American Cultural Differences - Essay Example

Cultural Differences America is supposed to be the melting pot. In many areas this ideal is true. Some areas tend to culturally stick together. This creates misunderstandings and distrust between the different cultures in America. The good news is since the inception of the new experiment called democracy was created cultural acceptance has grown. The mixture between cultures is better this century than the century before, and that century was better than the century before it, and so forth. Cultural differences have created a distinctly American type of writing. A sample of these writings are below. “Hazel Tells LaVerne” by Katharyn Machan Aal, “It’s the Law: A Rap Poem” by Saundra Sharp, "Mines" Susan Straight, and “What It’s Like to be a Black Girl” by Patricia Smith The three poems “Hazel Tells LaVerne” by Katharyn Machan Aal, “It’s the Law: A Rap Poem” by Saundra Sharp, "Mines" Susan Straight, and “What It’s Like to be a Black Girl” by Patricia Smith are poems about being African American. These poems are filled with pride, longing, and being an African American. The first “Hazel Tells LaVerne” by Katharyn Machan Aal is a humorous poem about an African American working at a Howard Johnsons, when a frog pops out of the toilet (Machan Aal 631). After offering to make the woman a princess if only she kissed him, she replied: ya little green pervert an i hitsm with my mop an has ta flush the toilet down three times me a princess (Machan Aal 631) Obviously the speaker was more worried about finishing her work than falling for fanciful promises from a frog. This is a trait that can be said of working African American woman. They do not spend time daydreaming of a better life. An average African American woman is looking to take care of her family or better themselves. Unlike other cultures, where individuals daydream about a better life, most African Americans take action. “It’s the Law: A Rap Poem” by Saundra Sharp is a poem about being dignified. This poem speaks about how there are laws against everything, but points out: If you never shoot at me then I don’t need A law to keep you from shooting at me, do you see? There’s a Universal Law…. that’s tried and true Says Don’t do to me… What you don’t want done to you. (Sharp 604) Sharp is explaining that many African Americans complain about laws against everything, but the laws would not be created without the action occurring first. “What It’s Like to be a Black Girl” by Patricia Smith is about life of an African American girl growing into a woman. The trials of wanting to be different are explained like this: first of all, it’s being 9 years old and feeling like you’re not finished, like your edges are wild, like there’s something, everything, wrong, it’s dropping food coloring in your eyes to make them blue and suffering their burn in silence. (Smith 672) The awkward girl grows in a confident African American woman, but the insecurities are those only uniquely to a black girl. “Mines” by Susan Straight is different. Susan Straight is a white American professor that teaches creative writing. She is writing of all cultures, but mainly African American since that is the highest percentage in prison. The percentage is not due to the likelihood of an African American going to jail, but is related to the percentage of the whole population. If looked at in relation to overall population, African Americans, white, Latino, and Asian go to jail in about the same ratio. There are just more African Americans. The short story states: Old days, the men go off to the army. Hard time, let me tell you. They go off to die, or they come back. But if they die, we get some money from the army. If they come back they get a job on the base. Now them little boys, they go off to the prison just like the army. Like they have to. To be a man. They go off to die, or come back. But they aint got nothing. Nothin either way. (Straight 153) Even in prison, races stick together. White, black, Asian, or Latino are grouped together. This represents how Americans are not as tolerant of other races as we should be. Prison is like a mirror of society, only the bottom. “Mambo Mouth” by John Leguizamo “Mabo Mouth” by John Leguizamo is an honest depiction of seven characters. This profane drama is interesting, because Leguizamo pokes fun at himself and others through his imitations. The stereotypes show how most Americans feel about cultures different from their own. Latinos live in one dwelling with a bunch of families and others stereotypes have the audience smiling, but it is not a laughing matter. These stereotypes keep cultures from intermixing. Whites are scared of blacks. Blacks think whites are stuck up. These stereotypes need to be dispelled through education about diverse cultures. Leguizamo uses comedy to try and show how ridiculous stereotypes can be. “Ode to American English” by Barbara Hamby, “Spam Leaves an Aftertaste” by Bob Hicok, and “America” by Tony Hicok “Ode to American English” by Barbara Hamby, “Spam Leaves an Aftertaste” by Bob Hicok, and “America” by Tony Hicok are poems about society today. In Hamby’s poem, she is giving a toast to American English. She writes how Americans use “Ebonics, Spanglish, "you know" used as comma and period, the inability of 90% of the population to get the past perfect” (Hamby 641). Hicok writes about spam on the internet stating “What does the Internet know that it sends me unbidden the offer of a larger penis?” (994) Only in American society would a poet write about spam. Most people want to forget it. Finally, Hoagland is frustrated with a man that “Says that America is for him a maximum-security prison…He says that even when he’s driving to the mall in his Isuzu” (1003). All of these poems are about issues facing Americans today as a whole. While all the cultures can be separate, in the end we are all Americans. We might fight amongst ourselves, but don’t jump on an American. 9/11 showed that Americans can come together as one against a common enemy. In the end, Americans are not perfect, but we are still working on accepting cultural differences. Work Cited Hamby, Barbara. “Ode to American English.” Meyer, Michael. Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 8 ed. New York: 2009. Hicok, Bob. “Spam leaves an Aftertaste.” Meyer, Michael. Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 8 ed. New York: 2009. Hoagland, Tony. “America.” Meyer, Michael. Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 8 ed. New York: 2009. Leguizamo, John. “Mambo Mouth.” Meyer, Michael. Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 8 ed. New York: 2009. Machan Aal, Katharyn. “Hazel Tells LaVerne.” Meyer, Michael. Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 8 ed. New York: 2009. Sharp, Saundra. “It’s the Law: A Rap Poem.” Meyer, Michael. Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 8 ed. New York: 2009. Smith, Patricia. “What it’s like to be a Black Girl.” Meyer, Michael. Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 8 ed. New York: 2009. Straight, Susan. “Mines.” Meyer, Michael. Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 8 ed. New York: 2009. Read More