While different views of the American experience, then, both of these stories and their authors are quite deserving of their place in the canon.
Edwidge Danticant's "Seven" is similar to "The Third and Final Continent" in terms of plot; an immigrant man that as finally received his green card is preparing for the arrival of his wife. This story is as concerned with the meeting of the husband and wife in their own native country as it is with their reunification in the United States, however, and seems to exemplify more a transcendence of culture than an assimilation or a difficulty assimilating -- not that life as an impoverished immigrant is easy, but it isn't the focus of the story. In "What You Pawn I Will Redeem," Sherman Alexie views assimilation from yet another angle -- not as something that can be transcended,...
In this exploration of homelessness and the effects of North America's Europeanization on the Native Americans, it becomes clear that a radical change in culture is not something that can just happen, and when such changes are forced it squeezes many people out of society. These works both explore what it means to be truly outside American culture rather than contending with, from very different perspectives yet with the same vision of multiculturalism as something of a fallacy.
American literature is no longer the rigidly defined genre it once was. The term and the canon now embodies a great diversity of perspectives and experiences that better exemplifies American society. The world is certainly a richer place for the recognition of these diverse literary works.
