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| Editors: | |
| James Blasingame | James.Blasingame@asu.edu |
| Lori A. Goodson | lagoodson@cox.net |
The Diversity Connection
Ronn Hopkins, Editor
Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VirginiaGrowing Up, Reaching Out:
Multiculturalism through Young
Adult Literature and Filmsby
The stories you read can transform you because they help you imagine beyondyourself. If you read only what mirrors your view of yourself, you get lockedin. It's as if you're in a stupor or under a spell. Buried.
Rochman offers the observation above in Against Borders: Promoting Books fora Multicultural World (p. 11). One can cite many good reasons for findingand using multicultural literature with adolescents -- to teach tolerance andfight prejudice; to prepare for life in the global village; and to celebratediversity and artistry. However, good multicultural stories can also do more:they can aid adolescent development, imaginatively transforming the buried lifeof a narrow egocentrism into a broader and more meaningful life connected tothe world of other people. Together with multicultural films, multiculturalyoung adult literature can have a powerful impact on young Americans coming ofage.
A large number of young adult novels, many by writers like Judy Blume or HadleyIrwin, continue to be centered on the concerns and problems of middle-classwhite adolescents. Likewise, films aimed at the younger audience (such as JohnHughes' The Breakfast Club, 1985) center on such concerns as dating andsex, popularity, achievement in school or on the playing field, and conflictswith parents. More serious problems are also examined, from suicide and abuseto AIDS. Most of these stories focus the reader or viewer inward. Thesettings are familiar and the preoccupations are as contemporary as today'sT.V. talk shows. The feelings of American teenagers are explored in greatdetail. Certainly the thoughts and problems of the average American young adultmust be respected by young adult literature.
However, growing up requires reaching out as well. Nilsen and Donelson discussthe impact of YA literature on adolescents and note that the last ofHavighurst's Developmental Tasks is "assuming membership in the largecommunity" (p. 41). David Elkind comments in his Editor's Introduction that,"For both (A HREF="#Piaget">Piaget and Erickson, the person does not become a true individual orpersonality until he has integrated his thoughts and feelings about himselfinto a total life perspective which expands beyond personal interest to thewhole of mankind" (p. xv). Assuming an adult identity requires focusing onothers and others' problems, too.
Multicultural stories can offer the young adult a perspective that expandsbeyond familiar personal interests to the lives and problems of thosemarginalized in our own society, to the experiences and issues of young peoplein other parts of the world, to past human struggles that influence thepresent. Immigration, war, genocide, poverty, oppression, and ignorance areworld problems that deserve the attention of young people. The ordinary joysand triumphs of people who speak different languages and have different customsneed attention, too. In a society that many critics find increasinglynarcissistic, multicultural literature, in books and films, can serve as aneeded antidote to nascent Yuppie Angst. The world is much bigger than our ownwhite middle-class American introspections, even our own personal tragedies,and young people need to begin thinking about assuming roles in that biggerworld.
One way of using multicultural stories in the classroom to broaden adolescentworldviews is through the thematic organization that Rochman uses in AgainstBorders. Rochman introduces themes, such as "the perilous journey" and"friends and enemies," themes that challenge assumptions and "unsettle us, makeus ask questions about what we thought was certain" (p. 19). Yet reading "thearchetypal stories across cultures connects us with each other," too (p. 13).Readers can learn something new, shaking off mirror vision, and yet canidentify with people who are different. Multicultural units across thecurriculum can be built around such themes, and these units can draw on a rich,largely untapped resource for the multicultural classroom: feature films, bothAmerican and foreign. Multimedia approaches increase student engagement. Iwill explore just two such possible themes and the films and books thatteachers could use. The themes are "the costs of racism" and "caught betweencultures."
Around the world racism and ethnic conflicts rage on. America itself continuesto struggle with the effects of racism. A fine British film that explores thecosts of racism is a A World Apart (1989), directed by Chris Menges.Although it contains some violence, most administrators should approve thisfilm for classroom use. Set in South Africa in 1963, the action, based on atrue story, is seen through the eyes of a twelve- or thirteen-year-old whitegirl, Molly, whose parents are active in efforts to overcome apartheid. Thecruelties and injustice of apartheid are clearly drawn. In one scene, a whitedriver hits a black man on a bike and speeds on. In another scene, policebreak in and disrupt a party at Molly's home; it is illegal for whites andblacks to be drinking together. Molly values the black friends working at herhome, with whom her parents work in their political struggle. She participatesin their celebrations and is learning their language. Yet everything in herenvironment works against freedom and equality for black South Africans. Mollysuffers the pain that racism brings to people she loves.
