Strangers in Strange Lands:
Exploring Cultural Identity in Realistic Fiction for Young Adults

Adrienne Clarke
Larry Miller

Strangers Come in Many Forms

The immigrant experience is a part of many persons' lives, whether directly or seen through the eyes of parents, grandparents, or other relatives. Common elements of this experience include stories of escape from repressive regimes or conflicts, hope for the possibility of economic betterment, and the prospect of religious freedom. Many of these stories, especially those that are retold many times, have a romantic touch to them, with deprivation and suffering being overcome through hard work. The various guises of the “American success story” that tells of a poor immigrant rising to prosperity and finding happiness in the new world is a staple of Hollywood movies, television, and print media. The reality of the immigrant experience often is more complex, but also richer, than portrayed in any of these venues. However, the complexity and richness sometimes reveal themselves in disturbing forms: rejection, value conflicts, isolation, and homesickness.

Concomitant with the immigrant experience is another situation that produces many of the same disturbing feelings: the stranger in his or her own land. In Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, to mention just four countries, aboriginal peoples were displaced by immigrants. Land was confiscated and some tribes were sent to unknown territories or relocated to places unable to sustain their traditional ways of living. In some instances, aboriginals were killed. Time brought changes, and governments tried to ameliorate past wrongs, but the results often resulted in further deprivation and loss of cultural identity. The residential schools in Canada, where aboriginal children lived distant from their homes and families and were educated by white teachers who tried to impose their values and cultural beliefs, are an example.

European empires created another situation that caused cultural disruption. In Asia and Africa, small numbers of European settlers took over much of the land. Although often representing a miniscule proportion of the population, they controlled governments, industry, and agriculture. Often, countries were created in an arbitrary manner that ignored traditional tribal boundaries. Governmental structures, medical facilities, social agencies, and schools set up for aboriginal peoples frequently were based on foreign models. In policies similar to those that established the Canadian residential schools, some African and Asian children were sent to Europe for their education.

Another category of stranger consists of persons whose ancestors may have lived in the “strange land” for a long time -- for example, Americans descended from African slaves, or Canadians descended from the Chinese laborers who built the nation's railways. Though hundreds of years may have passed, many individuals who fit this category have still not attained the same economic and social benefits common among members of the dominant class. And even if they do achieve professional and financial success, they sometimes continue to be viewed as “outsiders.”

The nine examples of young adult fiction discussed here depict many types of strangers in strange lands. (For summaries of each book, click on the highlighted titles in this paragraph, or on the cover images displayed throughout the article.) Hold Fast to Dreams and Fast Talk on a Slow Track tell stories of successful African-American families through the eyes of their children: a 12-year-old adjusting to a new neighborhood, and an 18-year-old struggling to live up to the image of “Black academic role model.” Yoruba Girl Dancing recounts the conflict of cultures when a 6-year-old Nigerian girl is sent to England for schooling. Three books -- Saying Goodbye, Thief of Hearts, and The Sunita Experiment -- portray unique aspects of the Asian-American experience, as related by young women coping with cultural identity. The final group of books delves into the lives of North American aboriginals as they fight for economic survival and a sense of who they are. In My Name Is Seepeetza, the travails of Canadian residential schools are poignantly portrayed by the author, who based the story on her own experiences. Silent Words and The Ceremony of Innocence relate stories of aboriginals trying to live in two worlds -- and often being rejected by both.

As can be seen in the descriptions of all these books, their protagonists frequently encounter challenging situations related to race, social status, and origins. Several of these realistic novels end with hope or resolution of conflict, but all bring to the fore issues of culture and cultural identity.

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Lessons from Literature

Although each book is unique, themes bond them. The first common theme deals with the experience of being caught between two cultural worlds. Characters such as Stacy Palmer in Thief of Hearts and Sunita Sen in The Sunita Experiment struggle to balance the attitudes, values, and beliefs of their ethnic or racial group with those of the dominant culture. In their efforts to be a part of both worlds, the characters experience the inevitable tensions that arise when the attitudes, values, and beliefs of one culture are at odds with, or at least different from, those of the other. An essential point that emerges in considering this issue is that cultural understanding is a two-way street. Cai's (1992) analysis of three Laurence Yep novels supports this idea.

