The paradox of Italian Harlem continues. Previously, many immigrants expressed no desire to return back to Italy, with the exception of seeing loved ones, but this sentiment changes. While clinging to culture in order to retain the sense of community, comfort, and stability is understandable, Italian Harlem’s rigid adherence to a domus-centric society comes across as counterproductive towards achieving the American dream.
The rules governing life in the domus seem to directly contradict the ideas of liberation from an oppressive homeland; they are extremely restrictive in nature and demand segregation and complete submission. They not only enforce the idea of segregation but also went so far as to criticize others outside of their ethnic community. Italian Harlem was an isolated region of old-fashioned Italy itself, where Italians married other Italians, to produce and raise more Italians, who only adhered to ‘Italian’ domus-centered lifestyles. Immigrants who left to pursue a life in America simultaneously condemned what they considered the “American way” and feared their children will grow up to be American. One man expressed that although his children did “’things in the Italian manner,’ [he was still] afraid that they were ‘thoroughly American’.” This is a catch-22 for the younger generations, because they, having grown up in America, would never be able to meet the high standards of maintaining pure Italian values.
Additionally, the entire domus structure comes across as a paradox to me. First off, stress on both blind loyalty to relatives and strong moral values seems like a contradiction to me; one of the ‘rules’ stated is that you should stick by a relative whether they are right or wrong, but their being wrong might entail unethical or immoral behavior. Overall, the domus system breeds it’s own destruction. The stress on respect and authority within the family is revealed to create more rifts than ties, whether it is due to the rivalry between the eldest son and father, the husband and brother-in-law, etc. Italian men were perpetually angry not because the domus was dying but because its values were clung to.
[On a side note] Though not entirely surprising based on the abuses of the Church in Italy, I thought it was interesting that, while being “Christian” was synonymous with being a good citizen, there was avid anticlericalism sentiment and parents discouraged their sons from joining the clergy.
Overall, Italian Harlem is a region of extremes to me. Not only is the domus like a Chinese finger trap, but the entire community’s resistance to American influence and cultural integration is as well; the more the immigrants and older generations struggled to maintain the domus, traditional ‘Italian’ values, and separate themselves from their ‘American’ peers, the more conflicts and tensions seemed to arise.
