Charlie Chan Identity Essay

Crisis of Identity America; a polyglot of culture, language, and national identity. As a nation of immigrants, there is often a struggle to define what an American truly is. Popular music and film is often what first influences the people who come to America, as it spreads propaganda of our stereotypes of race, gender, and the idealized American life. The spread of the American Dream truly comes into play with the idea that anyone can succeed here, even when that is often not the case, especially with people who are just arriving to this country. With the influx of immigrants from around the world, American culture creates a need for assimilation, a group identity that is not the culture of other nations, but what is truly American at its

In the work of Jessica Hagedorn in both the short stories of Charlie Chan is Dead and Dogeaters, these stories address the crisis of identity of first and second wave immigrants as they struggle to find themselves in the new American culture while maintaining the culture of their home country. This dichotomy of identity is exemplified in the character Moon from Marilyn Chin’s story “Moon” in Charlie Chan is Dead. Moon is struggling to immerse herself in the culture of America and is deeply in love with these two Smith boys with blond hair and deeply ingrained racism. Not knowing their hateful nature, Moon attempts to woo them with her music, and they take advantage of her as they tip over a canoe and make her take her clothes off while peeing on her and calling her a “slant-eyed cunt” . Moon then goes back to her parent’s home where she is then shamed by them where her father goes “on and on about the Sino-Japanese war and about the starving girl-children in Kuangtung- and look, what are you doing with your youth and new prosperity, wailing, carrying on, just because some trashy white boys rejected you.” . Moon’s parents do not truly understand Moon’s need to