American Voices: Poems for a Diverse Nation - Essay Example

No: "A Little Literature Chapter 20, "American Voices: Poems for a Diverse Nation" Child of the Americas Aurora Levins Morales is the author of ‘Child of the Americas’. The author has a mixed ethnic identity and she illustrates her being American and from various ethnic identities in her poem. In the poem, she accepts herself as an immigrant, but emphasizes that America has taken its present form because of immigrants.Her ethnic identity gives meanings to the poem as she connects every part of the America to herself. Metaphorically, she identifies herself as regions as she says, “I am Caribena”, “I am of Latinoamerica”, “Africa is in me”, “Taino is in me” and “Europe lives in me” revealing herself as an American (Morales 522). The author intends that the readers understand about the American identity of American residents. Most of them are from diverse lands and their parents or grandparents have immigrated to America after which, America has taken its current form. Belonging to a diverse cultural background, I can relate to the poem. To the Lady ‘To the Lady’ is composed by Mitsuye Yamada. She expresses anger towards Japanese Americans and other Americans’ silence when Japanese Americans were captured in war camps. She as a Japanese American represents the voice of her people. She talks about a report in San Francisco by a lady which “why did the Japanese Americans let the government put them in those camps without protest?” (Yamada 523)and shows her reaction about the pride of American people and existent discrimination on the land.She uses the sentences “social order moral order internal order” (Yamada 523) to show discrimination in America. She uses the symbols of war in the poem such as ‘bombed’, ‘self-immolation’ and ‘six million’ indicating towards killing of Jewish people. She further refers to the famous incident of murder of ‘Kitty Genovese’ who got murdered on street.Being an American, every happening can be related to us. Facing It ‘Facing It’ is written by YusefKomunyakaa who is an African American ethnically. Komunyakaa connects his experience of being Black with the memorial of Vietnam War. The poet is standing in front of the Vietnam memorial reading names of people and finding his own. He sees his reflection in the memorial and considers that the difference between the memorial and him is that of stone and flesh. He can feel the pain of his history while the memorial cannot. He says, "My black face fades,/hiding inside the black granite" (Komunyakaa 525) showing his connectivity with the memorial. He also refers to a name, ‘Andrew Johnson’ written on the memorial. He uses symbolic language for representing Vietnam War such as ‘Brushstrokes flash’, ‘A plane in the sky’.We can personally relate to the poem’s meaning as we have seen how people got affected in Vietnam War and also discrimination against blacks that they face in their daily lives. America Claude McKay, who is ethnically an African American, wrote ‘America’ in which, he points towards racism in America. The poet expresses his love for America even after the racism he faces. He sees America as a mighty state, but he states that the talent of Black community gets wasted and they are unable to prosper because of racist energies. He uses the metaphor of ‘Time’s unerring hand’ to express the wastage of time and ‘priceless treasures sinking in the sand’ (McKay 527) to express the wastage of black talent. He also uses the metaphors of America’s feeding him with ‘bread of bitterness’ and putting ‘her tiger’s tooth’ in his throat (McKay 527) to indicate the impact of racism on his community. Overall, the poem is a reminder of injustice to Blacks and wants Americans to end this. We can relate to this poem as we can see incidents of racism at different placesdue to which, Blacks get affected negatively. The Melting Pot Dudley Randall, the African American, is the author of ‘The Melting Pot’ and he evaluates the issues of racial segregation and acceptance of Europeans in American society. Randall claims America to be a “magic melting pot” where anyone can enter and come out as American, but Blacks face discrimination and prejudice. America is ironically stated as a melting pot, but this pot shuns Black people as the poet says, “Keep out. This is out private pot/ We don’t want your black stain” (Randall 527). Blacks continuously fight for equality and justice, but they are not regarded as part of American diverse cultures. Blacks have issues in being part of America because they face discrimination at the hands of White people. The poet uses the metaphor of ‘the melting pot’ to indicate the mixing of diverse cultures in America. We can connect to this poem as we are part of the melting pot, however, we should give rights to Blacks as our equals. Bully Martin Espada is the author of ‘Bully’. Espada is a Spanish American. He writes about the diversity in American society, which was not acceptable for some American people, but they have to accept the change with the passage of time. He writes about Roosevelt’s backing of Spanish-American War. Roosevelt supported the war and now there is ‘Roosevelt school’ that ‘is pronounced Hernández’ (Espada 528)and that school has heavy registration