A great price is paid by those who fight apartheid, too. The effects of racismare complex. At the start of the movie, Molly's father must flee the country.Later Molly's mother, Diana Roth, a journalist played by Barbara Hershey, isarrested under the 90 Day Detention Act, which allows the white government todetain protestors without trial or charges. Molly's world becomes chaotic; hernormal life with dance performances and swimming parties vanishes. Other girlstaunt her at school. She is afraid for her parents. Diana seldom explainsanything to Molly, confusing Molly even more. Molly angrily questions why hermother has devoted her life to work that tears the family apart. As Dianaadmits, it's all very unfair. Molly has extraordinary struggles to deal withas she comes of age in South Africa. The final chilling scene shows Molly andDiana at the funeral of their black friend Solomon while government troopssurround them and fire tear gas. The immediacy of film is an important tool ina multicultural classroom. A World Apart is a powerful movie aroundwhich to center a study of racism, as well as making current events in SouthAfrica more meaningful.
Several other films could also be used in a study of the costs of racism,including several foreign films with English subtitles. For example, LouisMalle's 1987 French film Au Revoir, Les Enfants. The film, set at aboarding school during World War II, explores the reactions of a young boywhose friend is discovered to be Jewish. The Jewish boy, along with theCatholic priests who have hidden him, is hauled away by the Nazis at the end ofthe film. The German film The Nasty Girl by Michael Verhoeven, 1990,explores the legacy of Nazi racism during contemporary times when a young womanis persecuted by her home town for researching and revealing the town's Nazipast. The 1992 American film School Ties, directed by Robert Mandel,explores antisemitism in an American prep school, and Spike Lee's 1992Malcolm X explores racism in America.
A number of excellent young adult books explore the costs of racism and couldbe used with A World Apart and other films. Following is a briefsuggested list:
* Chernowitz by Fran Arrick (Signet, 1983). Explores antisemitism inmiddle America as a school bully persecutes Bobby Cherno while his friends lookon.
* The Return by Sonia Levitin (Fawcett Juniper, 1987). Describes theescape of a black Jewish girl, Desta, from Ethiopia during Operation Moses,which saved 8000 refugees in a secret airlift from Sudan to Israel in1984-85.
* Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor (Bantam, 1976).Cassie and her family maintain dignity and purpose while suffering from racismin the segregated South in the 1930s.
* Upon the Head of the Goat by Aranka Siegel (Puffin, 1994). Piri, a13-year-old Hungarian Jew, narrates this true story of racism and its effectsin Hungary, 1939-1944, before her final trip to the concentration camps.
* Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Dell, 1989). Living in 1943 inCopenhagen, Annemarie risks her life as her Danish family helps Jews escape theNazis.
* Maus I by Art Spiegelman (Pantheon, 1986). In another mediumused to recount the Holocaust -- comic books -- with the Jews as mice and theNazis as cats, this compelling story is based on the author's family history.(Maus II follows this story.)
* The Road from Home by David Kherdian (Puffin, 1979). Veron Dumehjianis forced from her comfortable, close-knit home as the Turkish extermination ofthe Armenians proceeds in 1915. Based on Kherdian's mother's life.
* Wandering Girl by Glenyse Ward (Fawcett Juniper, 1988). In Australiain 1965 virtual slavery for Aboriginal women still exists on white farms.Autobiography.
* Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filopovic. (Viking, 1994). This best-sellingdiary of a lively, thoughtful young girl reveals costs of racism and ethniccleansing in the present, as Sarajevo is reduced to the Dark Ages.
Viewing and reading stories of racism from around the world in such films andbooks will open the eyes of young adults.
Another dimension of multiculturalism, however, is the rapidly changingdemographics in America today, where many young people are attempting to cometo grips with their identities in a new country, as immigrants orfirst-generation Americans. They are often torn between their old culture andthe new, their parents' world and their own. A relevant multicultural themewith which any young adult can identify is "caught between cultures." PeterWang's 1985 film A Great Wall examines this theme with humor and warmth.Filmed in America and China, A Great Wall traces the adventures ofa Chinese-American family who visits the "old country." When the father, LeoFang, loses a promotion as director of the PC division of a San Franciscocomputer company because of racism, the Fang family leaves for a summer inChina. The life of typical Beijing young people is also revealed as Leo'sniece and her friends in China worry about courting and passing their collegeentrance exams. (The Fang's family and their friends in China speak Chinesewith English subtitles.)
