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Benefits and challenges associated with expressions of cultural identity
Benefits and challenges associated with expressions of cultural identity
Themes for cultural identity
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Chuck and Li-Young Lee have no idea who the hell they are. Both are similar characters from two different books by two different authors; but they are looking for the same thing: identity and what space they occupy? Chuck identifies with the New York scene and type of people living there, but does not have a space or identity of his own just as Lee is confused about who he is and must dive into meta-poetics to find his space and identity. Both are lost in a haze of confusion, and must look very hard both within themselves, as well as friends, family, heritage, and the history surrounding their lives. This paper will examine the historical and ethnic conflicts of the characters and how they come to reconcile their space and identity in a foreign land dealing with these issues. Some of these issues stem from misrepresented information and initial prejudice while others rise from a lack of personal information, and building upon ones past and history and their personal perception of themselves occupying a space.
In the beginning of the text Chuck identifies with his New York “identity” as well as being a “renaissance man” rather than having a named identity (Naqvi, 1). He does notice forced identities that he is not part of or had been part of before; “We'd become Japs, Jews, Niggers. We weren't before” (Naqvi, 1). Chuck notices these identities and space being made; he feels something of forced inclusion into a space that had not been there before. Not apparent at first, Chuck has a severed connection with his heritage, when thinking of what food to eat, “eating home food, comfort food, alone made me shudder” (Naqvi, 32) He cannot even bring himself to eat the food he grew up on. This is further reinforced in that he does not cont...
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.... But he wants to accept the American identity as well, but “its sensual, salient nowness, punctuating the void from which such hunger springs and to which it proceeds” (Lee, 84). Through his acceptance of his East Asian identity his soul is “cleaved so that the soul might be restored.” His soul is split, but by his own doing, he must accept his hyphenated identity, embrace it, and accept it.
Though both characters come to find their identity and space, historical and ethnic struggles haunt and follow them along the way. Neither characters are accepted in the American culture, and have to identify with others in their position. This causes much heartache and a sudden shock to the character. But with persistence, these characters find their identity; though not what they might have expected or originally wanted, they became part of something that would accept them.
By separating from her Asian culture Wong hoped to be able to be more American. Her longing to be American was obvious with her statement, “ at last, I was one of you”, “you” signifying Americans (Wong 3). On the other hand, Dwight Okita perspective was one of acceptance, even showing that he associates more as an American. Okita acknowledged the two cultures as independent entities, but knew that they were intertwined. A metaphor was used to show this connection.
There are many factors that lead to the development of an individual’s identity. Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” illustrates an extreme change in Gregor Samsa’s external identity and the overall outward effect it has on the development of his family. While James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” illustrates a young man struggling to find his identity while being pushed around by what society and his family wants him to be. Both of these characters exhibit an underlying struggle of alienation but both also demonstrate a craving for belongingness. This conflict of trying to belong to something as well as satisfying the needs of society, has directly impacted their own individuality and the lives of the people around them.
The construction of identity in Native American literature tends to be contingent on the trope of alienation. Protagonists then must come to terms with their exile/alienated condition, and disengage from the world in order to regain a sense of their pre-colonial life. In utilizing the plight of the American Indian, authors expose the effects decolonization and how individuals must undergo a process of recovery. Under these circumstances, characters are able reclaim knowledge of a tribal self that had been distorted by years of oppression. Through Welch’s Winter in the Blood and The Heartsong of Charging Elk, and Alexie’s Flight, we can see how the protagonists suffer from the tensions of living on the margins of conflicting societies, and that they must overcome their alienations in order to reconnect with a native identity.
In Brave New World the social conditioning causes the characters to struggle with their acceptance of their place within society. In Sherman Alexie’s Blasphemy the hereditary ties to the modern and Indian culture causes a strife among the characters. In both works, characters such as Bernard and the narrator from The Toughest Indian in the World are seen to initially struggle with their self-identify through internal thought. However, their internal struggle soon seeps through to the exterior, which causes a defining act. I will argue that in both Blasphemy and Brave New World the characters cope with their identity crisis by internalizing everything until a breaking point is reached causing a defining moment which is something that is out
Chang-Rae Lee’s Native Speaker expresses prominent themes of language and racial identity. Chang-Rae Lee focuses on the struggles that Asian Americans have to face and endure in American society. He illustrates and shows readers throughout the novel of what it really means to be native of America; that true nativity of a person does not simply entail the fact that they are from a certain place, but rather, the fluency of a language verifies one’s defense of where they are native. What is meant by possessing nativity of America would be one’s citizenship and legality of the country. Native Speaker suggests that if one looks different or has the slightest indication that one should have an accent, they will be viewed not as a native of America, but instead as an alien, outsider, and the like. Therefore, Asian Americans and other immigrants feel the need to mask their true identity and imitate the native language as an attempt to fit into the mold that makes up what people would define how a native of America is like. Throughout the novel, Henry Park attempts to mask his Korean accent in hopes to blend in as an American native. Chang-Rae Lee suggests that a person who appears to have an accent is automatically marked as someone who is not native to America. Language directly reveals where a person is native of and people can immediately identify one as an alien, immigrant, or simply, one who is not American. Asian Americans as well as other immigrants feel the need to try and hide their cultural identity in order to be deemed as a native of America in the eyes of others. Since one’s language gives away the place where one is native to, immigrants feel the need to attempt to mask their accents in hopes that they sound fluent ...
