Uniforms For Diversity Encouragement

In my humble opinion, assimilation is when one conforms to the ideals and values of society, though they may or may not agree with these ideals and values. In more accurate terms, Dictionary.com says that assimilation is “the process of adapting or adjusting to the culture of a group or nation, or the state of being so adapted.” Dictionary.com is even kind enough to share with us its meaning in terms of sociology: “the merging of cultural traits from previously distinct cultural groups, not involving biological amalgamation.” What is amalgamation, you ask? In simpler terms, it means merging. Therefore, assimilation is basically the act of adapting and merging to meet the standards of a culture. Glad we cleared things up, huh? Me too.

Here I go again with my humble opinion . . .

Assimilation can be a positive thing or a negative thing, depending upon the morals of the person or group of people who are taking part in assimilation. If the person or group of people have the same, or similar, ideals and values as the society they are assimilating to, then they’re making a smart move. However, if the person or group of people are particularly against the ideals and values of the culture they are assimilating to and conform regardless, you could say they’re in for some trouble.

Conforming inwardly while questioning outwardly is not very healthy to partake in, yet it is quite a common theme in novels of literary merit. In relation to this form of assimilation, Ralph Ellison’s nameless protagonist in his bildungsroman, Invisible Man, is surely a member of this conforming-inwardly-while-questioning-outwardly community. Deep in his heart, the protagonist wants his voice to be heard, but every time he tries he is rejected and scorned for acting upon this desire. Would you like an example? Yes? Okay! For example, the protagonist conforms to the rules and standards of the Brotherhood, while silently questioning whether or not their morals are just. He gives speeches under the guidelines of Brother Jack and Brother Hambro, forcing him to deliver their beliefs as if they were his own. The protagonist feels as though his own personal speeches would be much more influential than the scripted ones. However, he keeps this to himself for fear of being dismissed from the Brotherhood. In regards to a place in society, the Brotherhood is all the protagonist has at this point which causes him to unwillingly assimilate to their way of life. You probably picked up on this already, but the protagonist isn’t very comfortable with this way of life. Unfortunately, the protagonist decides to give up on society altogether and become a recluse, proclaiming himself to be invisible. Yes, an “invisible man”. And that, folks, is an example of the negative effects of assimilation.

I was hoping you would like to hear the bad news before the good news, so here’s something a bit more uplifting . . .

Assimilation can be both positive and negative simultaneously! Not exactly what you might have hoped for, I know, but I’m being optimistic. Previously, we had only focused on the negative effects of conforming inwardly and questioning outwardly on a single character: the protagonist. But what if we thought about its effects on both the protagonist and the rest of society? For the protagonist, the effects of this form of assimilation are undoubtedly negative, as mentioned before. For the rest of society, however, these effects could be positive because not everyone has the same values and beliefs as the protagonist, and the fact that he begins to keep them to himself is most likely a relief to those who do not agree with these beliefs. The protagonist’s choice to assimilate rather than go against the majority of society is one of the many traits that separates him from Ras the Exhorter, who is definitely an extremist and is unafraid to speak his mind. So if you look at it from the majority of society’s perspective, it might be a good thing that there isn’t another Ras (personality-wise only, of course) running around the streets of Harlem.

The Accidental Bookworm

Throughout elementary school and most of middle school, you would not have caught me reading a book or even in the presence of books, for that matter. I would cringe every time a teacher assigned a reading assignment. Essentially, books and I were not friends. Oddly enough, eighth grade was the year I discovered my love for reading when my teacher assigned our class The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I was a little skeptical about reading it because it was, indeed, a book but after the first few chapters I could not put it down. About halfway through the book I realized something: books are pretty cool. And so my friendship with books began. Barnes & Noble gift cards became the key to my heart and books some of my most dependable friends. Which is why I doubtlessly agree with Ernest Hemingway's noble quotation: “There is no friend as loyal as a book.”

As corny as it may sound, I really like the idea of being able to see the world through another character’s eyes. You learn so much through reading and you learn in a way that cannot be taught, but must be experienced. Books teach you things that you cannot learn in a lecture hall or from taking notes because they express feeling. Books equip you with armor for the outside world and experiences from all of the characters you could possibly imagine. Just a few of my favorite “easy read” books include The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Some of my favorite “deeper thinking” books include The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, Night by Elie Wiesel, and the many works of Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, and of course, Romeo and Juliet).

You could say that I’ve come a long way with my reading experiences. Thus, the joke in my family is, “Victoria, put down the book and do something productive!”