Finding the Perfect Balance between Nationalism and Patriotism (゜。゜)

      For module 5's Immigration essay, I chose to focus on The Life Story of a Chinese Businessman by Lee Chew (1906). This essay discusses the experiences one Chinese Immigrant has in leaving his home in China to build his own fortune in America. Some key ideas that can be found throughout the essay are firstly that there is strong nationalism amongst cultures and their own. To explain, immigrants such as the Chinese, Irish, and Italians tend to mostly stick to themselves and their own cultures as opposed to assimilating into others because of either their own beliefs, prejudices, or discrimination. For example, the narrator, who is a Chinese immigrant, mentions staying within "the Chinese theater and Chinatown" on his days off as opposed to mingling with Americans or other immigrants that aren't Chinese.

 Even more, the narrator continuously insults other immigrants that aren't of his ethnicity by insulting their appearance, intelligence, and overall character. This expresses the idea that cultures mainly kept to themselves due to the morals pushed on them by their own societies which essentially alienated them and ensured that cultures stuck together, which can be both a benefit and a deficit to immigrants. Another idea that is brought up through the essay is that of patriotism towards one's original home. To further explain, the narrator describes a fellow Chinese-man who left China as "a poor boy" and returned from his trip in America "with unlimited wealth." The narrator and his village men praise this man for remaining loyal to China and returning as well as sharing his wealth with other Chinese. This bolsters the idea that staying true to one's culture and not fully assimilating, or conforming, to the ways of the country one immigrates to ensures pride in one's culture. Furthering this, helping out your own original home, like sharing new wealth after returning, expresses loyalty and patriotism for one's nation. One last idea brought up throughout the essay is that of ridding one's prejudices and becoming open-minded towards other cultures and how they live. The narrator begins his essay by expressing shame and disgust towards cultures that are not his own, which can be seen in how he describes the Americans as "foreign devils." The reason the narrator believes that others that are not Chinese are so bad and seen in a negative light is mostly due to the stories and tales told by people in his village that are of higher authority (elderly, parents, older siblings). Questioning the legitimacy of such high societal member is not even a thought in his culture because respect is so important. Later on nearing the end of the essay, however, the narrator admits that these tales and stereotypes were not entirely true. As he has lived amongst many different cultures and in America himself, he is able to learn the true nature of humans and become less prejudiced. This exemplifies a sort of coming-of-age and growth from one's original culture to think for themselves and form their own opinions through first-hand experience.

     Our current module is discussing the civil rights conflicts and fight between democracy and Communism at the time. To emphasize a bigger picture, this essay relates to our module as it references civil rights regarding immigrants and the discrimination that non-Americans experience when immigrating. This can be seen in this essay in which the narrator mentions the mistreatment and violence he experiences for simply doing his job. One such case of this narrator's discrimination is when "wild men...broke up their laundry and chased them out of town" unprovoked because they were prejudiced towards foreigners, specifically Chinese in this case. Throughout this essay, multiple examples of discrimination can be seen happening to non-Natives, which is still a big issue even today because of people's prejudice and Nationalism towards their own cultures and nations. Fortunately, change is possible and this can be seen in the case of the narrator himself. Despite growing up learning of stereotypes and prejudice towards other non-Natives from respected members of his own culture, even he could learn to become more open-minded and change his ways. This provides hope for the future, that one day everyone, everywhere can feel safe and belong in any society despite their differences.

Blaisdell, B. (2013). Essays on Immigration (pp. 46-50). Dover Publications Inc.