Assimilation: The state of being absorbed into something, experience, information, etc or absorbing one cultural within another cultural group.
Do you ever think about how you walk around school and find that everyone either talks the same or dresses the same? Would that be considered assimilation? Absorbed by the people around you, something or being absorbed by the information you are being fed. Assimilation can be both positive and negative. Positive when the information and experiences are positive but vice versa when it’s understood the wrong way.
I do not believe in religion, I never really did. Truthfully because I did not understand how people worshipped a different God or figure, that always figured. Therefore, I am unique, I am not religious however, I am a firm believer and follower of Christ. Anyone can take that information and look at me differently because I do not believe in religion. That is assimilation in a negative way.
Invisible Man identifies a character that is engrossed into a community where he goes through the state of assimilation. Establishing that he is invisible reveals that he would not encounter anyone or be involved in any experiences that would make him different. When the narrator joins the Brotherhood, they took his experiences and qualities and absorbed him into their ‘mastermind’. Giving speeches and fleeing the city to support causes that had nothing to do with the Brotherhood. Potentially blinding him into believing that the Brotherhood is for the better. What they needed was more black men so the community would always be on their side. Which relates back to how Dr.Bledsoe his masked in the best judgement of white people instead of standing up for his own race. Seems as though everyone in this novel was assimilated into the white world and believing that they have no important role in it because they are black. This brings up the theme colliding cultures because assimilating is the state of absorbing one cultural within another culture.
Being assimilated into a white community is also revealed in Native Son. I feel as though nobody really caught on to how the newspaper media played an important role in Bigger’s demise. Yes, he was already doomed from the beginning, but doesn’t it seem as though the newspaper media blew things out of proportion? Which led to the point where the justice system was assimilated into the opinion of the media instead of their own evidence and judgement. During the inquest of Bigger Thomas, the news reports on what happens during the inquest and they discuss his upbringing down South. The purpose of the article is to strike fear in the readers that they should fear black people like Bigger Thomas. The reporter quotes an editor of a southern newspaper who suggests “residential segregation is imperative…to keep them as much as possible out of direct contact with white women and lessens there attacks against them” (355). Bigger Thomas is used as an example to continue segregation based on race. The killings suggest that black people should not encounter white people simply to keep peace. Because Bigger killed a white woman, the black community is penalized for his actions. The newspaper judges Bigger before the trial begins making his situation worse.
Assimilation: The state of being absorbed into something, experience, information, etc or absorbing one cultural within another cultural group.
