Soup or Salad?
Does America have a personality? There are many factors that can affect someone’s personality, but America’s personality is categorized by the conflicting attitudes of nationalism and individualism. These attitudes affected America’s view towards issues of immigration. Depending on which American personality is being used determines whether or not America is been recognized as a “Salad Bowl” or a “Melting Pot” as a country. When America is being described as Nationalistic, then the country is a Melting Pot due to the focus on the assimilation of immigrants. Conversely, when America is being described as Individualistic, the nation is a Salad Bowl because of the focus of cultural retention. The debate of whether or not America’s personality is best represented by a Melting Pot or a Salad Bowl began after the turn of the century; this debate is clearly depicted in the beliefs and works of Diego Rivera and George Bellows. Firstly, Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry is a quintessential and accurate representation of America’s Melting Pot personality. Painted in 1933, this magnificent masterpiece takes up twenty-seven panels and can be found at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Additionally, this Mexican artist’s work can be seen as frescoes, which he describes as, “paintings done rapidly in watercolour on wet plaster on a wall or ceiling, so that the colours penetrate the plaster and become fixed as it dries” (Rivera Court 1). His artwork depicts laborers
The portrayal and the representation of the Chicano Art Movements are entrenched by the Mexican-American artist who institute artistic personalities and identities in the United States. The plenteous amount of the artist is massively influenced by the immense Chicano Movement (El Movimiento) which, was established in the 1960’s. The influence of Chicano Art was due to the Mexican- Revolution philosophy, art of Pre-Columbia and indubitably European techniques of painting, cultural, social, political issues. The movement took a stand to fight against stereotypes of Mexican- Americans conducive and to resist typical social norms. The movement to concentrate on awareness of collective history, equal opportunity, grants and social mobility. Chicanos have used the movement in pursuit of expressing their cultural values. Ever since it first appeared in America the art of Chicanos has matured to illustrate common struggle and social issues in conjunction with uniting the youth of the Chicano people to their culture and history. Chicano Art is not only Mexican- American artwork; it further emphasizes and accentuates the histories of the Chicano people in a superb and sublime way of American art.
Many individuals interpret diversity differently specifically in the United States because of its melting pot of distinct cultures and lifestyles. In his essay “People Like Us”, David Brooks’ argues that although the United States is a diverse nation as a whole, it is homogeneous in specific aspects like interactions between people. To some extent, his observation is true; people tend to stick to what or who they are comfortable with. There are also exceptions where the American people attempt to establish relationships with others because of their desire to expand out of their norm. For instance, Brooks excludes the
In order to understand these sub-cultures, one must first comprehend Elazar’s political culture typology. In the 1960s, Elazar reasoned that the United States’ values and attitudes could be identified through three political cultures which were formed based on the ideals of immigrant ancestors and also through migration patterns throughout the country. These three cultures—moralistic, individualistic and traditionalistic—align with the three primary political parties in the United States—democratic, independent and republican. He also found that when divided into thirds—north, central, and south—the country would classify itself, the north being moralistic, central being individualistic and south being traditionalistic based on the similar values and outlooks of the people that settled in these areas.
Since its inhabitance, competition and dominance has been a concept that remains prevalent throughout American life. Past ideologies such as Manifest Destiny, Cultural Imperialism, and Ethnocentrism are all practices and beliefs comprising what it means to be American for many citizens, while also continually shaping outside perception of Americans today. On one hand, many countries have and continue to fully embrace American culture, globalization, and the rise of capitalism. In contrast, many countries have and continue to reject America’s stride for world assimilation regarding their ideals and values.
Surprisingly, the melting pot is a unclear piece of the American Identity. The melting pot is an idea about how people (immigrants) all over the world come in one place and share their different cultures. America is one example of a melting pot since immigrants all over the world visit, live and share thoughts and ideas to create one big unique culture. While most Americans are proud of the United States to be a country of big culture, some Americans do not like the notion of immigrants coming from other countries to live in America. Although many writers demonstrate that the melting pot exists, some authors show that there are Americans who don’t want the United States to become a melting pot. To examine
In American society, there are multiple cultures and races exist. Since immigrants bring the various cultures to America, Americans face a highly controversial problem. Some of the Americans believe all of the ethnic groups assimilate into a common culture can help Americans distinctly identify themselves. Others argue that ethnic groups should not abandon their cultural heritages background. As a result, merging different cultures into one new culture will cause America lose its cultural diversity which is one significant charm of this country. On the contrary, if every ethnic group only focuses on building their own community and resists communicate with others, it will aggravate the separation of a nation. Although people often argue about these two ways which one is more appropriate to Americans, I think Richard Rodriguez's idea is more realistic in nowadays American society. Rodriguez resists the idea of the melting pot, and believes that assimilation is inevitable and reciprocal. In the essay Does America Still Exist?, Rodriguez explains his thought to us through his experiences.
