sense, I feel like I have created my own culture just by living in the states as an Asian American. I could be at the dinner table eating pizza with my family with a Disney movie turned on in the background, as rapid Korean fills the air in a heated discussion about Korean politics. So learn from other cultures, and teach others about your culture, and while it may seem silly to think that someone could be uneducated about your culture here in Troy, it's a whole different world outside of this bubble.
*hope you caught my Bluest Eye reference lol
I saw that facebook post, too!! Your claim that without assimilation, Americans would be "ignorant" is something I really agree with and that I think is prevelant in the text. If the Youngers were scared of assimilation, they would havs never gone after their dreams. However, if they had fully assimilated like George (in his WHITE shoes), they would all be without thoughts and focused on physical attributes rather than intellectual ones. My fav part was probably when you related how assimilation has affected your own life-- living in Troy, with so many first- or second- generation families, assimilation is an everyday process for many of us and I liked that you brought that up. Very nicely done!
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that by 2050, all families will be completely multicultural. I enjoyed how you compared and contrasted both Asagai and George, and how you alluded to the milk from the Bluest Eye.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to Elise, I just saw this on social media! I really liked how you took the reading, and projected it out into our society today, because often in class we only relate the text to other literature or past events more frequently.
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