So Paper Daughter Analysis

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M. Jäger made her presentation on the paper daughter as an autobiography. At the begining, the presenter told what is life writing: It is a “non-fiction” writing on subjects of personal experience and observation; including autobiography, biography, memoir, personal essay, and travel and sojourn writing. So Paper Daughter can be seen as life writing. We discussed the reason why the author named her autobiography paper daughter as well as the motivation of her to write this autobiography. Originally paper daughter or paper son refer to the Chinese immigrants who proclaimed as the children of an American citizen in order to succeed in the immigration to the U.S.A. The title of the novel implicates her Chinese immigrant background. Besides, …show more content…

Elaine Mar’s paper daughter with Andre Lorde’s Zami concerning gender and sexuality. Andre Lorde treasures the difference in sexuality by tracing her difference back to the tradition in which Lesbian behaviors are normal between women. In this way, she becomes powerful and ambitious. In contrast, the sexuality in M. Elaine Mar contradicts with her family value in which she has little sense of identity. The requirement of behaving as a girl from her family on one hand, and the rejection of her classmates on the other hand, place little room for her to develop as an independent human being. However, sexuality let she assert herself as a complete and integrated person. As we can see, both of the two authors are searching for their own identities under the U.S. society. Sexuality is a way to get to know …show more content…

They lived in their Chinese way of life and were marginalized by the main society. In contrast, for the author, living in the U.S.A. the non-conformity of her families’ value stimulate her to leave to search for her own identity and finally she moved to some place her family couldn’t reach. However, the memories of her family can’t really leave her. It’s been part of her identity which can’t be denied. In writing this autobiography, she wants to reveal another part of her which relates with her Chinese families even though there are so much pain and suppression in the

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