accept the fact that the entire Reservation suffers with alcoholism, which was a burdening theme of the entire novel. The fact that all of the Indians live in the same area, with limited interaction involving non-Indian people, defines them as an ethnic race. In the case of this novel, they may have been poorly defined as alcoholics, but the Reservation defined them, nonetheless. Part of the definition of ethnic identity can often times be the common rejection of other ethnic values for a specific reason. This rejection of influence from other ethnicities seemed to be quite a common theme in all of the novels reviewed in our selection, but most abundant in Coming of Age in Mississippi, by Anne Moody. In this novel there was consistent conflict among black slaves due to the turmoil endured throughout lives in which rich, white plantation owners were served. Many slaves, and freed slaves that maintained the same duties with pay when awarded their freedom, were fed up with working for men that had treated them so poorly in the past. Lack of employment options forced the continuation of these jobs, which further escalated spitefulness. It is only natural to reject the customs of a race that consistently disrespects and mistreats the identity of an entire people. Through this disgust, slaves and freed slaves were led to the church. The main family in this novel even disagreed as to what church they would attend, but it served to define their ethnic identity nonetheless.Although there were many tactics employed to reject the culture of the United States throughout the selected novels, havens in which single ethnicities could share a culture, and language barriers to overcome; I think eventually most of these ethnicities melt into one to form the ethnicity of the United States. When all is said and done, it is wonderful that we have such an expansive spectrum of ethnicities to mingle with....