Most interesting is the son, Paul Fang, a sports-loving, easy-going, Californiacollege student. Leo and his wife, Grace, worry that Paul is already losinghis heritage. They make Paul take Chinese lessons although he never learns tospeak the language. Paul thinks his father is a racist because Leo wouldprefer that Paul date Chinese girls and Paul's girlfriend is a blondeall-American type. When Paul arrives in China, his relatives think he's abrash American who plays too much loud music. In one amusing scene Paul isshown playing touch football on the Great Wall. As Paul later tells Linda, hisAmerican girlfriend, he's too Chinese in America and too American in China. Anentertaining film, A Great Wall looks at young adults strugglingwith identity across cultures.
Peter Wang's 1989 American Playhouse film Eat a Bowl of Tea alsofocuses on young people caught between cultures. A young Chinese-Americancouple's marriage almost disintegrates under the pressure from the olderpeople's traditional expectations and desires for grandchildren. Other filmsthat examine the clash of cultures include Red Sky at Morning (1970),set in New Mexico during World War II and starring Richard Thomas, and TheChosen (1982), from the Chaim Potok novel that explores the differencesbetween an orthodox and a secular Jewish upbringing.
A brief suggested list of young adult books that deal with the"caught-between-cultures" theme and that could be used in conjunction with AGreat Wall follows:
* Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez by RichardRodriguez (Bantam, 1982). Autobiography in which Rodriguez deals with hisalienation from parents and culture as he becomes successful in academe.
* Taking Sides by Gary Soto (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991). LincolnMendoza moves from the barrio to the tree-lined white suburbs. He is torn whenhis new basketball team faces the team and his friends from his old school.
* Black Ice by Lorene Cary (Knopf, 1991). Autobiography in which ayoung black woman from the streets of Philadelphia adapts to life in a privateprep school in New Hampshire in 1971. The author is torn by the advantages ofthe education and the threatened loss of identity.
* Rising Voices: Writings of Young Native Americans selected by ArleneB. Hirschfelder and Beverly R. Singer (Scribner's, 1992). In letters, poems,essays, Native Americans, some of whom live in white boarding schools, expresstheir feelings about their identity in white America.
* Walks Two Worlds by Robert B. Fox (Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, 1983).Clay Walker is a Navajo boy chosen by his people to go to a white school inSalt Lake City. He wants to fulfill his mission, but he prefers the oldways.
* Where the Broken Heart Still Beats by Carolyn Meyer (Harcourt, Brace,Jovanovich, 1992). Based on the true story of Cynthia Ann Parker, a white girlcaptured by Comanches. When forced to return to white Texan culture, she neveradjusts and dies a broken woman.
* The Gift of Sarah Barker by Jane Yolen (Puffin, 1981). Raised in aShaker community among a religious group that forbids sex and marriage, SarahBarker and Abel Church are a young couple who must choose between "upbringing"or "entrance into the World."
* More than Meets the Eye by Jeanne Betancourt (Bantam, 1990).Chinese-American Ben resents the attention given by Elizabeth, the smart, whitegirl he would like to date, to Dary Sing, a Cambodian refugee girl. Things arecomplicated further by parents and prejudice. Assimilation and identity aremajor themes.
* Children of the River by Linda Crew (Dell, 1989). Sundra, a "goodCambodian girl," struggles against family expectations when she wants to dateJonathan, the blue-eyed American boy who likes her, too.
Multicultural young adult literature and films hold the potential for openingup the world to young Americans, and by opening up the world, the self, too, isenlarged. Rochman describes life constrained by only the inward view:
When I lived under apartheid, I thought I was privileged -- and compared withthe physical suffering of black people I was immeasurably well-off -- but mylife was impoverished. I was blind, and I was frightened.... Groups likeLadysmith Black Mambazo were making music right there, and I couldn't hearthem. I didn't know that in the streets of Soweto there were people likeNelson Mandela with a vision of nonracial democracy that would change mylife.... I didn't know anything about most of the people around me. Andbecause of that I didn't know what I could be. (p. 27)
To grow up, adolescents need to learn to reach out. Educators can takeadvantage of the growing body of multicultural young adult literature and anumber of films, both American and foreign, to aid adolescent growth intoadulthood.
Works Cited
Gretchen Schwarz, a former high school teacher of English and German, is anassistant professor at Oklahoma State University, where she teaches young adultliterature.
