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Lessons learned from writing a personal narrative
Lessons learned from writing a personal narrative
Story for personal narrative
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Personal Narrative Self Identity
Throughout most of my childhood, I have been predominantly exposed to nothing
but the Chinese culture. When my parents first immigrated to the United States from
Canton, China, they rented a small apartment located right in the heart of Chinatown.
Chinatown was my home, the place where I met all my friends, and the place where I'd
thought I'd never leave. I spoke only Cantonese, both to my friends and to my parents.
Everyone I was around spoke fluent Cantonese, and I never spoke anything other than
Cantonese. I was pretty much secluded from the outside world because I never left
Chinatown, for I felt this was my home. However, my parents felt differently. They
wanted me to adapt the "American" culture. By being more "Americanized", they felt
that life would be better and that my sister and I would be more accepted. For that reason,
my family and I made the big move to the Sunset District ten years ago; a move my
parents hope would be a quick assimilation into the mainstream -- the "American"
culture- an assimilation that would ultimately change my values and my perceptions of
my cultural background.
When I moved from Chinatown to the Sunset District, I was completely amazed
at how different it was compared to where I grew up. There was considerably less
traffic and noise on the streets. I remember, I would have to push my way to get through
streets when I was in Chinatown. One major difference that I noticed was that all the
children were Caucasian. This was completely different for me because when living in
Chinatown, I only associated with predominantly Asian. Sunset definitely had more
Caucasians than Chinat...
... middle of paper ...
...spent the rest of lunch hour chatting with him. I found out that we have much in
common and that he was a wonderful person, both inside and outside. We found
our parents to be very similar in both their values and beliefs. We soon became
great friends and as our friendship became stronger, I felt I was rediscovering
myself again.
During my childhood, I focused so hard on changing my ways and being accepted
that for a time I felt that I also lost myself in the process. I felt as if I didn't know who I
was any more. By trying to adopt my friends' values, I abandoned my own. My behavior
changed completely. Once I let go of that superficial self, I no longer had to pretend to be
someone I was not and just be who I am. I no longer hated the fact that I was Chinese. I
accepted who I was. More importantly, I was happy with myself.
Throughout the early 1900s an American immigrant experience was subject to society’s opinion and the nation’s policies. Various ethnicities endured the harsh reality that was American culture while familiarizing themselves with their families. Immigration thrived off the strength and pride demonstrated by their neighborhoods. Notions of race, cultural adaptations and neighborhood represented the ways by which human being were assessed. In a careful interpretation of Mary Lui’s “The Chinatown Trunk Mystery” and Michael Innis-Jimenez’s “Steel Barrio”, I will trace the importance of a neighborhood in the immigrant experience explaining the way in which neighborhoods were created, how these lines were crossed and notions of race factored into separating these neighborhoods.
Shah begins with the mapping of Chinatown as an immigrant enclave by investigations of health authorities. These investigations provided descriptions of filthy and unsanitary living conditions. The results of the health investigations led to descriptions that would found the body of “knowledge” that Chinese immigrants and their unhygienic habits were the source of epidemic diseases. Chinese social behavior was pointed to as the cultural cause of medical menaces. Chinese immigrants were compared to farm animals and depicted as
She chooses to cite only academic publications, Canadian governmental documents, and local newspaper articles in her long list of sources, none of which provide perspective from the people around which the article is centered; the Chinese. This highlights the key issue within the article; whilst Anderson meticulously examines how Chinatown is simply a construction of white supremacists, she ignores what life was actually like for the area’s inhabitants, and how the notion of ‘Chinatown’ may have become a social reality for those living in it. By failing to include sources written by those who lived in Chinatown during the time or live there now, she misses the notion of Canadian-Chinese agency and its potential willingness to thrive and adapt in an environment she deems simply a hegemonic construction. Barman’s sources are all encompassing from varying perspectives. This may be due to the fact that she wrote the article 20 years after Anderson’s, during a time in which history was beginning to be viewed through a culturally-relativistic lens.
