CONNECTIONS
A Multicultural Reader for Writers
Second Edition
———
JUDITH A. STANFORD
Rivier College
Mayfield Publishing Company
Mountain View, California
London · Toronto
Copyright © 1997, 1993 by Mayfield Publishing Company
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form
or by any means without written permission of the publisher.
library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Connections: a multicultural reader for writers / [compiled by]
Judith A. Stanford. — 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-55934-678-7
1. Readers—Social sciences. 2. Pluralism (Social sciences)—Problems, exercises, etc. 3. English language—Rhetoric.
4. College readers. I. Stanford, Judith A.
PE1127.S6C65 1996
808´.0427—dc20 96-21325
CIP
Manufactured in the United States of America
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1280 Villa Street
Mountain View, California 94041
Sponsoring editor, Thomas V. Broadbent; production, Mary Douglas, Rogue Valley Publications; manuscript editor, Joan Pendleton; art director, Jeanne M. Schreiber; cover designer, Susan Breitbard; photo research, Myrna Engler-Forkner; manufacturing manager, Randy Hurst. The text was set in 10/12 Bembo by Thompson Type and printed on 45# Restorecote Thin by R. R. Donnelley & Sons, Inc.
Cover image: (Credit to come)
Acknowledgments and copyrights continue at the back of the book on pages 619–625, which constitute an extension of the copyright page.
This book is printed on acid-free, recycled paper.
PREFACE
“Only connect!” This injunction from E. M. Forster’s Howards End is widely quoted. Yet Forster’s character goes further: “Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer.”
A tall order, perhaps, yet this book faces the challenge by urging readers to make such connections. The structure, the apparatus, and the readings in Connections all lead students to seek relationships: among the processes of reading, writing, and thinking; among the ideas and emotions expressed by the writers; among the cultures that are represented by the seventy-six diverse selections; and, most of all, between the students’ reading, writing, and thinking and the process of their own lives.
Connections does much more than simply provide a collection of readings that represent various cultures. Part I comprises three chapters that demonstrate critical reading, thinking, and writing skills and suggest that these skills become particularly important when readers encounter unfamiliar circumstances and ideas. In addition, this introductory section asks students to think carefully about the definition of culture and about the concept of reading, writing, and thinking across cultures. Chapter One provides strategies for reading and thinking across cultures. Chapter Two, new to this edition, offers an overview of issues and strategies related to the processes of writing. Chapter Three, also new to the second edition, revises and reorganizes the detailed introductions to the expressive, explanatory, and persuasive aims of writing that were part of the first edition. All three chapters in Part One include extensive examples of students’ writing—from journals and brief annotations of reading to drafts and final copies of papers.
The writing apparatus has been carefully planned to involve students in a variety of roles and rhetorical situations. Each selection is introduced by a brief note about the author and the circumstances of original publication, followed by a series of prereading prompts designed especially for journal writing, brief informal class writing, or discussion that will lead to thoughtful reading. Following each selection are topics for writing and discussion, as well as suggestions for research or for longer papers related to the reading. At the end of each thematic section, “Topics for Making Connections” invite students to stretch their responses beyond a single selection. Every writing suggestion encourages students to read closely, carefully, and with an open mind and seeks to engage students in meaningful writing that raises questions rather than simply answering them.
The readings are divided into nine thematic sections. New to the second edition are “Arrivals, Roots, and Memories.” “American Conflicts and Struggles,” and “Media Messages.” Thirty-seven new selections appear in this edition. Preceding each thematic section is a photograph related to the theme as well as brief quotations taken from the selections that follow. The instructor’s guide provides questions allowing students the opportunity to respond to these photographs and quotations as a means of introduction to the theme. The instructor’s guide also includes detailed discussions of each selection as well as innovative and flexible suggestions for using the text with various semester or quarter schedules.
Part Three is the new “Guide to Finding and Using Information,” which offers a concise overview of the process of research as well as detailed explanations of MLA and APA documentation. A student research paper demonstrates the MLA and APA formats.
Abundant student responses—sample discussions, journal entries, summaries, and papers in various stages of development—demonstrate possible ways of reading, writing, and thinking, both individually and collaboratively.
Selections have been carefully chosen to provide diversity in terms of both the voices and the types of discourse represented. Readers will find an intriguing mix of letters, essays, newspaper columns, interviews, speeches, short stories, and poems. Again, the emphasis is on connection; selections represent an extraordinarily wide range of cultures. As one reviewer noted: “Rather than limiting the diversity and ethnic experiences to people of color or women, this text extends ‘multicultural’ to include accounts of immigrants, first generation sons and daughters, the educated and uneducated, and the poor—voices that all contribute to an American melody.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing and Learning Center faculty as well as English Department faculty at Rivier College deserve sincere thanks for creating a working atmosphere that promotes sharing ideas, exploring new possibilities, and taking risks. My friend, colleague, and first co-author, Rebecca Burnett, has offered suggestions, provided encouragement, and given support in ways that cannot be adequately acknowledged here. As always, Joan O’Brien’s ready wit, unflagging energy, and total commitment to the fine art of good teaching serve as inspiration and reassurance. I thank William Vesterman, Dan Moran, and Barbara Armentrout, who wrote the “Guide to Finding and Using Information.”
