Search for Ethnic Heritage Howe

Search for Ethnic Heritage Howe has a number of distinct opinions regarding ethnicity, particularly as it appeared in the latter portion of the 20th century. In "The Limits of Ethnicity," it is crucial to remember that this essay was written during the bi-centennial of the United States, and many of the notions of ethnicity that the author was responding to themselves were undoubtedly influenced by the celebrations of things American and of the 'forced' melting pot that such a historic occasion inevitably brings.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Howe's view of the search for ethnicity is far from a positive one. In fact, the author spends the vast majority of the essay with his tongue firmly in cheek gently mocking the actions of the various ethnic groups he chronicles within this work. It appears that the author is definitely skeptical about returning to one's ethnicity because he does not believe that doing so is even necessarily possible.

The author's point on this subject is fairly clear -- the lineage of many Americans who are attempting to reclaim their roots has been so firmly entrenched in the U.S. For so long that many of those roots have simply dried out. or, as the author himself puts it, people attempting to reclaim their ethnicity by means of silly "customs" are merely grasping for "scraps" (Howe 3) of a once proud tradition -- which they themselves have little knowledge about, and therefore cannot access.

What is of particular interest is the author's view about the necessity for attempting to reclaim one's ethnic heritage. Howe believes this is largely unnecessary due to the "provincial" (Howe 3) nature of such a heritage. In the general scheme of life and the importance one is able to achieve through it, the author posits that ethnicity is just an origination -- a starting point -- with which it is essential to get beyond in able to achieve matters of true substance. 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 oppressed conditions to bourgeois influenced standards of labor. Doing so would certainly help to address the issues that affect people in common.