Although I am not an immigrant, I still have faced times when I have felt pressured to be more “American,” as if the culture from my Chinese parents was taboo. Gordon states that the definition of the “Anglo-conformity” theory was “the complete renunciation of the immigrant’s ancestral culture in favor of the behavior and values of the Anglo-Saxon core group.” It can as be known as the process of Americanization. Its goal was to “break up these groups or settlements, to assimilate and amalgamate these people as a part of our American race, and to implant. . .the Anglo-Saxon conception of righteousness, law and order, and popular government. . .,” or to have immigrants eradicate their own native cultures to conform or assimilate to “American along Anglo-Saxon lines.” Not surprisingly, Americanization did not have great success thanks to the presence of immigrant neighborhoods that allowed immigrants to assimilate at their own pace in a cultural location that felt familiar. This concept of pressure cooking is ridiculous and forces immigrants to feel like they need to change completely to become a certain ideal. In elementary school, I first started feeling pressured when I would get teased for bringing my Chinese crackers as lunch or as my snack. My parents didn’t pack me the usual ham sandwich with an apple juice pouch in my lunch bag that all the other kids had. I felt embarrassed for a long time and even felt the need to try to make my own sandwiches or wraps so that I didn’t have to bring my box of Chinese crackers or stop eating lunch just to avoid the unsettling comments the other children would say. Another time when I felt pressured at that time was when I spoke in Chinese to my other Chinese friends and the non-Chinese children would disdain us for that because this was “America” and we should be speaking English so everyone can understand what we are saying. I think when I grew older, I started to understand more than I didn’t have to compromise my culture or language to be something that I couldn’t be. Pressure cooking certainly does not work and if it did, it would be a very harsh and unhealthy assimilation for immigrants.
When looking at the cartoons about “America: An Ambivalent Melting Pot” it is clear that the terms, like Americanization, described by Gordon is not feasible. Immigrants are their own people with their own cultures, languages, and ideas. The pictures show that assimilation is not a melting pot of the same people and that it is not always such a smooth idealistic process. “Uncle Sam” should not be negatively judging immigrants in the way the cartoon shows he does. Viewing immigrants like this leads to ideas like pressure cooking when really, immigrants should be accepted as the people they are.
