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How stereotypes affect racism
The impacts of racial stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination
Role of language in identity
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The essay “Being a Chink” was written by Christine Leong for her freshman composition class at NYC and was later published in Mercer Street. Leong begins with the affect that language has on people, how it can define us, make us feel, and differentiate us. She recalls the first time she saw the word chink, one summer while working in her family’s Chinese restaurant. While dusting some shelves she came across a white bank envelope with the work chink written on it in her father’s handwriting. Consequently she was upset by this finding; since she was not sure if her father was called this name by a customer and he wrote it down to find the meaning of this word. Since her family was one of two Asian families living in the area, she was not surprised
In the text “The Meaning of a Word” by Gloria Naylor, the author discloses on how her personal experiences altered her life and presented another perspective on how words can have different effects depending on its context or the situation. She emphasizes and outlines how a racial term can adopt a positive connotation by those whom it is being used against. The second text “Being a Chink” is about a woman who _____. The anecdote also provides experiences where the narrator focused on the existence of a racial term that remained effective throughout her childhood. The meaning of the word varies from ____. Naylor’s story shares similarities with “Being a Chink” by Christine Leong in regards to discussing the essence of a racial term. Both individuals demonstrate how racial acts can ________. Yes, racist language can be
In "The Meaning of a Word" and "Being a Chink", Gloria Naylor and Christine Leong examine words of hatred that are meant to scorn, hurt and disgrace people. But these same words could also be used without harmful intentions and in a fashion of endearment amongst the people those words were created for. They each had a different word to discriminate their different culture and ethnicity. These writers discuss the words "nigger" and "chink", which are words in our language mostly ignorant people use. Naylor and Leong are also both minorities who were raised in America. They talk about how discrimination and hatred towards minorities is almost always inevitable in America, which is mostly populated by Caucasians. Naylor and Leong observe how these racial acts of discrimination can unify a group of people even closer together. Naylor didn't know the true meaning of the hate word nigger until it was used against her in a degrading manner. On the other hand Leong already knew what chink meant but wasn't traumatized until she found out her father discovered it.
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.
The Chinese New year marks a time of celebration, tradition, and new beginnings. The Chinese people celebrate their hard work during this time by resting and enjoying time with family. The tradition to rest, and close businesses is so that luck may come upon them for the upcoming year. In the novel, Donald Duk written by Frank Chin the Duk family takes these traditions very seriously. They are a Chinese family living in America, in the Chinatown district of San Francisco where this novel takes place. The Duk family has immigrated to San Francisco however their children including the protagonist, Donald Duk was born in America. Donald is an eleven-year-old boy who struggles with his overwhelming need to be American and his undeniable Chinese
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 ...
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.
One striking similarity in the writings is that all characters lose their heritage over time. In “The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl”, Elizabeth was forced to attend Chinese school by her mother to retain her Chinese heritage and to speak proficient Chinese. However, she hated the Chinese School and strongly preferred speaking English over Chinese. She...
By juxtaposing both the English and Mandarin language, Wong is effectively showcasing and questioning the institutional dominance the English language may possesses over both worldwide linguistics as well as individual’s freedom of expression; Stating we may need to break free from the constraining borders English may pose on an individual, and instead write or speak in any way we wish in hopes of effectively getting our point across. The narrator wants herself and others to break free from the strict dominant borders, empowering others to live a life filled with full freedom of expression regardless of one’s style of writing or minority
Despite growing up amidst a language deemed as “broken” and “fractured”, Amy Tan’s love for language allowed her to embrace the variations of English that surrounded her. In her short essay “Mother Tongue”, Tan discusses the internal conflict she had with the English learned from her mother to that of the English in her education. Sharing her experiences as an adolescent posing to be her mother for respect, Tan develops a frustration at the difficulty of not being taken seriously due to one’s inability to speak the way society expects. Disallowing others to prove their misconceptions of her, Tan exerted herself in excelling at English throughout school. She felt a need to rebel against the proverbial view that writing is not a strong suit of someone who grew up learning English in an immigrant family. Attempting to prove her mastery of the English language, Tan discovered her writing did not show who she truly was. She was an Asian-American, not just Asian, not just American, but that she belonged in both demographics. Disregarding the idea that her mother’s English could be something of a social deficit, a learning limitation, Tan expanded and cultivated her writing style to incorporate both the language she learned in school, as well as the variation of it spoken by her mother. Tan learned that in order to satisfy herself, she needed to acknowledge both of her “Englishes” (Tan 128).
In analyzing these two stories, it is first notable to mention how differing their experiences truly are. Sammy is a late adolescent store clerk who, in his first job, is discontent with the normal workings of society and the bureaucratic nature of the store at which he works. He feels oppressed by the very fabric and nature of aging, out-of date rules, and, at the end of this story, climaxes with exposing his true feelings and quits his jobs in a display of nonconformity and rebellion. Jing-Mei, on the other hand, is a younger Asian American whose life and every waking moment is guided by the pressures of her mother, whose idealistic word-view aids in trying to mold her into something decent by both the double standards Asian society and their newly acquired American culture. In contrasting these two perspectives, we see that while ...
This read was overall very eye opening for me because I had never really thought about the prejudices that whites had towards the Chinese. Mrs. Spring Fragrance is a collection of short stories written by Edith Eaton. She took the pen name Sin Sui Far to embrace her Chinese heritage and these short stories have a strong focus on Chinese characters. In class we were shown a passage from “Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of a Eurasian” which showed us one of Eaton’s own experiences. “I cannot reconcile myself to the thought hat the Chinese are humans like ourselves. They may have immortal souls, but their faces seem to be so utterly devoid of expression that I cannot help but doubt… Their bodies are enough for me. A Chinaman is, in my eyes, more repulsive than a nigger… They always give me such a creepy feeling… I wouldn’t have one in my house” (Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of a Eurasian). These statements are examples of the types of stereotypes and racism that Chinamen were victims of. I think these short stories are Eaton’s way of using her platform as a writer to battle the stereotypes that are given to the people that are apart
Hwang’s father has been victims of racism since 1996, we can’t tell by the last name or by the way the look like where they come from. We aren’t allowed to ask at auditions legally, a person’s race. Therefore, the fact that DHH a character in this play mistakes a white man for being part Asian shows us that we can’t necessarily tell where a you really from by looking
Elizabeth Wong, born and raised in Chinatown in Los Angeles, grew up rebelling against learning Chinese and the Chinese culture. When she was in grade school, she was embarrassed because she could not do things fourth/fifth graders would normally do such as pretend to hunt ghosts or go on a search for animal bones with her friends. Instead she and her brother were forcefully dragged by their mother to Chinese school. Kids do not just grow up knowing they don’t want to take part in their heritage; it just happens. Many adolescents nowadays seem to be revolting against their heritage, causing the parents to enforce it onto them. And even when they are older and by luck, or persistence, are granted a ‘cultural divorce’, they are still surrounded by it every day causing them to feel as if they never really made a complete transition. It’s understandable that parents want their children growing up within the same cultural environment but some kids grow up believing that who they want to be, isn’t who their parents want them to be. Causing
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.
“Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” is an excerpt from Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua, a Yale Law professor. In this excerpt the author explains why Chinese children tend to be more successful in life and expresses her dislike towards Western parenting. The first idea Chua explains is a list of activities her daughters are allowed to do and not do in order to focus solely on academic progress. Second, the author demonstrates the contrast in mindset between Chinese mothers and Western mothers by explaining how Chinese mothers feel differently than Western mothers in regards to academic success and learning. Furthermore, she describes how Chinese mothers can demand things from their children. Finally, they can also say