The following quotation underscores this fact. "the province, the ethnic nest, remains the point from which everything begins and from without which, probably, it could not begin; but the province, the ethnic nest, is not enough, it must be transcended" (Howe 3). To underscore the point that the author makes with this quotation, he precedes it by citing a number of eminent 20th century authors and the "ethnic nest" they came from as demonstration of the fact that merely clinging to one's beginnings is relatively unimportant, and that the work that one achieves is what is really important. To that end, Howe certainly does not believe that it is necessary to return to one's roots. What Howe eventually recommends that Americans do with their newfound, hyphenated sense of ethnicity, is apply it to some of the more pressing issues in this country that transcend problems of race. These are economic problems, and the social blight of living in poor conditions and functioning in...

Doing so would certainly help to address the issues that affect people in common in this country, regardless of their particular ethnicity.
It is in this spirit that the author ends the essay with the advice that more specifically, people should exchange their preoccupation with things that are ethnic with those that reflect an ethic. This ethic is implied to be directed towards solving the socio-economic problems that people in this country suffer from. To this end, there is a definite sense of veracity in Howe's reflections about ethnicity. One's ethnicity is always secondary due to the day-to-day living experience one finds oneself in. By changing those conditions, one can not only bring pride towards one ethnicity, but also a change to make America the actual place its forefathers initially conceived of it to be.

Works Cited

Howe, Irving. "The Limits of Ethnicity." 1976. Print.