Essay Draft Three
Zhouwei
06-18-2007
Draft3
Leniency, the essence of Americanization
“The Americanization of Shadrach Cohen” written by Bruno Lessing, viewed retrospectively, illustrated that the highlighting of the significance of native-cultural protection was not a recent issue. The word “Americanization” essentially dealt with cultural interaction, and since chances are that impact will grow into encroach, the indication of the word is not always neutral. As early as in the beginning of the twentieth century, when the phenomenon was recognized that in American, cultural customs are slowly drained out of the immigrants, “Americanization” was blamed to be responsible for the loss of cultural recognition.
In “The Americanization of Shadrach Cohen”, Bruno Lessing expressed his understanding on the controversial word-“Americanization”, by telling the story of an old and stubborn Jewish immigrant, Shadrach Cohen, who is invited to America by his two sons, and eventually shows the young men the essence of Americanization.
Thus here comes a consequential question: what is the essence of Americanization? Quite different from its acknowledged definition as the influence of the United States on other countries, the “essence” is controversial, based on the different conception of different individuals. According to Bruno Lessing, the essence of Americanization lies in the leniency toward non-native cultures.
This assumption seems subjective, while reflection on the article can render it more convincing. The assumption is supported in four aspects mainly, namely: explicit statement, reference to the main character, to the natives, and to the superficially-Americanized.
We should realize the influence that the author’s conception exerted on the way he arranged the plot. Thus it is natural to believe that the scrutiny into Shadrach Cohen, being the main character, reveals directly the author’s conception of Americanization. Americanization indicates, or bears, a process of change. Shadrach Cohen does not merely stick to his old beliefs. We are informed that, after tiff and miff with his sons, Shadrach Cohen “was slowly undergoing a change” (50), “he become broader-minded, more tolerant, and, above all, more flexible in his tenets.” (50) Without considering the context, the “flexibility in his tenets” can be recognized in two opposite ways: Shadrach Cohen’s devotion in his tenets is diluted, or he accepts religions other than Judaism, customs other than Jewish ones as reasonable existence. It is not so hard to exclude the possibility of his apostasy or defection, judging from the author’s possible intention to defend America against the accusing (or misunderstanding) of cultural vandalizing, and from the piousness of Shadrach Cohen depicted by the story (“It is wrong to omit the prayer after meals” (47), “a strict observance of every tenet of their religion” (50) ). Hence, the assumption that Americanization concerns the attitude towards foreign cultures is a valid one.
As directly articulated, the liberty and democracy attracts Shadrach Cohen. But is it because he was attracted that he turns Americanized, or is it because of his Americanization that the liberty and democracy becomes perceptive to him? Both. It serves both as the cause and effect.
It partly stands for the reason since both of the two words carry an implication of tolerance, when the subject of these words is the entire body of Americans-prototypes of Americanizing immigrants, or aims of Americanization. Thus it is fair to reason out that the process of fitting socially into the American life embraces the recognition and gaining of these features. In some way, those features stand for the basis of the national ideology, according to the author, “the charm of American life” (50). Here it is not so farfetched to shed light on the interrelationship between being Americanized and being lenient and tolerant.
When the chronological order is considered, Shadrach’s decision of Americanization goes first, followed by the reference of the two words. That is why the perception of these words can be understood as effects of Americanization. As the effects, the statement conveys the idea that Americanization is self-provocative of its own trait, which means it is in the process of changing that Shadrach Cohen knows better about why the change begins. As a way of unraveling, the author’s explanation on the intricate paradox appeared quite enlightening. It is after the widening of his business that Shadrach Cohen gets more in touch with native businessmen, learnt from them with reverence while in the same time receives their reverence. Respect, as an example of the “effect of Americanization”, is a two way street, the more one offers, the more he receives. It starts when its merits are acknowledged, accumulates in the process when its merits are experienced. The first step triggers a positively feed-back mechanism.
The significance of underlying these two words should be noticed since these two words are synonyms of “leniency”. Lessing’s evaluation on these words can be utilized to deduce his evaluation on leniency. The link between these two affairs is strong.
Lessing’s attitude towards liberty and democracy is unqualifiedly positive, from which we can infer that he also evaluates leniency highly. Moreover, in the “serving as reason” effect of the two words, leniency is suggested a necessity in Americanization- A necessity, or in other words, the essence.