A second major theme deals with the importance of learning about the values, attitudes, and beliefs of one's cultural heritage, and acquiring an appreciation of how culture influences identity. Characters in several of these books undergo a process of self-discovery that enables them to connect with aspects of their cultural heritages. Danny Lynx's self-discovery in Silent Words provides him with new-found awareness of what it means to be an aboriginal person in Canada. For characters like Seepeetza in My Name Is Seepeetza and Amana in The Ceremony of Innocence, the process of self-discovery seeks to affirm commitment to a traditional way of life. These characters struggle to preserve their cultural heritage against forces that seek to undermine it.

Other themes emerge from these books, and although they are not present in all the stories, they reveal the richness of this body of literature. For example, many of the characters maintain their integrity in the face of adversity. In Hold Fast to Dreams, Deirdre's father's decision not to let himself be intimidated by a racist security guard encourages his two daughters to defend their integrity by standing up to people who show them disrespect. Similarly, in Yoruba Girl Dancing, Remi defends her continent's reputation by challenging the inaccurate information given about Africa by teachers at her English boarding school. In Thief of Hearts, Stacy encounters adversity when she resolves to prove that Hong Ch'un is innocent of theft. Ultimately, the characters in these novels do not run away from challenges they encounter, but instead make a conscious decision to confront them.

Each novel is a world inhabited by characters for whom the past informs the present. When Stacy learns in Thief of Hearts how immigration laws in the United States discriminated against Asians by affording them few opportunities for success, she begins to understand how her mother's underprivileged childhood shaped her strong work ethic and her determination that Stacy do well in school. African-American social history has a powerful influence on the lives of the characters in Fast Talk on a Slow Track. Denzel's refusal to consider the influence of his cultural heritage on his life hinders his understanding of how the past has shaped the way his father sees the present-day problems and challenges facing African Americans. The insight afforded by these novels is that true self-respect is not found through cultural assimilation but by coming to terms with who one is and where one comes from.

The feeling of comfort that comes from being part of something larger than oneself is an important experience for many of the characters in these works. In Hold Fast to Dreams, Deirdre longs for her Baltimore African-American community because she perceives herself as isolated in the new school. In Thief of Hearts, San Francisco's Chinatown is presented as a kind of cultural fortress that protects and nurtures the Chinese traditional heritage. Stacy's opportunity to visit the people and places of her family's past provides her with a sense of what it means to have a cultural home.

These novels recognize the importance of establishing relationships and making connections with people who share similar cultural backgrounds, beliefs, and attitudes. This observation is supported by analyses carried out on books that explore the African-American experience -- for example, Russel's (1990) views on M.C. Higgins the Great. Referring to African-American literature, Sims (1982) speaks of a “traditional awareness of the ties that bind” (p. 70). This comment seems to capture a theme that permeates these books, regardless of their protagonists' ethnic or racial backgrounds.

The sense of connection that a character feels toward his or her cultural identity is often influenced by an ability to communicate with people who share that identity. These novels highlight the positive as well as the negative ways in which language, for example, is perceived by different characters. Many of the novels portray language as something that enhances a character's understanding of cultural identity; however, in some stories characters express fear that speaking a “foreign” language will prove detrimental to their success in mainstream society. In Saying Goodbye, Ellen Sung feels like an outsider in her own culture because she cannot speak Korean. Once she begins to learn the language, her identification with her culture increases. In My Name Is Seepeetza, Seepeetza's mother decides not to teach their native language to her daughter because of abuse she encountered at a residential school. Overall, language is treated in these novels as a vehicle with enabling power as well as the power to harm.

The pain of prejudice and discrimination is experienced in varying degrees by the main characters in each of these stories, and the books show how judging people on the basis of race or ethnicity puts obstacles in the way of crosscultural understanding. Although many of the books focus on how people of color experience racism, in an ironic turn several point out how prejudice toward white people or those of mixed racial heritage negatively affects relationships. Fast Talk on a Slow Track reveals a father who reproaches his son for wasting his time on a white girl. Listening to his father's remarks about his friend causes Denzel to reflect on his own feelings about white people and how these feelings affect his relationships.

Although physical attractiveness is an important theme in most young adult fiction, the role of appearance takes on even greater significance in multicultural literature. In addition to the common desire to be perceived as attractive by one's peers, a young person of color is often aware of his or her inability to fit mainstream society's ideal of physical attractiveness. In Yoruba Girl Dancing, Remi longs to look like the movie stars that represent British society's ideal of beauty. Because her appearance is different from that celebrated in popular culture, Remi feels her African features are ugly when compared to those of the white movie stars she admires. Similarly, in The Sunita Experiment, Sunita wishes that her skin wasn't so dark -- she wants to look like Ingrid Bergman. Because they are unaware of ideals of beauty from their cultural heritages, Remi and Sunita strive to conform to mainstream society's standards.

