If you had to leave America, move to another country, and without knowing the language, the people, or anything about the land how would you feel? Would you expect to be treated nicely by the native people? In the book Of Beetles & Angels a family from Ethiopia, moved to America and had to survive in America. They are often treated badly but are really nice to other people in America. By using a Multi-Cultural approach to viewing this book, you will notice many things you might not have if you were just reading it. Some of the things you notice are, how people from different cultures interact, how the dominant culture treats other cultures, and the stereotypes used in this book.
In the book the different cultures treat each other in different ways. Selamawi's brother Tewolde helped many people who weren't a part of his culture. “We approached the library's entrance and saw a dark-haired white brother shivering under the awning… we went to him and asked him if he was hungry, and he said, "I lost my job and never got another one, and I don"t think I'll ever get one again. I'm done.'” (64) Eventually Tewolde helped him out, first by giving him sandwiches and later “found him housing and a job, encouraged him, and had even given him money when he could” (66) Another example of how other cultures treat each other is by how the immigration officers treated the immigrants. They first had them pass an immigrant test, which most failed. Later they wanted to bring one extra person, the immigration officers refused. Their family had to wait a whole other year just for the immigration officers to let them leave with her. “Right before we were to leave our village forever, my half sister Mulu came from another region of Sudan, surprising us… my father and mother refused to leave without her… “Look,” they told us, “world relief agreed to work with a family of five, not a family of six. They agreed to bring you now, not later, and it's impossible for her to come with you. She has no paperwork” (16)
In Of Beetles & Angels we can see how the dominant culture, the rich suburban kids, treat the subculture, the African refugees. Many times the white kids are mean to Selamawi and Tewolde. “African boodie-scratcher! Scratch that boodie, Black Donkey! You're so Ugly, Why don't you go back to Africa where you came from?” (34) These are just a few examples of the mean things their classmates said to them. Selamawi and his brother got in many fights at their school because of this “We were accustomed to fighting almost daily… So it was usually no contest, especially when the two of us double-teamed them, as we had done so many times in Sudan.” (35) Eventually when the kids at school saw famine-stricken Ethiopians on TV, they were teased even more, but this time it was his sister Mulu. “Her classmates drew skeletons on her locker and even serenaded her with the popular famine fundraising song, "We Are the World."” (37) Mulu fought back until she was suspended from school.
In the book, stereotypes of the different characters are often shown and reinforced. As stated above the suburban rich kids were often mean to the African refugees and used many stereotypes to make fun of them. They compared the Africans to the starving people of Ethiopia because they thought the people living in Ethiopia were starving, so everyone from Ethiopia had to be. They often teased Selamawi by offering to give their food to him. “Hey, Salami! You look so skinny. Let me know if you need more food. You want another sandwich? How about some extra milk? I don't want you to starve.” (37) Another stereotype is reinforced when Selamawi and his friends steal the parking meter. “Glancing At the sand-speckled dirt next to the meter… each of us considered the same question: how many quarters did that double-headed parking meter hold? ... We dragged our prize to the secret tunnel next to the railroad tracks” This part reinforces the stereotype that black people steal a lot more then other races.
In the book Of Beetles & Angels, you see how people from Ethiopia and America interact, how the dominant culture treats other cultures, and the stereotypes in the book. You can learn from the book that by treating someone nicely, it helps them out and also helps you and makes you feel good about yourself. When someone is being mistreated it is very easy to just stand by and watch or join in mistreating him or her. However, you should be the better person and try to help them, although it may be the harder thing to do.
