Comments on: Assimilation

By: Justin Heyd

Justin Heyd — Sat, 03 May 2008 09:03:53 +0000

I feel that the view point of assimilation and its negative effects on subcultures can best be described by Zitkala-Sa. She successfully describes in her story the negative effects of assimilation on subcultures. She describes how Native American families were encouraged and almost broken in like a horse to the Western ideals of the “White man”. I thought it was very unique how Zitkala-Sa described the situations that she endured as a child and how now as an adult, she realizes how she lost a bit of her own culture and heritage when she was assimilated as a young child.

By: Hannah Prentice

Hannah Prentice — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:10:17 +0000

Although assimilation has been a huge part of American culture it always leaves someone feeling left out. Zitkala-Sa was stuck between wanting to hang on to her American Indian culture and wanting to move on to American culture. But one must stop and ask, what really defines American culture? As a melting-pot, we are a combinatin of so many cultures, ideals, and beliefs that its difficult to define what it really means to be American. That is a huge difficulty with assimilation. It is hard to make someone understand our culture when we are unable to define it. There will always be a struggle and an attempt to assimilate people into American culture.

By: Cory Haisch

Cory Haisch — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:25:27 +0000

The texts of Oskison and Zitkala-Sa, certainly deal with the topic of assimilation, specifically the assimilation of the Native Americans. One of the text deals with the assimilation of a Native American man into the Catholic church, and the other text deals with the assimilation and acceptance of Native American children into predominantly white schools and white culture, and the shock that parents go through when their children comeback, “Americanized,” so to speak. This problem is certainly going on today, in many ways. For my example, i will focus on the assimilation issues that gay Americans go through. Currently gay Americans are going through a number of assimilation problems, namely as being able to have the same marital rights as heterosexual couples. But, they are also struggling with simply being accepted in American culture. The struggle can be illustrated by some people committing hate crimes against homosexual Americans, i.e. the Matthew Sheppard murder. The fact that violence exists simply based on the sexual orientation of a person illustrates that there is a struggle for homosexual Americans to be accepted in mainstream American culture.

By: Trenton Mendelson

Trenton Mendelson — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:39:00 +0000

The American Indian was forced by Anglo-Americans to go to boarding schools to assimilate, and become “Americanized.” This idea is not exclusive to America only. In Australia, many aborigines were forced into similar boarding schools. Regardless of the location, to think you can completely change the culture someone represents is an outrageous idea. I understand that this could make life somewhat easier for the person, but is it really easier? Is it easier to have culture forced upon you, and to abandon your traditions?

By: Chris Berke

Chris Berke — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:50:06 +0000

Assimilation is necessary no matter where you are. It makes life easier when you assimilate or “fit in” to your surroundings. If you move to a different country and you don’t absorb their ways, you are viewed as naive and ignorant. Developing aspects of another culture that surrounds you helps immensly with communication and such. Zitkala Sa knew that she had to leave her mother to develop American ways so she did. When she did, life was a little bit easier.
As far as modern times, assimilation is still everywhere. Even in school it is present. For example, in high school people buy the latest fashions to fit in so they can avoid being teased. There’s no way to tell whether it is right or wrong, just necessary to make life just a little bit easier.

By: Kevin G. Myrmoe

Kevin G. Myrmoe — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:54:50 +0000

Assimilation has been a part of America for hundreds of years. Assimilation first became a part of life in America when the Puritans arived in America. When the Puritans arived in America, they began to promote their beliefs onto the Native Americans. Beliefs that the Puritans promoted onto the Native Americans included religion and other cultural aspects, such as clothing and food. Assimilation continued to be found in American for hundreds of years, and I believe that it can still be found today. In the 1800s, Native Americans were forced out of their land that they had prior to anyone colonizing America. Native Americans were forced to move onto reservations. Through this process, the Native Americans were pressured into changing their ways. Different areas where Native Americans were pressured into changing included their education and language. Zitkala Sa writings show assimilation to Native Americans. Zitkala Sa writes about leaving her mother in order to assimilate to American ways. There will always be a problem with assimilation. There is no correct way to assimilate a group of people. Everyone has their own set of beliefs and values, and they should be respected by everyone for them. Instead of assimilation, people should come together to learn about each others beliefs and come to an understanding that one group’s set of beliefs and values is not superior to others.

By: Emily Finley

Emily Finley — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:07:45 +0000

I also agree very much to Sarah and Michelle’s entries about assimilation. It has to be major culture shock to come to America from overseas, and vice versa. I don’t think I could ever fully change myself in order to be “accepted” to their way of life. I’m planning on studying abroad, however, and it will be interesting to see how hard it is to adapt. It would also be different if you were just going abroad for a semester or a summer rather than permanently moving. As Americans, we visit abroad to get a feel of new culture, people, and languages, for the most part. On the other hand, many foreigners come to America to start and find a new job and a better life.

By: Michelle Rydell

Michelle Rydell — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:59:54 +0000

I think Sarah’s entry about assimiliation in today’s society was exactly right. There can be some interesting comparison’s between Zitkala-Sa’s experience of assimiliating to a different culture and students who go abroad who must become a part of that culture or be rejected. An even more interesting comparison, I think, is when you consider what foreign students must go through when they come to the states. Americans often have the attitude that everyone must conform to our standards and our ways of life, and if you want to get ahead in your work or in life, as a foreigner, you sometimes have to lose part of yourself to get ahead. I wonder what people have given up before just to be accepted into our society. Just an interesting thought…

By: Lacey Babekuhl

Lacey Babekuhl — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 04:46:25 +0000

Assimilation of the Native population is quite ironic in my opinion. By attempting to force this certain population into conforming to American ideals, we go against everything our country was founded upon. The main purpose of the US was to give everyone a place free of prejudices, however for many years the Native Americans were looked down upon, stereotyped and even forced into situations that many consider inhumane. Zitkala-Sa is an intriguing writer in that, she rose above the oppression and returned to her Native roots actually becoming more successful and proving many stereotypes wrong.

By: Caitlin Reindl

Caitlin Reindl — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:19:34 +0000

The bottom line behind assimilation is that it is bound to happen one way or another. By the Europeans coming over to America they found themselves amongst people who had a different culture, different traditions, and a completely different way of life. Deciding that this country would prosper only if they could all come together as one unit and create a society worth governing. It just so happened that it became an “our way or the highway” attitude and the Native Americans ended up giving more and receiving less. Just because their way of life was changed undoubtedly forever does not mean that their true inner beliefs were changed. The only way to grow from the past is to accept and embrace the change with an open and alert mind.