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Why is identity important Essay
The world of diversity
Reflection on diversity
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In The struggle to be an all American girl, author Elizabeth Wong reveals a theme: Love who you are because there is no one else like you. The story is about a girl who goes to a Chinese school but wants to go to an all American school. The story takes place at a school. The main character, Elizabeth Wong, has a conflict when every day at 5 am her and her brother had to go to Chinese school instead of playing with their fourth and fifth-grade friends. The author writes, “No amount of kicking, screaming, or pleading could dissuade my mother, who was solidly determined to have us learn the language or our heritage.” This example reveals that the children really did not what to go to the Chinese school, they did everything in their power to convince
Maggie's American Dream is Margaret Comer's inspiring biography written by her son James P. Comer. It also doubles as the autobiography of James P. Comer himself. It a great story of a person overcoming obstacles to reach their goals and dreams.
In the article written by Heather Pringle, “The First Americans,” she combines findings of various archaeologists across the globe that have aimed to debunk a popular theory of migration to the Americas. As stated in the article, it is commonly believed that the first to arrive in the New World traveled across the Bering Straight, a passageway far north connecting the northeastern tip of Asia and Alaska. 13,000 years ago, these hunters were said to have followed the mammals and other large prey over the ice-free passageway. Evidence of their stone tools being left behind has led them to be called the Clovis people. This article uncovers new evidence presented by archaeologists that people migrated to the Americas in a different way, and much earlier.
Similarly, Wong also grew up in America with a traditional Chinese mother. In contrast, Wong’s upbringing involves her mother forcing her into attending two different schools. After her American school day, Wong continues on with Chinese school to learn both cultures. Her mother felt it was her duty to “[. . .] learn the language of [her] heritage” (Wong 144). This puts a burden on Wong as she starts to despise the Chinese culture.
In the short story, "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, a Chinese mother and daughter are at odds with each other. The mother pushes her daughter to become a prodigy, while the daughter (like most children with immigrant parents) seeks to find herself in a world that demands her Americanization. This is the theme of the story, conflicting values. In a society that values individuality, the daughter sought to be an individual, while her mother demanded she do what was suggested. This is a conflict within itself. The daughter must deal with an internal and external conflict. Internally, she struggles to find herself. Externally, she struggles with the burden of failing to meet her mother’s expectations. Being a first-generation Asian American, I have faced the same issues that the daughter has been through in the story.
Alex Tizon, former journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner, and professor at the University of Oregon, details the events of his life in the memoir titled Big Little Man: In Search of My Asian Self. He begins his story in the Philippines, in search of not only the presence of a strong Asian man in the form of Lapu Lapu, a Filipino warrior, but also in search of his own identity. Although Tizon was born in the Philippines, his family had immigrated to America when he was a child. Growing up, Tizon had constantly struggled between his Asian identity and his American identity. Although young Tizon feels as though he must choose between the two identities in order to belong to a community, he is eventually able to address his conflicting identities,
In the essay Wong expressed her hatred towards her childhood experiences. Wong gives various ideas to why she despies her culture and many memories that bothered her growing up. The entire excerpt was based on many moments she realized of hating her heritage and looking back to understand she was wrong for that. Like the author I experienced had moments of hating my middle school due to multiple reasons. I, like Wong ,was also terrified of the school's principal.”I recognized him as a repressed maniacal child killer, and knew that if we ever saw his hands we’d be in big trouble” (Wong P3). As a child my principal was one of the many reasons I didn't like school. She was mean, loud, and always had a face that struck fear. I rarely saw the principle,
Generally, Chinese education is focused on repetition and memorization. Chinese students spend more time on study to improve their memory. We frequently hear that how Chinese parents treat their children like a slave, which is not true. A slave is someone who is the property of another person and has to work for that person, but Chinese parents didn’t want any return from their children. According to the article “Two Kinds”, Tan’s mother claims that “trade housecleaning services for weekly lessons and a piano for Tan”(Tan 3). Tan’s mother proved all her effort to provide Tan a better life. When Tan failed, her mother would silence for disappointment so that Tan would discover her mistake for improvement. Her mother was upset than anyone else. Besides, Chua has the similar feeling when her daughter fails. They know t...
The air would always be humid and stuffy while riding the bus to school, and the slightest bump in the road would result in tossing up the kids like salad. The backseat would provide carriage for all the popular and tough kids shouting out at pedestrians on the street or flipping off a middle finger to the bus driver that would shout for them to calm down. I despised those kids in the back. They were the same people that made my life a living hell, while growing up and attending an American school.