In concerning that the behavior of the Americans effectively reflects the spirit of Americanization, further probe into the author’s reference to the Americans should be requisite. At least two of them could be noticed: the one concerning the “American business men” and that concerning “Miriam”. The American businessmen “seemed to show to Shadrach Cohen an amount of deference and respect which they had never evinced toward the sons” (50). They literally views a person in the unbiased light, with no consideration of exterior, no discrimination on exotic customs or preference for the so-called “Americanized” behavior of mimicry. Similarly, when Miriam, the fiancée (or girlfriend) of Gottlieb, is introduced to Shadrach Cohen, “impulsively she ran toward him and seized his hands. And, with a smile upon her lips, she said: ‘Will you not give me your blessing?’ ” (51) Miriam has an insight through the appearance of a “newly landed Russian Jew” into the mind of Shadrach Cohen, where she finds shrewdness and tenderness. The weight of appearance is overshadowed by that of inner beauty, thus, the former is neglected. It is quite sarcastic that Miriam reacts contradictorily to Gottlieb’s worry that she might find Cohen’s appearance eccentric, and the negative impression may impede further development of their relationship. The two cases are vivid illustrations for the truly Americanized way of life, which matched with the assumption mentioned.
The author also expressed his ideas through ridiculing the behavior of those who are Americanized plausibly, or superficially, without even touching the skirt of its quintessence. Such examples include the description of Shadrach’s two sons and that of their employee. The sons of Shadrach Cohen dress in the way most Americans does (“wore a flaring necktie with a diamond in it” (46) ), greet their father in an American way (“promptly threw their arms around his neck”, “an effusive greeting” (46) ), grow out of the old customs (“omit the prayer after meals” (47)), demonstrating the word “superficial” in every aspects of its sense. The outgrowth of pretending is not so fruitful: flourish in business moves slowly, native business men shows not much interest on them. Later they learn from their father, knew how shallow, how limited, how meagre their conception have been, but still kind of unwilling to follow their father’s way of Americanization (“in a stiff, embarrassed manner Gottlieb presented her to his father”.(51)).
Their employee, the young man taught a lesson no less bitter than bile by the father of his employers (“Send him away at once”, “Young man, whenever you address a person who is older than you, do it respectfully.” (49) ), is too arrogant to be called Americanized (“a sharp tone”, “Come, come! I can’t stand here all day.” (49) ). The young man is quite myopic; his insight into Shadrach Cohen is so easily obstructed by the appearance of a newly landed Jewish immigrant. His discrimination over immigrating customs runs contrary to the author’s notion. The connotation here is quite clear: the sons and their employee stand for two sorts of misunderstandings: blindness and discrimination, which “coincidentally” share the same antonym: leniency towards exotic cultures.
The author’s mention of cigars and cigarettes, and their implications appear quite interesting in the cases of the “negative roles”. It seems that a character’s attitude toward cigarettes lay parallel to the author’s criterion of Americanization. In the night when Shadrach Cohen rebels his sons, he tells Marta, their servant, to take the cigarette out of Gottlieb’s mouth and throw it away, he adds: ”If he objects he goes out of the house” (48). When Shadrach Cohen see his sons’ employee, “the pale faced young man with a cigarette in his mouth”(49), he doubts whether the young man is “Americanized”, too? Are these specifics prearranged, or written unintentionally? Its reoccurrence seems not an outcome of chance or casualty. What is certain is that smoking concerns information relating to the surface or appearance only, thus, not thorough.
The assumption that the essence of Americanization lies in the leniency toward non-native cultures are substantiated in the facets as mentioned. In the view of the author, American society is a collage rather than a melting pot, in the sense that no form of elimination, corrosion or negative alternation is encouraged. People from different cultures join hands together, enjoy the melodious symphony of brotherhood. With every inch of the land occupied by liberty, thoughtfulness and leniency, the accusation of “cultural vandalizing” finds no place to stand.
Work Cited
Bruno Lessing. “The Americanization of Shadrach Cohen.” 1903. in The International Story: An Anthology with Guidelines for Reading and Writing about Fiction. Ruth Spack.
New York: St. Martin’s, 1994, 6-8.
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