Bell Theory
The poem “Bell Theory", written by Emily Jungmin Yoon is portraying her dissatisfaction with how she been treated in the United States. She is basically stereotyped daily and made fun of for mispronunciations of words. She uses poetic devices such as imagery, repetition, and metaphors to symbolize her disapproval and emphasize her melodramatic chaotic life. Jungmin also used things such as real life references for example tensions between Japan and Korea to depict how stereotypes are not only a thing between Americans and Asians but between Asians themselves as well. The crux of the poem is that no matter how closely related you are people will always find a way to differentiate themselves and call themselves superior.
Towards the beginning of the poem, the author Jungmin used an aggrieved and ambivalent tone throughout the story to make the reader have sympathy for the speaker. She successfully creates this tone by using words such as sinking, wrong, clumsy, alien. These words from the poem are very relatable to people in real life when they are in a dark spot in their life, thus making them feel sympathy for the speaker in the poem. By creating this common place between the reader and
…show more content…
It is inevitable to get someone not to base a race off of things such as first impressions or even television. You should always learn to shake things off. Throughout the story, the speaker realizes that stereotyping occurs in more than just America. It happens in her own home in Japan. Where they use “yen and sen” to be able to tell them apart. Once she realizes that it is something that it is not a personal attack towards Asians she began to feel a bit more relaxed and began to lie about going to library “I’m going to the library, I lied, years ago, on a field lined with forsythia.” Meaning she is using words she commonly mispronounced as she is feeling more comfortable with who she
Throughout history society has created many stereotypes and assumptions based on race and nationality to confine us into categories. The reality is, not every individual fits a specific category because we are unique even within the same ethnic group. In “On Being Told I Don’t Speak Like a Black person” Allison Joseph illustrates some speech stereotypes that come hand in hand with her racial background and how even people from the same racial background and house hold don’t all sound alike. The author portrays that race and linguistic has such a huge impact on our daily life and how society sees her differently to others when they see she does not fit in the stereotype of sounding “like a black person” and feels frustration to being compared
America is a presumptuous country; its citizens don’t feel like learning any other language so they make everyone else learn English. White Americans are the average human being and act as the standard of living, acting, and nearly all aspects of life. In her essay “White Privilege: The Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh talks about how being white has never been discussed as a race/culture before because that identity has been pushed on everyone else, and being white subsequently carries its own set of advantages. Gloria Anzaldua is a Chicana, a person of mixed identities. In an excerpt titled “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” she discusses how the languages she speaks identifies who she is in certain situations and how, throughout her life, she has been pushed to speak and act more “American” like. McIntosh’s idea of whiteness as a subconscious race that carries its own advantages can enlighten why Anzaldua feels like she
Gate C22 is a poem about a couple just meeting each other when the get off the the plan, coming from two different places. The man had some gray hair and the woman was also older and had a few extra pounds. Although everyone could tell their age, that was not the focus of the people around them or the poem. Their love and attention for each other distracted from their age. The narrator said that the two were so absorbed and graphic that everyone else around them could feel the passion for themselves. The best part as the narrator described it “Was his face” the way he looked at her made everyone else envious of her. (399)
Since the character is illiterate, he has no ability to determine his true feelings for the loved one. Additionally, this use of repetitive words in the poem also shows the lack of diction by the character. When words are repeated, it typically tells someone that they are either confused or have a weak vocabulary. Since it is implied that the man had a small lexicon because of his illiteracy, the poem reveals his ideas in a simplistic and repetitive wording
In the early years of my life, adapting to the foreign customs of America was my top priority. Although born in America, I constantly moved back and forth from Korea to the US, experiencing nerve-racking, yet thrilling emotions caused by the unfamiliarity of new traditions. Along with these strange traditions, came struggles with accepting my ethnicity. Because of the obvious physical differences due to my race, the first question asked by the students in elementary school was, “Are you from China?” These inquiries were constantly asked by several of American students until middle school which transformed to “You must be good at math” referencing the stereotypical intellect that Asian are perceived to have. Through continuous insult on my Asian heritage, I began to believe and later hate the person I was due to criticism made by teenagers which I started to see true despite all the lies that was actively told. This racial discrimination was a reoccurring pattern that
In an interview with Voice of America, she said that her identity as an Asian American “definitely play[s] into all of the reasons why [she] write[s] and why [she] continues to write” (Byrd). That is evident throughout this poem which is about a facet of the Asian American narrative, the fetishization of Asian American women, that is not always discussed. Women from every background deal with catcalling and other forms of casual sexual harassment which is what makes this poem relatable, but Asian American women must face this unique brand of intertwined racism and sexism in their daily lives. “To the Man Who Shouted ‘I Like Pork Fried Rice’ at Me on the Street” is not the solution to this problem, but it is a powerful piece of literature that demonstrates no one is simply a
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the best nineteenth century correspondents. Who has composed a lot of poems for the most part reflecting his life, for example, The Raven, and Annabel, yet the poem The Bells does not portray his life but instead that this was a course of events of somebody 's life, being described by the ruler of the Ghouls . Poe 's plot is to distinctively portray the four particular focuses on an individual 's life. He does this by using the different repetition of bells and providing them with some human characteristics. Every individual sound of the bells expresses certain mind-sets to match with what they mean; from being born, to getting married, to getting sick and lastly to death. All portrayals were unique in their implications
In Lisel Mueller’s poem “Reading the Brothers Grimm to Jenny,” the narrator details the relationship that he or she has with a child named Jenny. A central aspect to the connection between Jenny and the narrator are the fairytales that the narrator reads to her. Although this is a part of their relationship that Jenny enjoys, the narrator is conflicted by it. The archetypes utilized in fairytales is having an effect on the development of Jenny’s mind. However, as the narrator explains what is happening to Jenny, he or she also reveals the state of his or her own mind. To gain an understating of the impact that Jenny and the narrator have on each other, a Jungian analysis of this poem is required.