This is evident in the persistence of elderly characters, such as Grandmother Poh-Poh, who instigate the old Chinese culture to avoid the younger children from following different traditions. As well, the Chinese Canadians look to the Vancouver heritage community known as Chinatown to maintain their identity using on their historical past, beliefs, and traditions. The novel uniquely “encodes stories about their origins, its inhabitants, and the broader society in which they are set,” (S. Source 1) to teach for future generations. In conclusion, this influential novel discusses the ability for many characters to sustain one sole
that I would fall as the other rulers did, but as the saying goes,"what goes up, must come
have taken out the time to gain a better awareness of myself, or address certain issues. Therefore,
The first Chinese immigrants to arrive in America came in the early 1800s. Chinese sailors visited New York City in the 1830s (“The Chinese Experience”); others came as servants to Europeans (“Chinese Americans”). However, these immigrants were few in number, and usually didn’t even st...
Gilded age San Francisco stood as a beacon for travelers bound for the western coast of the United States. The most prominent city in the developing west during the latter parts of the nineteenth century and the opening of the twentieth, San Francisco encompassed a range of conflicting identities. This time period marked a transitory stage in the development of San Francisco, evolving from a booming “frontier town” to a “civilized metropolis,” the emerging San Franciscan identity retained qualities from both poles of this spectrum. Chinatown, existing as a city within the city, shared this relationship of extremes with San Francisco. To travelers visiting San Francisco, Chinatown was a necessary stop. The writings in travelogues published during this period describe Chinatown through a mix of revulsion and curiosity, its inhabitants virtuous and sub-human. In short, within the developing city of San Francisco, an expedition into Chinatown remained a visceral exploration of a foreign and exciting environment.
see what I could do to make my life better. I would find out what things were
We could go back to the past. I could lose this easy job I have. Just talking and using a shovel, a. hoe, a broom that takes everything away. All my daughter does is worry. She touches my hand and we eat snow cones from a roadside vendor in the shade.
Identity-“Ones personal qualities.”Identiy is something only he or she can fully define. My uncle says I am affectionate,cheerful, and calm. My grandmother sees me as slim, pretty and sweet. My dad described me as perky, cheerful and happy, my mom says beautiful, gentle, and self-conscious. These adjectives describe me accurately, yet they are only abstract versions of me. Adjectives cannot begin to describe me and I aknowlege these descriptions for what they are, a condensed translation from my outward self to the world. It is impossible for anyone to understand me completely because nobody has experienced the things I have. My mother has never cherished a raggedy doll named Katie and my father never spent hours upon hours making collages and scrap books for his future children. My uncle never hid in the back of a pick-up-truck and traveled four hours to New York and my grandmother has never walked hours in the rain looking for the Queen of England. My identity is something only I can define.
Moving from a highly diverse community to a less diverse community has to be the weirdest yet interesting culture shock I ever had to deal with. As a young child, I did not know about the outside world. I thought everyone rides the bus or the metro, graffiti on the wall is normal and traffic wouldn’t matter as much since everything I needed was within walking distance sometimes. There were shocking things I learned once I moved to Nebraska.
It expands all the way to the ricotta and truffle egg toast in Little Italy. The shrimp dumplings, rice noodle egg rolls and Xiaolongbao crafted over in Chinatown. Going all the way over to La Villita, or Little Village to sample the chilaquiles and the Taco de Soya pollo. Then we have Polish pierogies and Cuban coffee right downtown. But, it’s not only the food that is to be tasted it’s also adventure.You need that taste to venture out to Chinatown and to explore the different parts of the unkown. That 's the taste that probably brought most of us out-of-towners here a taste for something new and different you can rarely get anywhere else.
I've just changed completely from when I first (entered school). I used to take this little African body and force it into this European square peg. And you know, it didn't work. I kept trying to do it and trying to change who I was and tried to fit in. . . . When I finally decided to be the person that I am, I started feeling more comfortable. (Taylor 1995, p. 84).
People are often asked the question, “If I could go back in time, what would I