During the interwar period Jews faced many hurdles that prevented them from assimilating into the American culture. Lewisohn and Howe both demonstrate how external pressures of anti-Semitism and discrimination, and internal anxieties and struggles created immovable barriers to assimilation. The Jazz Singer also, to some extent, depicts the internal conflicts that arise because Jewishness cannot coexist alongside American ideals. It is only through total abandonment and the creation of an alternate persona through black face that one can attempt to reconcile these conflicting identities. Since these barriers were impossible to overcome, and by design meant to keep minorities out of the American. Assimilation was something Jews and other minorities aspired to achieve, but regardless of aspiration could not because it did not actually exist.
In “My Two Lives”, Jhumpa Lahiri tells of her complicated upbringing in Rhode Island with her Calcutta born-and-raised parents, in which she continually sought a balance between both her Indian and American sides. She explains how she differs from her parents due to immigration, the existent connections to India, and her development as a writer of Indian-American stories. “The Freedom of the Inbetween” written by Sally Dalton-Brown explores the state of limbo, or “being between cultures”, which can make second-generation immigrants feel liberated, or vice versa, trapped within the two (333). This work also discusses how Lahiri writes about her life experiences through her own characters in her books. Charles Hirschman’s “Immigration and the American Century” states that immigrants are shaped by the combination of an adaptation to American...
Language is the most obvious determinant of ethnic identity, especially in the United States. Language barriers were particularly apparent in The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston. The main character’s family in this novel was Chinese and represented the first generation of immigrants for this family. Due to the fact that the entire family spoke Chinese, they were forced to find housing in an area where it was possible to carry on a normal life without speaking English. This area turned out to be Chinatown, in San Francisco. Living in a haven geared to one culture would limit the ability of younger generations to expand past the boundaries of Chinese culture and become ‘Americanized’, which served to preserve many aspects of Chinese culture even further, and truly defining the children of Chinatown, an...
Amy Tan’s ,“Mother Tongue” and Maxine Kingston’s essay, “No Name Woman” represent a balance in cultures when obtaining an identity in American culture. As first generation Chinese-Americans both Tan and Kingston faced many obstacles. Obstacles in language and appearance while balancing two cultures. Overcoming these obstacles that were faced and preserving heritage both women gained an identity as a successful American.
When asked to define ones cultural identity people usually take the path that leads to their country of origin. They describe their beliefs and tradition which mirrors the values of people within that geographic location. But what about the people who are torn between two cultures? How would they define their cultural identity? This is the problem faced by Henry Park, the protagonist of the book Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee. Originally from Korea, he immigrated to the United States with his parents when he was little. However, his struggle of trying to find his acceptance into the American culture still continues. The book outlines his endless uncertainty of trying to define his cultural identity and his feelings as an outsider to the American Culture. Not being able to commit to either of the cultures leaves Henry confused regarding his true Cultural identity which Chang very artfully presents as a fuzzy line between the American and Korean Culture.
This pattern continues today and is prevalent in more modern American writings as well. John Okada’s No-No Boy and Jack Kerouac’s “The Vanishing American Hobo,” two seemingly very different portraits of America, published within three years of each other in 1957 and 1960 respectively, both contain a thread of a confusion of self-identity as it relates to a larger American identity. These two works not only view the relationship between self-identity and country, but also delve into what happens when a country does not accept the identity that an individual has chosen for himself or herself. In No-No Boy, Ichiro and many other Japanese-American characters in the novel must create new American identities for themselves in the aftermath of Japan’s defeat in World War II. In...
Singh, Amritjit, Joseph T. Skerretk Jr., and Robert e. Hogan. Memory, Narrative, and Identity: New Essays in Ethnic American Literatures. Introduction. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1994.
In essence, he was shunned” (Hongo 4) by the white people who could not believe that he would attack their superior American ways. According to writers such as Frank Chin and the rest of the “Aiiieeeee!” group, the Americans have dictated Asian culture and created a perception as “nice and quiet” (Chin 1972, 18), “mama’s boys and crybabies” without “a man in all [the] males.” (Chin 1972, 24). This has become the belief of the preceding generations of Asian Americans and therefore manifested these stereotypes. Those authors who contest these “American made” stereotypes are said to betray the American culture and white power around them, and to be “rocking the boat” in a seemingly decent living situation.
The multiple diasporic elements she refers to, take her to a unique zenith of diasporic emplacement and are successful in creating the identity, which she has always tried locating in various migrant situations and circumstances. She symbolizes the contemporary group of writers who are concerned with crossing over from one culture to another without compromising either, negotiating new borders, and reconstructing themselves. “I have in me these worlds that need to be brought together- very crudely, India and America- and sometimes I feel that I keep treading the edge of the fault line in between,” states Meena Alexander in Yellow Light: The Flowering of Asian American Arts (“Meena Alexander” 84). ‘Fault line’, which is the central metaphor in Alexander’s work, draws upon her history of travel in order to display the link between movement and identity or ‘self’. For Meena Alexander’s migrant narrative, language offers a home. The various terrains Alexander has shifted through resonate in her writing, allowing her works to explore the position of the immigrant, marginalized subject. The author continues to explore the notion of creating a life in her writing. She asks what is definitely the most recurring and poignant question in all immigrant literatures: “Can I become just what I want? So is this the land of opportunity, the America of dreams?” (Fault Lines
In order of being able to analyze the sources of conflicts regarding the clothing manufacturer, I will present the Conflict Process Model according to McShane and Von Glinow. Therefore, I will first define what conflicts are, and second present the different sources of conflicts and carve out which conflicts are involved regarding to the given case. The third step is to explain two different strategies to minimize these conflicts in future. Finally, I will provide a recommendation and conclusion.