As a result, literature has to follow certain guidelines to be classified as Asian American; being placed in a box limits many great pieces of work to gain the recognition they deserve. As Wong and Sumida state, Asian American Literature is a presentation of American culture within Asian American history and culture, rather than a representation of the entire culture. “Asian Americans” is a large and complex, pan-ethnic group of people making it difficult to classify them all under the same stereotypes. Many Asian American works portray Asian Americans as “perpetual aliens or castaways whose cultures tumble nicely and helplessly” (4). This is because Asian Americans create their own culture, a hybrid of Asian culture and American culture, they don’t fully fit in with American culture just as they don’t fully fit in with Asian culture. Asian American Literature is a reflection of just that, it doesn’t fit into specific guidelines, breaking away from the labels that others create and making its own impact by culturing its readers on being Asian American. Whether the author is Asian American or is solely writing about Asian American culture, it still classifies as Asian American Literature
The poem told the story of a man who is inhibited by language, and has never quite had the ability to articulate his thoughts and feeling through words. It is said that his family members have tried
Most all ethnicities and cultures have been prosecuted at one time or another from an oppressing source. In the case of the Native Americans, it was the English coming in and taking their land right from underneath them. As the new colonies of the cohesive United States of America expanded, they ran into the territories of the then referred to Indians. These people were settled down south on the east coast, for example Georgia, Tennessee, Florida and the Carolinas. America obtained this land through the Louisiana Purchase, where they bought it from France. The Native Americans were already there before anyone, yet the big power countries bargained with their land. The Native Americans did not live the way the American democracy did, and they
...able they really are with overtly racist stereotypes; and even with all the “human right”’ movements that spring about there is still the need for long-lasting solution against combating prejudices. By displaying stereotypes jokingly, especially ones that pertained for the Asian population, Yang proves not only do people hold prejudice against other groups with his examples of Asian stereotypes, but that stereotypes are still prevalent in today’s society.
For those Asian Americans who make known their discontent with the injustice and discrimination that they feel, in the white culture, this translates to attacking American superiority and initiating insecurities. For Mura, a writer who dared to question why an Asian American was not allowed to audition for an Asian American role, his punishment was “the ostracism and demonization that ensued. 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 proceeding generations of Asian Americans and therefore manifested these stereotypes.
The most obvious literary device used to lighten the tone is rhyming. When the story is approaching its climax, the man in the ocean hears the sick man say “I suddenly feel quite ill” (Milligan 14), he replies that the sick man should “breathe deeply and lie quiet still” (Milligan 15). Ordinarily a man who feels he is about to pass away from his sickness is no joking matter, however the rhyming takes off a most of the pressure and tension that the reader would normally feel in this situation. Milligan also uses alliteration to soften the emotional impact of the normally downcast lines in his poem. The man who is drowning asks the man on shore to help, however the man says that he has to wait for his doctor to arrive. The person in the sea questions how long until the doctor comes, the sickly man tells him soon, but “till then try staying afloat” (Milligan 10). When reading that specific line of the poem, the reader shifts his focus to the alliteration instead of the deeper meaning of the same line. If there wasn’t an alliteration in the line, then the attention would be to the fact that if the man in the sea cannot calm himself down and stay afloat for a few more minutes, his death is almost guaranteed. Without these poetic devices the poem’s tone and mood would drastically change from lighthearted
The choice of words of the author also contributes to the development of the theme. For example, the use of words like "drafty," "half-heartedly," and "half-imagined" give the reader the idea of how faintly the dilemma was perceived and understood by the children, thus adding to the idea that the children cannot understand the burden the speaker has upon herself. In addition, referring to a Rembrandt as just a "picture" and to the woman as "old age," we can see that these two symbols, which are very important to the speaker and to the poem, are considered trivial by the children, thus contributing to the concept that the children cannot feel what the speaker is feeling.