Examples Of Asian American Stereotypes

Nick Jump
Ms. Pringle
1310 1:00
17 October 2005

Stereotypes play a significant role in the lives of many individuals. Stereotypes can be hurtful and they can be helpful. Eric Liu combats Asian stereotypes and his own thoughts of inferiority with a conscious strategy of assimilation that leads to further the spread of Asian American stereotypes and the loss of his own individuality. When someone finds him or herself in an unfamiliar place, they tries to adapt to the surroundings by blending in. Liu believes that the way to "make it" in America is to "achieve whiteness" (148). Liu believes to be successful one must "[bleach] out the marks of a darker, dirtier past" and assimilate (148). When Eric Liu assimilated he was considered
The strategy that Liu used to get away from the Asian American stereotype was by acting completely being to total opposite of what Asians are known for. Asians are stereotypically know for being very good at math and science, so Liu decided that he would study history. He lifted weights and went to the Marine officer candidate school to prove that he was not lacking any physical or metal strength. However, Liu states that by "working so to defy stereotypes, I became a slave to it. For to act self-consciously against Asian ‘tendencies' is not to break loose from the cage of myth and legend; it is to turn the very key that locks you inside" (151). By defying Asian American stereotypes Liu was feeding the stereotype of the typical Asian, waspy Yale student. In collage Liu used what he had absorbed and learned growing up about the white culture to survive and
If a football player is trying out for a team and he knows he is not very good at caching the ball, the player will work extra hard to have a speed advantage over the other players so that he can still draw the attention of the coaches. Liu not only believed that he was inferior to whites but that he deficient to every race: "I believed that I lacked the connections, the wealth, the experience, the sophistication that so many of my classmates seemed to have"(151). Liu saw the power that whites have in this country, and as Liu began to blend into white, middle-class America, he saw that "[he] was actually beginning to ‘make it'." Liu's acceptance to Yale led to many other privileged experiences. "Extracurriculars opened the door to an alumni internship, which brought [him] to Capital Hill, which led to a job and a life in Washington after commencement" (151). By almost any standards of American society, Liu would be considered elite and one of the