It is clear that immigrants have an enormous influence on the United States given they make up a significant chunk of its population. The American culture, however, also impacts the peoples’ daily life, which gives rise to a question: to what extent is this culture imposed on those who come from other countries? After reading Jacob Riis’ article “Jewtown” and Milton Gordon’s “The Nature of Assimilation”, I realized that they portrayed rather dark thoughts of disapproval, stereotypes, and forced assimilation. For example, Riis describes the people of Jewtown as thrifty and materialistic. He explains that “Money is their God. Life itself is of little value compared with even the leanest bank account.” He even comments on the physical attributes of the women in this society and the peoples’ “low intellectual status”. He utilizes a terrible approach to describing a community of immigrants; his article continuously references stereotypes and considers them as inferior members of society. In addition, making a comment about the women is completely unnecessary. Therefore, this kind of portrayal sounds more like disapproval. In Gordon’s article, “pressure-cooking assimilation” forces people to give up all of their ties to the nation they came from, which is why the Americanization movement isn’t successful. This also supports the idea of denial and imposing one’s culture onto others.
It is probable that many immigrants coming to the United states are faced with the option of assimilating completely or minimally. It is also true that immigrants may feel pressurized into assimilating because their views may be exceptionally different from those of others. A light example of assimilation can include American vs. ethnic dressing. Different nations have different forms of dressing and those who come here may want to immerse themselves in the clothing portion of American culture. Others may not want to but may think they have to because it looks more appropriate in public. There are also those, of course, who wear their ethnic clothing outside regardless of what others are wearing. Ultimately, it is true that people are pressurized into practicing American culture and values, but other times they choose not to.
