Mosaicism Vs. Melting-Pottism

Both Canada and the United States are located in North American continent, and historically, they were former British colonies. Although they have experienced different periods of development and enjoyed different ways of development, both of them have got out of British hand and become developed capitalist countries. And they have become members of Western Group Seven (G7) and enjoyed a very significant position in modern and contemporary times. However, since the two countries are different in geographical environment, national composition, historical development, political ideals as well as values and identification, the cultural patterns between them are quite different, and these differences have gone through hundreds of years' historical accumulation and thus are inveterate. And these differences will influence the way of thinking and pattern of behavior of Canadians and Americans in the coming scores and even hundreds of years. Undoubtedly, understanding these differences represented in different fields will further China's understanding of Canadian and American cultures and thus promote the friendly communication between China and Canada as well as the United States. Right because of this, it is very important for us to study the cultural differences between Canada and the United States."Our world is rich and colorful" and so is the civilization of each country. The civilization of Canada and the United States has its splendidness. So does the civilization of China. But China has lagged behind in modern times. Now, China "needs to develop", and furthermore, China also "needspeaceful development". "The need to develop" requires us to push constantly forward and keep being pioneers; and "the need for peaceful development" requires us to solve our problems by means of peaceful coexistence instead of military forces. Based on what I mentioned above, my thesis compares the cultural differences between Canada and the United States, and tries to find out what we can learn from Canadian and American cultures to solve our problems in "development" and "peaceful development".When we compare Canadian multiculturalism with American pluralistic culture; we must ponder over the fact that although Canada and the U.S. are both characterized by multiculturalism, there are many differences between them. Then, what are the differences? Why do the differences exist? And where do the differences lie in? And what can we learn from these differences?To answer these questions, the second chapter of my thesis seeks theoretical support from sociological theory on the pattern of relationship among ethnic groups to explain the reason why Canadian multiculturalism is so-called mosaicism, while American multiculturalism is so-called melting-pottism? Foreshadowed by the theoretical preparation, my thesis tries to illustrate the differences between Canadian mosaicism and American melting-pottism in historical perspective.In the third Chapter, my thesis concentrates on detailed analysis of the embodiment of Canadian mosaicism and American melting-pottism in literary aspects, namely, in the themes, the images of protagonists and the values of specific Canadian and American literary works.Next, my thesis studies the differences between Canadian mosaicism and American melting-pottism in other aspects of culture after the definition of the concept—culture, such as in religious, legal and economic perspectives.In the fifth Chapter, my thesis tries to explore the recent tendencies of Canada and the United States moving towards multiculturalism and comes to a conclusion that the kernel of multiculturalism for Canada and the United States remains separately "mosaicism" and "melting-pottism".And eventually, my thesis focuses on the benefit for China from studying mosaicism and melting-pottism, and points out China needs both mosaicism and melting-pottism in the era of globalization.