| This essay examines the nature and persistence of ethnicity among a group of university educated, second generation Italian Canadian women. It explores those factors, both external and internal, that contribute to the formation and maintenance of their ethnic identity. While no two women had identical experiences or views, as a whole they feel at odds with the duality of cultures they are forced to balance because they lack a sense of belonging to either their native community or their ethnic community. Those of the second generation have no definable place as they are not immigrants, and they do not feel themselves Canadian beyond their legal citizenship. As Italian Canadian women, they are reduced to mythological constructs of society's imagination. Ultimately, they are labelled "typical Italian women", indicating both a feeble attempt at understanding and contempt for a "foreign" group. The "crucible", both a melting pot for metal, and a trial, is a metaphor for the Italian Canadian woman expected to assimilate into one culture or another. Unable to assimilate she faces judgement and condemnation to a social role she may not otherwise have chosen.;Chapter One explores the relationship between art and literature of the ethnic community and their perceived identity. Chapter two examines the creation of an Italian community in Toronto and the impact of social, geographic and economic forces on the ethnicization of the second generation. Chapter three discusses the Italian immigrant mother and her relationship with her Canadian born daughter. Chapter four presents the results of the interviews conducted with second generation women. |