Most especially, I wish to thank and praise my Writing and Learning Center colleague Lorraine Lordi, who—as with the first edition of this text—has supported the project and accorded me loyal and unvarying friendship as the book has moved from proposal to final manuscript. Not only has she prepared the main sections of the detailed instructor’s guide, but she has recommended selections and provided useful, apt, and creative suggestions for the apparatus that accompanies each of the selections. In addition, she and a former Writing and Learning Center colleague, Laurie Blagdon, used the first edition of Connections in their writing classes and then provided detailed, valuable critiques that allowed me to plan the second edition to be even more accessible and useful to students and instructors.
I thank my husband Don for being a person who listens thoughtfully, who reads widely, and who truly enjoys a good conversation. His observations have helped to shape this book. My sons, David and Aaron, now college students, provide me with plenty of opportunity to discuss and argue about the issues addressed in Connections; some day soon I may even win one of those arguments. As always, my mother, Arline Dupras, has given me help in every possible way. Editing, word processing, and proofreading are important, of course, but absolutely essential are the love of reading, the dedication to creative teaching, and the ever-hopeful view of life that she has passed on to me. The reviewers of this text offered helpful and wise suggestions which I greatly appreciate: Laurie Blagdon, Rivier College; Katherine Heenan, University of Connecticut; Lorraine Lordi, Rivier College; Hildy Miller, University of Louisville; Nancy Shapiro, University of Maryland; William E. Smith, Western Washington University; and Molly Abel Travis, Tulane University.
At Mayfield Publishing Company, April Wells-Hayes skillfully guided the book—and its grateful author—through each stage of the production process, while Mary Douglas provided personal encouragement and astute professional guidance as well as excellent suggestions for revision and fine-tuning as she supervised copyediting and book production. Pamela Trainer once more demonstrated her energy, persistence, and creativity in tracking down permissions. I would like to thank Jan Beatty, the editor and friend who helped me to envision the first edition of Connections. Finally, I am extremely grateful to Tom Broadbent for the many wise, insightful, and practical suggestions he made as we worked together on the second edition and for making the process of revision far easier and smoother than I had anticipated.
For my sister, Cynthia Hervey,
who knows well the meaning of connections
CONTENTS
Preface
iii
Readings Arranged by Rhetorical Strategy
xx
Part I: On Reading and Writing
1
1: Critical Reading and Thinking: An Approach to Crossing Cultures
3
Body Ritual among the Nacirema, Horace Miner
What Is Culture?
8
Why Read and Think to Understand Cultures?
Strategies for Reading and Thinking across Cultures
9
Reading to Respond
Marginal Notes
10
From “What’s American about America?” Ishmael Reed
Journal Entries
12
Leaving El Salvador, January 4, 1988, Gloria Bonilla
15
Reading to Understand
17
Summarizing to Identify Ideas
Reading to Understand Inferences
21
Reading to Evaluate
23
Establishing Criteria
Using Criteria to Evaluate: Journal Entries
25
Using Criteria to Evaluate: Discussions
26
2: The Processes of Writing: Issues and Strategies
29
Understanding Your Own Writing Process
Understanding the Writing Task
31
The Subject
The Purpose of the Assignment
The Audience
32
Special Requirements
33
Understanding the Processes of Writing
Prewriting
34
Drafting
Thesis Statement
35
Planning
Getting Started
Revising
Editing
36
3: The Aims of Writing
39
Expressive Writing
One Student’s Process for Expressive Writing
40
Exploring Ideas: Making Lists
Writing the Draft
42
44
Informative and Explanatory Writing
46
One Student’s Process for Informative and Explanatory Writing
50
Exploring Ideas: Freewriting and Outlining
Planning and Writing a Draft
52
54
The Revision Plan
55
Persuasive Writing
59
Rational Appeals
Emotional Appeals
61
Topics Worth Arguing About
63
One Student’s Process for Persuasive Writing
64
Exploring Ideas: Mapping
65
Gathering Evidence
Considering Tone and Voice
Revising: Providing Specific Details and Examples
68
Part II: Readings
71
4: Arrivals, Roots, and Memories
73
Slave Ship
charles ball
75
This brief but graphic account of an African’s forced voyage from his homeland to early America allows the reader to witness firsthand the terrifying journeys forced on thousands of black people.
The Promised Land
mary antin
78
A Russian immigrant recalls the wondrous and magical first weeks of life in America during the late 1800s. The novelty of even the most basic of objects, from rocking chairs to street lamps, leads to an early sense of what it means to live free.
Crossing the Border
miguel torres
83
This view of a young Mexican as he illegally enters the United States seeking employment allows readers to ask the question: Should the United States open its borders to Miguel and others like him?
