Takaki Chapter 6

Takaki Chapter 6

In chapter six, Takaki explains how class amongst whites first began with the arrival of the immigration of the Irish to America. The Irish were forced from there native home of Ireland because the English colonist seized Irish farm land and begun harvesting beef. Only fourteen percent of Ireland’s land was under Irish control and therefore over ninety percent of the population was left without an occupation (141). Those who once had been farmers no longer had land to farm on, which left them with a diet that consisted mainly of potatoes. After a fungus began to cause the potatoes to die, this in effect, caused about one million people to die from starvation and disease (143). The Irish were finding that it was difficult to survive in Ireland and began to immigrate to America, “room for all-employment for all and success for many,” but once the Irish arrived in America they met the same fate as every other ethnic group that had ever immigrated to America (143).
The Irish arrived in America at a time that labor was in high demand, and the Irish were the most qualified for these jobs in the eyes of the American’s. Many Irish immigrants worked before sunrise until sundown at their bosses command. Many of the jobs the Irish occupied were extremely dangerous, for example coal mining and building rail lines (146). It was some common in fact that the Irish were placed in such dangerous jobs that they accounted for many job related accidents which led the Irish to believe that they were, “thought of nothing more that dogs…despised & kicked about” (147). Also, to accompany the feeling of worthlessness was the fact that the Irish had to compete with other ethnicities to compete for their jobs. The Irish also were compared to blacks because they were felt viewed as “savages.” (149). While the Irish were discriminated against at first, they eventually gained acceptance in society. Many Irish women became maids which in turn gave them the ability to read and write; thus allowing the women the ability to earn more money.
As seen in Takaki chapter 10, chapter 6 shows that skin color was not as big of a factor in determining class as one might believe. The Irish came to America, their skin was white, but they were discriminated against. It then becomes clear that skin color was the reason why the upper class discriminated against other ethnicities. Takaki makes this extremely clear in chapter 6.