...acters compared above. The book is successful in the narration of the life stories of the three young Chinese immigrants that live in America seeking education to mature their careers and build their lives. The author is also clear in explaining how after the Second World War, during the post war period of economic hardships, how this young man Ralph makes his way to America, a land where his sister went to, to seek his destiny. The book outlines how he met Grover and how this young man greatly influences his life, decisions and way of thinking. We also understand from the book that Ralph gets married and begets two children. We are told of his married life and how he struggles to please five people who have the most influence over his life or we can say control his life. The people are his parents, his wife, his children, his friend and his sister let alone himself.
"The Joy Luck Club" is a sage about several Chinese mothers and their American-born daughters. It is also about the mothers' experiences with immigrating, and/or their upbringing. It depicts the relationship between the mothers' and their daughters and how this relationship affects the daughters lives. Emphasis is placed on historical references and the struggle of women. All of the mothers were born between the mid 1920's and the late 1940's. The political and social histories of China were important factors in the character building youth of these women. Between 1931 and 1945 China was occupied by the Japanese, which led to their immigration to the United States. Chinese cultural traditions such as arranged marriages, different religions, and superstitious notions, all which repress women, also influenced their character. A great deal of importance is placed on the variety of traditions that were placed on them. The theme of tradition being passed down from mother to daughter is also stressed. This particular tradition is not explicitly expressed. In order for it to be preserved and handed down it is to be observed, absorbed, and understood. Yet one of the main (ideas) points of the novel is to show that these traditions were not imposed on the American-born daughters as they were on their mothers. In turn, this leads to the vast differences and conflicts between the mothers and their daughters. Some of the differences and conflicts are good while others are not.
The mother’s, Suyuan Woo’s character, was molded by unfavorable circumstances growing up in China which excelled in her a typical survivor mentality and strong work-ethics, while her daughter enjoyed a sheltered childhood and therefore cultivated a carefree attitude towards her future in America. The story’s setting within the historical district of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 1960s helps explain the cultural and inter-generational clash between mother and daughter, as both have been shaped by their different generational backgrounds and
America was not everything the mothers had expected for their daughters. The mothers always wanted to give their daughters the feather to tell of their hardships, but they never could. They wanted to wait until the day that they could speak perfect American English. However, they never learned to speak their language, which prevented them from communicating with their daughters. All the mothers in The Joy Luck Club had so much hope for their daughters in America, but instead their lives ended up mirroring their mother’s life in China. All the relationships had many hardships because of miscommunication from their different cultures. As they grew older the children realized that their ...
...me Americans has been realized. Wong is multicultural and not Chinese. However, when she examines back to her childhood, she feels miserable. Her unhappiness is significant because this feeling shows us her present concept on her initial heritage. She can understand why her mother took them to the Chinese school at this issue. She could be an American and still having Chinese heritage. There are many All-Americans but she likes to be someone who is multicultural, and she had numerous possibilities to hold her Chinese culture. The reason for her unhappiness is that she missed these possibilities. She thought that maintaining more than one backgrounds is interesting. Through being an All-American Girl and departing her Chinese culture, she came to realise the importance of her original heritage and the factual significance of being multicultural.
“Two Kinds” by Amy Tan is about an immigrant family from China. The two main characters consist of a chinese mother named, Suyuan, and her American-born daughter, Jing Mei. For Suyuan, moving to America meant opportunities. She pushes her daughter, Jing Mei, into trying new activities in hopes of turning her into a child prodigy. Jing Mei becomes stubborn and resentful. Her attitude towards her mother becomes a protective wall against her struggle to change her. Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds”, depicts the cultural conflict that can arise between first-generation American children and their Chinese immigrant parents today.
The narrator's struggle to make sense of the story through her Americanized perspective also helps to reveal a great deal about traditional Chinese culture, the aunt and mother's traditional viewpoints allow us to better explore and understand the Americanized view of the daughter. What she discovers is that the Chinese women back in the Old Country, like their male counterparts, had to sacrifice their individuality, personal goals, desires, and loves in order to more fully harmonize with the community. This is a problem for Kingston because she was raised in a nation that emphasized individualism and assertiveness. As a result, she is caught in a struggle to find meaning in her cultural roots as a Chinese woman and in her American upbringing.