Takaki Chapter 6

In Chapter 6 of “A Different Mirror” by Ronald Takaki, the account of the Irish migration to the United States is discussed. The beginning of the chapter tells of the horrid conditions that the people of Ireland faced when it became colonized by the British. Before Ireland was an agricultural state. It grew crops for the people to live off of. When the British came to Ireland they changed the entire economy for those who lived on the land. The British began to use the land for raising and selling cattle. This provided less work for the already poor Irish peasants. Takaki describes how the people of Ireland were so poor that they lived in mud huts that were one room and wore rags for clothing. These hardships were the cause for many Irish to look for new opportunities in America. However there was more to the Irish migration than just being poor. In 1845 the Great Potato Famine hit Ireland hard. A disease killed the majority of the potato crops, which made up a significant amount of the Irish’s diet. People all over the country began to die of hunger and disease. Although the Irish did not want to leave their homeland they were forced by the “push factors” to relocate to the United States were the opportunity for work was greater.
Although America has always been thought of as the land of opportunity many Irish found this not to be the case when they arrived. During the late 1800s and early 1900s life was hard. As the poor Irish immigrants came to America they found jobs in factories and made up a great part of the labor force. When they entered the country they would work side by side with the black slaves and earn poor wages. The Irish and the blacks were in constant conflict for jobs. In order for the Irish to be successful in the United States they had to assimilate to that of the dominant white culture. In order to do this the Irish had to promote their “whiteness” saying that they were not the same as the black labors. Eventually because of their commonalities with the white the Irish were able to move into more domestic jobs and become prominent members of society.
It is easy to see that the Irish could eventually assimilate to American culture because of the fairness of their skin color. What if the Irish had come to this country with some other identity mark that made them easily distinguishable from that of white society? The African Americans had dark skin that made them different and therefore it was easy to enslave them and use them as means. Would it have been the same for the Irish had they not been considered finally as “white”? Personally I think that the Irish were able to become successful in the United States because of their hard work and diligence. The people of Ireland suffered for many years and were able to make a new life in America because of their hard work and dedication to themselves and their families. After ass isn’t that the American Dream?