America is a country where individuals are able to find their own niche within their community, to connect with other individuals with common beliefs, and to have an American identity without losing their own roots. One of the reasons why America is what it is today is because of how its history was started and founded. Ever since its discovery, people from different continents such as Africa, Europe, and Asia have immigrated to America for various reasons, allowing America to be ethnically diverse. Throughout the world, cultural diffusion occurs; however, in America, cultural diffusion has been part of the country’s culture since the colonial era. For example, the colonies in America did not only interact with their mother country,
As a placebo for a changing guard, La Virgen de Guadalupe proved highly successful. The iconic image of La Virgen de Guadalupe remains static in both form and symbolism until the mid twentieth century, when a new movement among Mexican-Americans emerges in California, dubbed the Chicano movement. As visual propaganda becomes a large part of the movement, a significant body of art with common themes and styles, known as Chicano art, follows. This shift in subject matter among Mexican-American artists toward a specific social and political agenda began earlier, as evidenced by the work of Rivera, Orozco, and Posada, but, it isn’t until the mid 1960’s that national or religious iconographic images are recycled to support a larger political or social agenda.
is a unique country that stands for something special in the world." One of the things that it stands for is this vexing notion that a great nation can consist entirely of refugees from other nations, that people of different, even warring religions and cultures can live, if not side by side, then on either side of the country's Chester Avenues. Faced with this diversity there is little point in trying to isolate anything remotely resembling a national character, but there are two strains of behavior that, however tenuously, abet the concept of unity.There is the Calvinist undercurrent in the American psyche that loves the difficult, the demanding, that sees mastering the impossible, whether it be prairie or subway, as a test of character, and so glories in the struggle of this fractured coalescing. And there is a grudging fairness among the citizens of the United States that eventually leads most to admit that, no matter what the English-only advocates try to suggest, the new immigrants are not so different from our own parents or
America was widely known as a “melting pot” of sorts for many generations. The country earned its title by accepting immigrants of various cultures and molding, or melting, them into the American lifestyle. However, the “melting pot” idea of America is starting to dissipate. According to a Newsweek Poll on the public, “only 20 percent still think America is a melting pot” (Morganthau and Wolfberg, par.4). As more Americans push away immigrants and create stereotypes against said immigrants, America continues to lose its title as a “melting pot.” There is ethnic friction in America and people have begun to have a hard time assimilating (Morganthau and Wolfberg, par.18). .America is beginning to place a negative outlook on its
Ever since birth Americans are told that they live in a free country with a diverse cultured society. But these myths are misleading. The myth of the Melting Pot and of Freedom in accord with the other myths mentioned in this book deceivingly make the United States appear to be more equal than it actually is. The Myth of the Melting Pot says that the United States is like a “melting pot” of cultures and ethnicities.
The issue in this essay is whether the United States is know as a salad bowl or a melting pot. Over all the people of the United States come together as a salad bowl. The reasoning of this point is there are many heritages that are brought into this country which gives the different spices needed in a salad bowl. If America was known as a melting pot there would not be an disagreements for the people would be blended evenly. Every heritage has their own different cultures, religions, and beliefs on the way the country should run. The United States is united as a country, as a salad bowl for we do not blend evenly entirely but make a safe country to live in. The salad bowl theory is more elaborate in reasoning to comparing to America. With all true reasoning, America
The idea of the Chicano community muralism as a requirement for the “art of place” shows that the practice is specific to an area. Even though they are understood in the context of the history of a location, they rarely remain to be a still symbol of a certain moment or a place in the record of events from the past.
Hispanic art, food, and entertainment all have a common theme; they are all fun, light-hearted, yet fulfilling and rich in cultural heritage. On one side, Mexican culture in particular loves to make fun of itself. There are many depictions in song and art of lazy Mexicans in large sombreros with thick mustaches eating burritos. On the other hand artists like Diego Rivera paint large murals depicting rich historical events like the revolution, in bold colors on controversial topics (This Old, n.d.).
The “melting pot” culture refers to people from various cultures coming together to create a new unique culture. (Lorenzo, 2000) In other words, these cultures have ‘melted’ together in a ‘pot’. For example, Chinese, Koreans, Germans and more cultures blended in together to create a whole new American culture. They are not Chinese-Americans, Korean-Americans or German-Americans anymore but just Americans. On the other hand, “salad bowl” culture refers to immigrants who do not lose the aspects of their cultures. . (Lorenzo, 2000) To put it in another way, you can still clearly see the different ‘ingredients’ in a ‘salad bowl’. As a contrast to the melting pot theory’s example, Chinese-Americans, Korean-Americans and German-Americans will still keep the unique traits of their cultures while living together in the country. America has been traditionally referred to as a ‘melting pot’, but recently; there are people who argue that ‘salad bowl’ will be a better description of America’s society today.