Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
Integration into British Society
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- 1.12Summary of the Comparison
- Conclusion
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1.11 Integration into British SocietyWest Indian immigrant parents attempted to integrate their children into the host society. “They want[ed] them to become the part of the new society, so they [didn’t] want them to remember where they came from. [...] They didn’t want to confuse their kids” (Bell 578). Immigrants from the Caribbean had no past to share with their children and wanted them to forget about their origin. In contrast to West Indians, Chinese immigrants brought their culture with them to England, kept traditions and passed their heritage from generation to generation. This divide was also present in education of immigrants in the UK. While children of Chinese immigrants had Chinese schools at their disposal and could be made familiar with their native language and cultural heritage, there were no such opportunities for children of West Indian immigrants, they were expected to acquire English language and culture, whereas their cultural heritage and differences were not taken into account. These factors contributed to different attitudes of the two immigrant groups towards white people. While West Indians regarded themselves as the inferior, subordinated to whites, the Chinese considered themselves as the superior to white Westerners. As it was already implied, Leila did not integrate into the British society. In Britain, she understood what the colour of her skin meant and although it got lighter than it had ever been due to cold weather, it was still a lot darker than the skin of white English women and Leila despised herself. She “had suddenly found herself, her light skin starved of the sun, growing paler by the day. But she was more coloured than had ever been before, and [...] feelings of inadequacy prevented her from looking back into the mirror” (Phillips, Final Passage 194-95). She was disappointed with her life in England; the discrimination and racism she was constantly facing, her failed marriage and the longed-for reunion with her mother that did not happen made her decide to travel back to the Caribbean. “England, in whom she had placed so much of her hope, no longer held for her the attraction of her mother and new challenges. At least the small island she had left behind had safety and two friends” (203). In contrast to Michael, who apparently chose to stay and succeed in England, Leila considered the small Caribbean island to be her only home. Unlike Leila and Michael who grew apart, the Chens were able to survive in England because they held together, were helping each other and formed a strong family unit. “Truly, the individual found real fulfilment and happiness only in his family. Impossible on your own” (Mo 152). However, not all of them managed to integrate into the British society. While Chen got involved with the conservative Triad society and conducted “his life based on the precepts he [had] acquired in China,” Lily was also loyal to her Chinese heritage but was “willing to learn about Western ideas,” and Mui was “eager to adapt to the English way of life” (Zhang). As Chen and Man Kee were watching an emigrant ship, it was obvious that Chen did not intend to stay in England, he wanted to return to their homeland in the New Territories: “It is the ship that will take us all back home when we are finished here. It will take you to your homeland, Son, which you have never seen” (Mo 155). The former farmer Chen missed working in fields and started growing vegetable in their garden in England: “At home in the New Territories vegetable growing was an ignominious mode of agriculture, practised by refugees and immigrants. It was fitting he should grow them here in alien soil” (168). Chen realized his minor position in England, and since growing one’s own vegetable was considered to be inferior in China, he confirmed his immigrant status by doing so in the UK. As opposed to Chen, Lily was satisfied with her life in Britain. When Chen disappeared and she was free of the stolid husband’s isolating influence, she evolved into a strong and independent woman who gradually integrated into the British society. With her husband being gone, “it was as if a stone had been taken off her [...]. She thought she had found a balance of things for the first time, yin cancelling yang” (278). Mui, the former TV addict, acquired great knowledge of English language and behaviour and thus proceeded in the integration process quicker than Lily did. She slowly withdrew from the Chen family and created her own one (Suprajitno 87). Mui gave birth to an illegitimate daughter fathered by an unidentified Westerner and married Mr. Lo, the Chinese who she opened a fish and chip restaurant with. In the end, she decided to seek naturalization and become a British citizen. Regarding Lily’s son Man Kee, the representative of the second generation of Chinese immigrants in the UK, “he had no history, no heritage to live up to, no goal to fulfil, no ancient burden to carry” (Mo 111). Man Kee impersonates the British Born Chinese, in short BBC (Fung). These people of Chinese descent born in the UK grow up with British children, have a British education and eventually go to work in British companies, but they are neither Chinese nor British. They might have problems of identity and divided loyalties, may feel confused not knowing where they fit in. Thus, British Born Chinese persons have a separate identity of their own. Since the language barrier intensifies the generation gap in Chinese families, language causes many social problems. As we can observe in the Chen family unit, the parents will never fully master English and the children will never fully master Chinese, but on the other hand, BBC children might act as interpreters for their parents when dealing with British authorities (Fung). As it is depicted in Sour Sweet, many Chinese avoid publicity and contact with officialdom. This concerns Lily who refused to deal with British clerks, did not pay taxes and drove without a driving licence. She clung to her cultural heritage and did not wish to wholly assimilate into the mainstream British society, she ended up somewhere between the two cultures and societies. In contrast to Chen and the West Indians who failed to integrate into the British society, Mui regarded Britain as her new home: “This is my home now” (Mo 276). As opposed to Lily who developed a bicultural identity, Mui accepted the British identity and did not seem to be interested in maintaining her Chinese heritage.