Another challenge faced by some of these adolescents is being discriminated against because they are of mixed racial origins or appear “different.” Seepeetza worries she will never have any friends: Indian children dislike her because she looks white, and white children won't play with her because she is Indian. Jemina confronts a similar problem in The Ceremony of Innocence when she fears that because she is part Indian she will be rejected by white society.

In addition to the overt acts of prejudice and discrimination that occur in these novels, many of the books address more subtle forms of racism that exist in contemporary society. In Hold Fast to Dreams, Deirdre's father feels that as a black man he must work harder than others to prove his worthiness for a promotion. Injustices in education systems are explored in The Ceremony of Innocence, which reveals the poor quality of education offered to aboriginal children in Canada in the 1950s. In Yoruba Girl Dancing, Remi experiences the pain of discrimination when a school she hopes to attend discounts her application because officials assume her command of English must be inferior because she is African.

Despite the challenges and hardships confronted by the characters that breathe life into the novels described here, cultural pride is a quality that all acquire. Seepeetza never loses sight of her love for the aboriginal way of life despite the residential school's repeated attempts to undermine her identity. Similarly, Amana in The Ceremony of Innocence struggles to keep traditional values and practices alive. For some of the characters, cultural pride is something gained as a result of the difficult experiences they endure. The friendships that Remi forms with other African students in Yoruba Girl Dancing allow her to revel in the fact that she is different. Released from the pressures of trying to pretend that she is English, Remi is able to enjoy her heritage and the friends and family that it brings her closer to. Sunita experiences a similar sense of freedom in The Sunita Experiment when she finally overcomes her embarrassment at being thought of as different and learns to take pride in her family's Indian culture.

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The Role of the Teacher

In this article, we have summarized and discussed nine young adult novels that amplify multicultural themes, especially those related to the idea of “strangers in strange lands.” Our goal has been to reveal the complexity and richness of this genre in order that teachers might seek out other equally rewarding books to share with students.

Awareness of the possibilities of quality literature is a starting point, but good pedagogy demands more. Literature circles, response journals, and projects that build on multicultural books are but three accepted practices for fostering knowledge, understanding, and enjoyment of good books. However, no specific technique or practice outshines the teacher who exudes a personal love of literature.

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Bibliography of Young Adult Literature Cited

Bedford, S. (1994). Yoruba girl dancing. New York: Penguin.

Highwater, J. (1985). The ceremony of innocence. New York: Harper & Row.

Lee, M.G. (1994). Saying goodbye. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Perkins, M. (1993). The Sunita experiment. New York: Hyperion.

Pinkney, A.D. (1995). Hold fast to dreams. New York: Hyperion.

Slipperjack, R. (1992). Silent words. Saskatoon, SK: Fifth House.

Sterling, S. (1992). My name is Seepeetza. Toronto: Groundwood. [Editors' Note: A review of this book, along with related extension activities, appears in the archives.]

Williams-Garcia, R. (1991). Fast talk on a slow track. New York: Dutton.

Yep, L. (1995). Thief of hearts. New York: HarperCollins.

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References

Cai, M. (1992). A balanced view of acculturation: Comments on Laurence Yep's three novels. Children's Literature in Education, 23, 107-118.
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Greenfield, E. (1985). Writing for children: A joy and a responsibility. In D. McCann & G. Woodard (Eds.), The black American in books for children: Readings in racism (2nd ed.). Methuchen, NJ: Scarecrow.
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Romero, P., & Zancanella, D. (1990). Expanding the circle: Hispanic voices in American literature. English Journal, 79(1), 24-29.
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Russel, D.L. (1990). Cultural identity and individual triumphs in Virginia Hamilton's M.C. Higgins the Great. Children's Literature in Education, 21, 253-259.
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Sims, R. (1982). Shadow and substance: Afro-American experience in contemporary children's fiction. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
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About the Authors

Adrienne Clarke (e-mail CLAKEA@post.queensu.ca) holds a Master of Education degree from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, for which she received the 1999 Outstanding Thesis Award for her research on multicultural literature. Adrienne is currently coordinator of educational programming for first-year students at Queen's. She also continues to work as a freelance writer and editor. In addition to her love of literature, Adrienne enjoys acting.

Larry Miller is editor of the International Perspectives department of Reading Online. He teaches in the Faculty of Education, Queen's University.

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All images of book covers included in this article are reproduced by permission of their publishers.

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