Asian American Culture

It is natural for people to have the desire to fit in and belong. Most people find it displeasing to be seen as an outsider or different. Throughout history, Asian Americans have been seen as the “other” and have been questioned if they are an actual American. Some people believe in the idea that a person has to be born in America in order to be called an American. Others believe that you have to embrace American culture and practice it. However, people fail to realize that American is a nation of immigrants and what makes up America are the different cultures and heritages that people bring in. Many authors, artists, and writers have embraced their ideas that to be an American, one must embrace the culture they were given. Through the use

In American Born Chinese, a young boy learned that looking and acting American did not make him one. It was embracing one’s own cultural differences and acknowledging that they are different is what makes an Asian American become “American”. Vietnamerica told GB Tran’s story as he learned about his Vietnamese background. He realized that he was not American simply because he was born there, but because he learned and accepted who he was that he had become one. Yellow Face gave insight on a character who strongly embraced a different cultural background of his own, and being himself was the only way that he would be able to become an “American” again. Asian Americans should not have to give up their backgrounds to become American. They do not need to give up who they are because that is not what makes American what it is. All three writers showed, through the use of their writings, how becoming American is not simply adapting to its culture. Forgetting who one really is and losing self-identity is not what being American is all about. America is a place of opportunity and many people travel to in order to have a better life. Most of those people bring along their cultural heritage, family history, and stories of different ethnic backgrounds. It is because people embrace who they are and where they come from that America is what it is today. So in order to become an “American” one has to embrace their