Introduction
This proverb reflects on and the challenges African Americans faced during the process of their integration into America. Over the years, this integration has resulted in a common course with other disparate ethnicities. They share different problems such as gender inequalities, among others. This paper will analyze three essays, Ain’t I a Woman by Truth, Witness by Dubus, and What Sacagawea means to me by Alexie, about the proverb.
Discussion
In Sacagawea’s story, we see America likened to Eden and Sacagawea to Eve. Sacagawea is a native of the U.S highly considered as the mother of Americans. This bears a correlation with America’s integration because of the country’s apparent continued colonization. From Sacagawea’s roots (half American and half Indian), it is clear that she is a result of integration. Numerous disparate cultures and peoples have come together to form present America, integrating through the years to their present status. The article recognizes the changes that occurred after the revolutionary wars in the U.S and gives its results in present-day America, also seen as the new Eden. In essence, people arrived in several ships, but now ride in a similar boat. This is because all have integrated through interaction, colonization, wars, and conflicts, to form a new nation, called America, working together for a common purpose (Alexie, p. 1).
In Andre Dubus’s the Witness, we follow his story of an accident that occurred several years back, in 1996. This accident left him in a wheelchair, although the other victim died after only a few hours of the incident. He’s now old, with grown-ups who have spouses, and regularly picks his two daughters, Madeleine and Cadence from school to walk their dog, then moves them for dinner in his house and finally hosts a workshop for writers. Thursday is his busy day and he loves it although his feet hurt, he claims that folding them increases pain. He meets a woman, who has recently moved into their neighborhood and confirms to him about seeing the accident, the woman seems to be of another ethnicity from her description as brown haired. Dubus is left with much thought about what happened and wants to learn more about the incident. These people, from different places, have come together for the common purpose of resolving the incident, which has bothered Dubus for the past ten years. It shows that however different their origin is, they are in the same boat, and America works together despite their varied cultures (Dubus, p. 33).
Finally in the story by Truth, Ain’t I a woman, she laments her status as a woman and the difference in life between the North and the South. She is dejected by the slavery held in the South and is concerned by the rights of women violated even by enslaved black men in the South. She notes that both Negros in the South and women (whites) in the North are in the same boat, fighting for their rights. During this period, women could not vote and were viewed as inferior to men. This is a sentiment shared by both black and white women during this period and showed they ride in the same boat (Truth, p. 1).
Conclusion
From the two essays, one observes that even though disparate peoples came from different backgrounds and cultures, they have integrated with time and share similar problems and sentiments regarding several things like gender imbalance, among others. In other words, they now ride in a similar boat.
Works Cited
- Alexie, Sherman. What Sacagawea means to me: Bicentennial 1803-2003. Time Magazine. 2002.
- Dubus, Andre. Witness: Personal history. The New Yorker. 1997. P.33.
- Truth, Sojourner. Ain’t I a woman? Feminist. 1851. Web.