In the poems “How I Got My Name” written by Marilyn Chin, “America” by Claude McKay and Brent Staples “Just Walk on By,” the theme of race, equality and prejudice are depicted. The authors all delineate how the cultural diversity and stereotypes have resulted in inequality and prejudice towards an individual’s race. The poets/author expertly utilize rhetorical devices to emphasize discrimination and how it can hinder individuals in specific ethnic groups, thereby restricting their equal chances at the American Dream. Chin's poem “How I Got That Name” is a self-depicted thought of the issue of assimilation. Much of the poem explores this theme, and her personal struggle between two cultures is prevalent through the use of setting and allusion. Chin …show more content…
Her father was so intrigued by the American race he gave Chin an American name of one of the biggest icons. The name “Marilyn” was not Chin’s ideal of a name. The reference to “Monroe” brings up the issue of race when she mentions “white women”. This shows how different Marilyn Monroe life as an American was compared to the Chinese Chin. Chin believes being named after such an American like Marilyn it erases her ethnic and cultural identity. She talks about the struggle of being a Chinese-American race. Chin states it was hard to maintain a Chinese culture while trying to assimilate into an American culture. Being a Chinese- American individuals had prejudice which lead to the stereotype of the “Model Minority.” The American race created the preconceived notion that Chinese-Americans are model students and had all the right materials to become successful. The reality of the situation Chin states, Chinese-Americas are regular people trying to acquire the American Dream of live, liberty and property. She mentions her father was a hustler, “While my father dithers, a tomcat in Hong Kong trash—a gambler,
Imagine feeling and looking different from all those around you. Imagine if you weren’t understood the same way as the majority. In the book “American Born Chinese”, two characters, Jin and Monkey King who went through the same situations, but in different societies. The Monkey King insight into the impact of society on Jin as they both face social exclusion through experiencing internalized racism. Further as Monkey King transforms into another character, Chin-Kee, which Jin sees as an embarrassing Chinese culture.
Gordon’s voice is sad and stressful but all of this just what she thinks about the history, but Chinese Poetry is different, they has a lot of diversity voice in there, some sad, some depressed, some hopeless, but there are some of them is hopeful and want to have a better life in America. In my opinion, I like the way people who look into the history to learn and improve themselves than just getting angry and sad with something happened long time ago. Reading Chinese Poetry, I can feel the sadness of them Chinese and Vietnamese have similar culture and I could understand why they were so anxious and stressful. China is far away from the America, the Chinese Immigrants have to go really far to get into American with hopefully that they could have a better life for them. In fact, the Chinese immigrants did not be treat as they respected.
In this article, Eric Liu presents his life as a native immigrant to an Asian American individual. He shares his experience through his reflection of ideas and emotions. Along with his story, it relates to the ideas of people’s journey from adolescence to adulthood. Eric’s inspirational experience is directed towards minority groups who try to adapt to the American culture and lifestyle. His parents emigrated from China to America, before he was born which he later became exposed to the freedom and diverse society. This results in beneficial effects for his individuality, career opportunities, and lifestyle. Although his parents have lived in a different culture than him, his life in America has made him assimilated into the American society
Similarly, Wong also grew up in America with a traditional Chinese mother. In contrast, Wong’s upbringing involves her mother forcing her into attending two different schools. After her American school day, Wong continues on with Chinese school to learn both cultures. Her mother felt it was her duty to “[. . .] learn the language of [her] heritage” (Wong 144). This puts a burden on Wong as she starts to despise the Chinese culture.
June-May fulfills her mother’s name and life goal, her long-cherished wish. She finally meets her twin sisters and in an essence fulfills and reunites her mother with her daughter through her. For when they are all together they are one; they are their mother. It is here that June-May fulfills the family portion of her Chinese culture of family. In addition, she fully embraces herself as Chinese. She realizes that family is made out of love and that family is the key to being Chinese. “And now I also see what part of me is Chinese. It is so obvious. It is my family. It is in our blood.” (Tan 159). Finally, her mother’s life burden is lifted and June-May’s doubts of being Chinese are set aside or as she says “After all these years, it can finally be let go,” (Tan 159).
...in her essay “No Name Woman”. The Chinese tradition of story telling is kept by Kingston in her books. Becoming Americanized allowed these women the freedom to show their rebellious side and make their own choices. Rebelling against the ideals of their culture but at the same time preserving some of the heritage they grew up with. Both woman overcame many obstacles and broke free of old cultural ways which allowed them an identity in a new culture. But most importantly they were able to find identity while preserving cultural heritage.
