Major Theme in John Fante's Ask the Dust

¶ … Dust- John Fante John Fante's Ask the Dust is regarded as one of the most successful novels of the 20th century with its theme grounded in immigration and myth of American dream. The novel is not exactly negative in tone instead it simply focuses on realistically presenting the life of immigrants in Los Angeles community of 1930s.

The author has beautifully recreated the early times of massive immigration to the Golden State where people of many communities settled down in the hope of building and carving a more positive future for themselves than the one they would have been accorded in their native lands. After reading the novel, it appears that the most important theme of the novel is 'struggle of immigrants to become an American by degrading others'.

This theme has been highlighted in various ways including relationships between various communities, their mode of conversation, their manner of perceiving others etc. It is quite interesting to see how different immigrant communities treat each other and how they try to prove themselves better than the others. It is strange that while all communities were suffering from the same problems like language barrier, lack of adequate rights, racial bigotry, discrimination etc., they were still not supportive of each other.

Instead they would not miss an opportunity to degrade the other immigrant communities. This reflects their inferiority complex that had been generated by lack of equal rights and opportunities in the Land of Plenty. Arturo initially faces rejection by the "same faces, the same set hard mouths from [his] hometown" (46) because his complexion is darker and he is basically Italian. He hates them for their malicious attitude and gains satisfaction from the fact that "they are old now, [and] dying in the sun..." (47).

Since they had been ill-treated by pure Americans, the only way they could hold on to their pride was by degrading other races. It was indeed a vicious circle, which had made life difficult for immigrants in Los Angeles communities "where everyday life is [informed] by Spanish culture, Indian culture, and African culture" (Hicks 1). Since all immigrant communities from various part of the world formed the Californian culture, it was impossible to ignore their comments or to escape the impact of their attitude towards each other.

It is important to bear in mind that immigrants were not exactly cruel to each other as Americans were to them, but they wanted to convince themselves that even if they were not exactly as good as Americans, they were at least better than their immigrant counterparts. This could give them a sense of achievement.

Richard Collins agrees and explains that immigrants had even adopted the stereotypes and prejudices of Americans by "perversely calling themselves Dago and Wop with alternating affection and deprecation." And their younger generations."..continued the name-calling, perpetuating the prejudice through a self-lacerating denial of family and ethnic peers in their eagerness to become 'American" (Collins 44) The best demonstration of this struggle can be seen in the first few meeting scenes between Camilla and Arturo in the bar where the former waitresses.

We notice that while they both belong to immigrant communities, they are still extremely vindictive to each other. Camilla is more so because she is the one who initiates their exchange of cruel jibes. In Chapter four of the novel, we see how Camilla tries to degrade Arturo by making him feel inferior. This is a highly interesting exchange of sneers and taunts, which expose the psyche of immigrants in LA County of 1930s, and also highlights their intense desire to be counted as true Americans.

After a long series of taunts that each throws at the other, we see Arturo reflecting on the situation and drawing satisfaction from his success at humiliating Camilla. Read the following passage to get an idea of the actual theme. "Those huaraches - do you have to wear them, Camilla? Do you have to emphasize the fact that you always were and always will be a filthy little Greaser?" She looked at me in horror, her lips open. Clasping both hands against her mouth, she rushed inside the saloon.

I heard her moaning. "Oh, oh, oh." I tossed my shoulders and swaggered away, whistling with pleasure.. I was an American, and goddamn proud of it. This great city, these mighty pavements and proud buildings, they were the voice of my America. From sand and cactus we Americans had carved an empire. Camilla's people had had their chance. They had failed. We Americans had turned the trick. Thank God for my country.

Thank God I had been born an American!" (Page 44-45) In those days of early immigration, old immigrants considered themselves more American than the ones who had recently migrated to this land of opportunities. Since they were better accustomed to the culture and lifestyle of the United States, they were in a better position to hurl jibes at new immigrants. This is the one belief from which Camilla operates and often tries to treat Arturo as dirt.

For example at one point in the novel, she cruelly reminds Arturo of his ethnic background and lack of American traits in these words, "I'm just as much an American as you are. Why, you're not an American at all. Look at your black skin. You're dark like Eyetalians [sic]. And your eyes, they're black" (122). And even earlier in the novel we saw her categorically rejecting her own ethnicity by claiming, "I'm not a Mexican...I'm an.