On the one hand, the Chinese followed Confucian philosophy, kept their traditions and brought their own culture and powerful heritage with them to the host country. They were used to working hard and knew how to set up and run a business. They were dutiful and looking after their retired parents. On the other hand, West Indians were educated by the British and had no significant heritage of their own or traditions they could live up to. They were an enslaved nation, made to serve the white European settlers and inexperienced in running a business. Social ills as unemployment and alcoholism troubled the whole Caribbean region. Upon arrival in Britain, the West Indian immigrants were received in an unfriendly and hostile manner. Racial hatred was explicit and well-present in the streets of London, where coloured people were separated from the white English and concentrated in poor non-white neighbourhoods, hired to inferior jobs and offered substandard housing. The Chinese were engaged in restaurant businesses and kept themselves to themselves, avoiding contact with the white British whom they despised. Since the Chinese kept their traditions and heritage alive, were only slowly adjusting to the new environment and did not wholly succumb to the Western lifestyle, they were more likely to survive in the British society than West Indians who had already been forced to adopt the Western culture and way of life. They were ascribed the inferior status which they could not get rid of no matter how hard they tried. Although the Chens and Leila and Michael were all country people who migrated to the UK in the search of work, opportunities and better future, and had hard time adapting to life in the big foreign city, only the Chens were successful in the process of adaptation because they acted like a strong family unit. The West Indian immigrants acted individually and the severe discrimination and racism they were facing prevented them from being able to adapt and integrate into the British society. In contrast to the Chinese, they did not consider London as their new home, in their minds the Caribbean remained their only true homeland and it was the place Leila chose to return to in the end. ConclusionThe novels The Final Passage by Caryl Phillips and Sour Sweet by Timothy Mo portray the stories of Caribbean and Chinese immigrants in Britain in the second half of the 20th century. The thesis focused on exploring the character of experience both the immigrant groups went through in the host country. First, it explained the situation in post-war Britain and push and pull factors that stimulated mass migration from the Commonwealth countries including the Caribbean and Hong Kong. Then, the thesis compared cultural backgrounds of both the involved nations and analysed their reasons for migration in more detail. In the following chapters of the comparison, the focus shifted to the situation upon arrival in England and the difficulties such as racism and discrimination the immigrants had to withstand. Subsequently, the work contrasted how Phillips’s West Indians and Mo’s Hong Kong Chinese failed and succeeded in adaptation to the new environment and integration into the British society. With regard to the evidence I have accumulated when researching on the subject and writing the thesis, I would like to argue that while both the Caribbean and Chinese mindsets and cultures are strikingly different from the British ones, Caribbean immigrants found it easier to get used to their new environment than the Chinese did, because they had been educated by the British and thus much more exposed to their influence than the Chinese had been. Since they had no significant cultural heritage of their own, Caribbean black people were able to come to terms with British culture, however, they failed to integrate into British society and be accepted because they were heavily discriminated against. On the other hand, the Chinese, who were able to retain their individuality and stick to their traditions, developed a dualistic British Chinese identity and succeeded in integration into British society. |