Chinese immigrants to the United States of America have experienced both setbacks and triumphs in the quest to seek a better life from themselves and their families. First arriving in America in the mid-1800s to seek jobs and escape poor conditions in their home country, the Chinese found work as labors and settled in areas known as Chinatowns (Takaki 181-183). In the early years, these immigrants experienced vast legal racism and sexism as women were forbidden to enter the country and the Chinese Exclusion Act prevented laborers from entering the country for years (Takaki 184-192). Today, the modern Chinese-American experience has changed from the experience of early Chinese immigrants. Many immigrants enter the country seeking better education as well employment (Yung, Chang, and Lai 244). Immigrant women have made great strides in achieving equality to men. Despite advancements, many immigrants still experience discrimination on some level. One example of a modern Chinese immigrant is “Ruby”, a college student who, with her parents, immigrated from Hong Kong to a suburb of Providence, Rhode Island, 7 years ago. Ruby’s story shares insight on the modern Chinese-American experience and the struggles this group still faces. Chinese immigrants have long maintained a presence in the United States, and despite many struggles, have eventually began to reap the benefits of this great nation.
Wu, Ellen D. "Asian Americans and the 'model Minority' Myth." Los Angeles Times. 23 Jan. 2014. Los Angeles Times. Web. 04 Feb. 2014. .
In the short story, "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, a Chinese mother and daughter are at odds with each other. The mother pushes her daughter to become a prodigy, while the daughter (like most children with immigrant parents) seeks to find herself in a world that demands her Americanization. This is the theme of the story, conflicting values. In a society that values individuality, the daughter sought to be an individual, while her mother demanded she do what was suggested. This is a conflict within itself. The daughter must deal with an internal and external conflict. Internally, she struggles to find herself. Externally, she struggles with the burden of failing to meet her mother’s expectations. Being a first-generation Asian American, I have faced the same issues that the daughter has been through in the story.
She self-identifies as Chinese-American because she “feels Chinese inside” even though she considers herself to be very assimilated into the American culture. This coincides with one of the four types of ethnic self-labels for second generation immigrants that Portes and Rumbaut analyze: national origin, hyphenated, plain American and pan-ethnic. These identifies arise from reactions to specific external events, internalization of racialized categories or life experiences (Feliciano Lec. 1/25/2016). The reason she still identifies as Chinese is because she was raised to think that way; she grew up in a Chinese dominated community both at home and in school. She also believes that because she is not of a mixed ethnicity, it is easy for her to self-identify as Chinese-American. When asked what makes her American, she responded that it is because she lives in America and she follows many American social norms. She does not believe that citizenship has anything to do with being American, it is just a form that acknowledges that you can receive certain benefits that non-citizens do not have the privilege
The second and third sections are about the daughters' lives, and the vignettes in each section trace their personality growth and development. Through the eyes of the daughters, we can also see the continuation of the mothers' stories, how they learned to cope in America. In these sections, Amy Tan explores the difficulties in growing up as a Chinese-American and the problems assimilating into modern society. The Chinese-American daughters try their best to become "Americanized," at the same time casting off their heritage while their mothers watch on, dismayed. Social pressures to become like everyone else, and not to be different are what motivate the daughters to resent their nationality. This was a greater problem for Chinese-American daughters that grew up in the 50's, when it was not well accepted to be of an "ethnic" background.
In Maya Angelou’s Champion of the World and Amy Tan’s Fish Cheeks both convey their struggles with identity. Both authors are from minority cultures, and describe the same harsh pressures from the dominant culture. They share situations of being outcasts, coming from different racial backgrounds and trying to triumph over these obstacles. Tan and Angelou speak about the differences between their childhood selves and white Americans. Tan talks about the anxiety of a teenage girl who feels embarrassed about her Chinese culture, and who wants to fit in with American society. Angelou’s explains the racial tension and hostility between African and white Americans.
For nearly a century, spanning from the latter half of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century, Chinese-Americans and Chinese immigrants endured discrimination from the United States government and its people. The Chinese are another group of people that were treated as less than in America’s long history of legal racism. The Chinese experience is often overlooked as other
Oftentimes the children of immigrants to the United States lose the sense of cultural background in which their parents had tried so desperately to instill within them. According to Walter Shear, “It is an unseen terror that runs through both the distinct social spectrum experienced by the mothers in China and the lack of such social definition in the daughters’ lives.” This “unseen terror” is portrayed in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club as four Chinese women and their American-born daughters struggle to understand one another’s culture and values. The second-generation women in The Joy Luck Club prove to lose their sense of Chinese values, becoming Americanized.
...me Americans has been realized. Wong is multicultural and not Chinese. However, when she examines back to her childhood, she feels miserable. Her unhappiness is significant because this feeling shows us her present concept on her initial heritage. She can understand why her mother took them to the Chinese school at this issue. She could be an American and still having Chinese heritage. There are many All-Americans but she likes to be someone who is multicultural, and she had numerous possibilities to hold her Chinese culture. The reason for her unhappiness is that she missed these possibilities. She thought that maintaining more than one backgrounds is interesting. Through being an All-American Girl and departing her Chinese culture, she came to realise the importance of her original heritage and the factual significance of being multicultural.