In 1998, Eric Liu wrote a book about his struggle with acculturation titled “The Accidental Asian”. A chapter within the book called “Notes of a Native Speaker” depicts an essay written by Liu which fully describes his struggles with race and how he overcame them. Eric Liu is an American born Taiwanese Asian. His parents immigrated to the United States before he was born and in so, gave him a mixed cultural background. He started becoming a writer after attending Yale University and graduating from Harvard Law School. In his “Notes of a Native Speaker” author Eric Liu argues that as he was “becoming white” he was achieving, learning the ways of the upper middle class and distancing himself from radicals of any hue. He has assimilated and in turn put himself into the profile of the “banana”.…
Amy Tan allows us to deepen our understanding of her world by finding every day items and ideas that Americans can relate to such as a mother’s desire to do the best for their children, or using meals to represent a nurturing love, or a vase to represent a rocky foundation, or the pain that comes from hiding your true self. The use of figurative language in this novel removes the barriers from both the Chinese and the American cultures and customs therefore allowing us to examine each other not through the eyes of a specific race but through the eyes of one race, the human race.…
Throughout history, interracial relations have had a big impact within the Asian American community. There was an increase in the number of interracial relationships, particularly between Asian women and American soldiers as they served overseas in Asian countries and spent time in military bases. The War Brides Act of 1945 allowed U.S servicemen to bring their alien brides and families to the U.S. following World War II. In 1947, an amendment made it possible for U.S. soldiers to bring their Japanese and Korean wives. After those enactments, thousands of women from Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines came to the U.S. as war brides. Often these women were looked down upon, were seen as “tainted”, and were shunned from their communities.…
In The Struggle To Be An All-American Girl, Elizabeth Wong writes about her personal accounts of going to Chinese school to learn the language of her heritage and wanting to become All-American. Wong's purpose for writing this essay was to inform others of how she grew up and now she regrets her discussion. The genre of the essay is a personal essay because narrative and descriptive passages are used as well as first person. This essay's audience is other Chinese-American youth that want to become all-American or other that just want insight of her life. The social context of the essay is that there are others that are required to go to Chinese school and the cultural was the enlightenment regarding that not continuing to learn the language of her heritage. Wong's essay is a simple little passage telling about her life to others in the same situation.…
My research focused on the coverage of Asian Americans in contemporary mass media. The following types of media were researched:…
The two essays “I’m a Banana and Proud of It” by Wayson Choy and “Why My Mother Can’t Speak English” by Garry Engkent had similar topics which is the life of Chinese Immigrants in North America. In Choy’s essay he focuses on how he feels left out of his Chinese heritage and how he admits that the younger generation of Chinese immigrants are being influenced on by American/Canadian culture via Television, Movies, Music and etc. Although he acknowledged that the pionner immigrants probably were also faced with the challenge to adapt to the culture of the foreign land they were in for the good of their families and themselves.…
The Vietnam War ended in 1975, which caused many Vietnamese people to be driven out of their homes and immigrate to America, seeking a safe life away from the affects of war and political turmoil (Ojeda-Kimbrough Lecture June 7, 2012). My family was a part of these refugees searching for a way out. I interviewed my mother, Huong Carter who was born and raised in Vietnam and came to the U.S. with the second wave of immigrants after the war had ended. The second wave of immigrants, including my family, could not speak English very well and traveled by boat, which was one of the most dangerous ways of travel during this time (Ojeda-Kimbrough Lecture June 7, 2012). With the threat of pirates, theft, illness, and drowning, my family faced these dangers in order to gain their freedom.…
The people who are the unhappiest in this world are those who care what others think of themselves. From American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, Jin facial expressions would show him being worried and often thinking. Not caring what others may think of themselves is a choice someone should make to benefit. Before judging a person based on generalizations about a whole race, people need to understand every person is a unique individual. Some of the worst Asian American model minority myths include those that characterize Asian Americans as invariably exceptional students, those that claim that Asian American often become doctors, lawyers, engineers, and pharmacists, and those that say that Asian Americans have language barriers. Stereotypes…
Final Exam - Review Sheet 250 points *10 points for your name and TA’s name…
Many may think that United States will be the land of opportunities and fairness. Several have spoken highly of America and excepted great freedom and righteous. Even many families had traveled far to be free in America and had left their countries for the better. Many have thought that they would never be treated as animals again. However, in the novel When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka, her story took place during the World War 2. The novel shows how American has changed their attitudes towards the Japanese because of the war. Ostuka’s family was separated from each other under the American’s investigation due to that they are Japanese Americans. The Japanese Americans lost all of their rights over the suspicious…
In the book “Asian America Through the Lens”, Xing discussed that Asian American aesthetics is usually defined as “consciousness” or “sensitivity” by various filmmakers. He further elaborated that the reason for this is because filmmakers make films from their consciousness. Resulting from the idea of who they are and how they view themselves in the society. Some of the common themes I have seen in Asian American films are the emphasis in performing dance and song, traditional family values, and culture. In the film “Flower Drum Song”, the journey of Mei Li started when a traditional family of Sammy Fong ordered him a picture bride from Hong Kong. Sammy Fong has his eye already with Linda Low so he made his way to transfer…
American born Chinese by Yang consists of three different storylines which are focusing on people’s perspectives on race and identity differences . The first story was a “Monkey King”,…
Imagine having to adapt to an entirely new culture, already starting at a disadvantage of being misjudged. In Julie Otsuka’s When The Emperor Was Divine, the boundaries of culture and identity are tested as a Japanese immigrant family try to find their way through being viewed as the enemy of America in their own backyards. Cultural diffusion can lead to a loss of identity and change in moral compass.…
The author of “In the Land of Free”, Edith Maud Eaton, with pen name Sui Sin Far, was not a direct immigrant from Asia to the United States, but she portrayed the harsh treatment Asian immigrants faced upon entering in the U.S. in the late 1800s. Sui Sin Far, working as a journalist for Fly Lea, had exposed the extreme injustice done to Asian Americans in U.S. while she was living on the west coast of the United States. In addition, Sui Sin Far’s narration throughout “The Land of the Free” presents the truth about what was immigrant’s life behind America's dreams of fortune.…
The story Bone written by “Fae Myenne Ng” focuses on the struggle Leila and her family go through in San Francisco. Leila the narrator tells her family’s struggles in this country after they immigrated from china. Mah her mother and Leon her stepfather are hardworking immigrants who have battle to make it through life. I relate to her story in so many ways, my mother is also a very hardworking immigrant who has done everything to give my brothers and me a better future.…