A Boat Person’s Story
vo thi tam
87
In a numb and distant voice, Vo Thi Tam describes the agonizing journey she and her family endured as they attempted to leave South Vietnam.
Arrival at Manzanar
jeanne wakatsuki houston
and james d. houston
92
This child’s-eye view of the inhumanity suffered by Japanese-American citizens during World War II may evoke laughter but also leaves the reader thinking hard about the lives led by those forced to spend the war years in detention camps.
How It Feels to Be Colored Me
zora neale hurston
99
Instead of complaining or exploding in anger, this author examines the delights and the dilemmas she faced growing up in America, a black woman comfortable with who she was, even though she sometimes felt like she was standing against “a sharp white background.”
I Am What I Am
rosario morales
104
Call it a song, a poem, or a woman’s exploration. Read it aloud with passion, or quietly alone. However you choose to connect to this piece, you will discover not only who Morales is, but perhaps you may glimpse who you are, too.
Two Kinds
amy tan
107
A Chinese mother and her Chinese-American daughter, caught up in the glamor of the American dream, realize how different their goals and desires are. In this short story, the reader gets a sense of the challenges that must be faced for two different cultures, as well as two different people, to harmonize.
Refugee Ship
lorna dee cervantes
117
Caught between two cultures, the speaker recounts how life for an immigrant is often one of drifting between two forces, without the hope of landing whole and in one piece.
Topics for Making Connections: Arrivals, Roots, and Memories
118
5: Parents and Children
119
Letter to My Mother
tran thi nga
121
Although Thi’s letter to her mother in China reveals the conveniences of daily life in America, in the empty spaces of this piece, Thi also whispers why her heart is aching and her spirit lacking.
I Remember Papa
harry dolan
124
Dolan challenges the myth of the lazy black man as he journeys back to the memories of his own father—a man who, despite a life void of opportunity, faced the challenges of poverty and suffering by doing the best he could with the little he had.
Chinese Puzzle
grace ming-yee wai
131
Through recollections of her early life, Wai attempts to reconcile both her relationship with her father, who was killed in a robbery when she was ten years old, and her Chinese culture with her life in the United States.
For My Indian Daughter
lewis p. johnson
138
Johnson tells us how an understanding of his Native American culture has led to a deeper understanding of his own identity and his responsibility not only to his family’s past but also to his daughter’s future.
My Father’s Life
raymond carver
142
Even though Carver’s father cheated on his mother and couldn’t handle money or alcohol, he cared about his family and never pretended to be perfect. In this piece, Carver reconciles his feelings for the man who profoundly influenced his life.
Mom’s in Prison: Where Are the Kids?
virginia a. huie
150
Although it’s an issue seldom addressed in this country, Huie reminds readers that when mothers are imprisoned the children they leave behind also suffer tremendous punishments for crimes in which they had no part.
The Loudest Voice
grace paley
155
When a young Jewish girl is asked to be the main narrator in a Christmas play, her dilemma, and her parents’ and neighbors’ responses, suggest both the comic and tragic elements of being caught between cultures.
Digging
seamus heaney
161
Even though the speaker in this poem has chosen a different career path from those of his Irish father and grandfather, as he digs into the meaning of his life with his pen, he realizes the deep connections that continue to bind these generations together.
Topics for Making Connections: Parents and Children
163
6: Ways of Learning
165
Learning to Read and Write
frederick douglass
167
In this classic essay, Douglass recounts his poignant and ingenious struggle to educate himself during his years in slavery.
“I Just Wanna Be Average,”
mike rose
173
When a school system tracks students into convenient categories of high, middle, and low learners, what are the consequences—for the school system, for the students, and for society?
The Teacher Who Changed My Life
nicholas gage
185
With clarity and grace, Gage recalls the one teacher who reached out to a young immigrant boy and fostered within him a hunger for learning and a sense of dignity.
I Show a Child What Is Possible
jacques d’amboise
191
What do children need to astound themselves with all their potential? In this essay, d’Amboise shares his own experiences as student and teacher to remind all teachers of life’s most valuable lessons.
Graduation in Stamps
maya angelou
196
With the clearest voice, the deepest wonder, and the most exact language, Angelou writes of the day she learned, amidst compassion, anger, and sorrow, what graduation really meant for her and the rest of her black classmates.
The Misery of Silence
maxine hong kingston
208
Courage and language: In this narrative, the author reflects on the years in school when her silence became her only sanctuary against the noise of a foreign, American language. Eventually she finds the courage to speak, but even today she seeks the right words to give her heart in a country whose major language differs from her own.
Famous All Over Town
danny santiago
213
Rudy, a rebellious member of the inner city Jesters, is determined to change his life by becoming a star pupil in his teacher’s eyes. When Rudy slips back to his old ways after a class, we wonder: Was Rudy a lost cause to begin with, or did a rookie teacher extinguish the spark that could have led him to a brighter future?
Elena...
Januszek66