of Spanish children.The author draws symbols and visual features of war such as ‘reins of anguish-eyed horses’, ‘malaria of conquest’ and so on. Espada compares Roosevelt support of Spanish-American War and the naming of school having Spanish majority with Roosevelt’s name. The poem is quite ironic and the poet emphasizes whether Americans liked change or diversity or not, they have to accept it now as it is part of their country. Being an American, I can relate with the poem as we all have to accept diversity in America because it is part of it now. So Mexicans are Taking Jobs from Americans Jimmy Santiago Baca is the author of‘So Mexicans are Taking Jobs from Americans’ and the tone of the poem is ironic. Baca is a Mexican American and speaks about his people who are hardworking and struggling and try to migrate to America for earning for their children. When he mentions about US people’s consideration that Mexicans are taking their jobs away, he ironically elaborates whether Mexicans snatch the possessions of Americans by force. He uses the metaphor, “cool green sea of money,/millions and millions of people fight to live” (Baca 529) to describe the economy of America where people strive for their living. This poem is understandable for us because it describes about what is happening in the society. On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City ‘On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City’ is composed by Sherman Alexie who elaborates his notions on Native American culture. He is himself a Native American and explains about his own community. He says that Native Americans are the earlier Americans surviving on the land and the history belongs to them. According to the poet, history and American society underestimates their culture due to which, there are chances of its extinction. He also informs about the respect that Native Americans give to elders, no matter from which culture they belong. He mentions about ‘Walden Pond’ (Alexie 531) and says that Indian history is much older than that. Again, it relates to us because Native Americans are also part of the society. My Mother, Who Came from China, Where She never Saw Snow Laureen Mar is the writer of ‘My Mother, Who Came from China, Where She never Saw Snow’.Laureen Mar is a Chinese American. The poet informs about her Chinese mother who has to work for low wages with heightened poor working conditions.The poet uses visual images to draw attention of readers towards the physical set up of the factory where her mother worked for twenty four years. Her earning was meager and difficult. She worked as a robot. She and the other women were taught “English as Second Language” (Mar 532) for work related purposes. By narrating the life story of her mother, the poet also highlights the hardships faced by Chinese immigrants in America. The poem and its content is related to our scenario as it talks about the lives of minors in America. The Vanishing Red Robert Frost, the White American wrote the poem ‘The Vanishing Red’ about a miller who murdered the last Native American who used to live in New England because of his racial hatred. Frost informs about racism of White people who hated Native Americans. Native Americans are the history of America and because of hatred and racism, they got targeted. The laughter of the miller is indicative of his cruelty and the ‘frantic fish’, ‘salmon’ and ‘sturgeon’ (Frost 533) are indicative of death. The killing act of the last Native American is indicative of the colonization of America. However, the poet claims that these incidents should be forgotten for futuristic combined living of diverse cultures. Moving Camp too Far ‘Moving Camp too Far’ is written by NilanorthSun who is a Native American. In the poem, the poet informs about the hardships that Native Americans faced at the hands of White Americans. The White population worked towards extreme degradation of Native language, culture and their rights for land by depriving them of everything and as a compensation for their acts, gave Native Americans small plots for their survival. The poet is regretful and considers herself guilty because she followed the White American culture that deprived her of her native land and culture (northSun 534). Conclusion All the poems describe about diversity in American culture and how different cultures face issues in the melting pot. People from diverse nations have migrated to America for better opportunities of leading their lives, but their lives in America are not as easy as they perceived it. The authors of the poems illustrate their own perspectives about being American and how challenging it was for their community to be a part of the state. The authors intend to highlight the difficulties that they face in getting into the melting pot. They are unable to get equal rights and better livelihood is quite difficult for them. The Native Americans, African Americans, Chinese Americans, Mexican Americans, Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans and all others faced issues of settlement and getting equal rights. There were also issues of racism and discrimination. The poets wrote about their own ethnic communities in America and their issues due to which, they are all interconnected. Read More