Analysis Of The Chinese In All Of Us By Richard Rodriguez

People always seem to be changing themselves because they want the approval of others and are worried what others think of them. They aren't happy about who they are, maybe its looks, or maybe its race that they are concerned about, either way people try to change who they are. In ABC, the author Yang reveals many common stereotypes about chinese people and the struggle they might have in fitting in. Chin-kee one of the main characters is very stereotypical and impacts Danny and Jin’s life greatly. Jin Wang the main character faces some problems fitting in because of his race and the stereotypes associated with it and changes himself in order to fit in.

Acceptance within American Born Chinese by Gene Yang is scattered everywhere within the book. It’s in each story within many situations. One of them telling about a challenging and treacherous journey across hundreds of miles of terrain. All of the main characters reveal so much power of acceptance while I was reading through each chapter of the book. To clarify the many events within the novel I will analyze and relate my experiences as a soldier to the journeys of the Monkey Key, Jin, and finally the monk.

US writer Todd C. Ames concludes his two-part discussion of the ways in which Chinese and Americans think of each other, and the most common misunderstandings that arise

Culture, ideas, and customs have sculpted this nation into the country that thrives today both socially and economically. Considering the history behind our melting pot of a country, how much of our “American” culture is American? Ishmael Reed delves into this topic and uncovers shocking truths that open the minds of the American nationalist that want to preserve the nations customs and not let other cultures consume our own “original” ideas. The article, America: The Multinational Society by Ishmael Reed uncovers the real uniqueness of “American” culture both past and present as well as good and bad. He uses well-known historical examples like the Puritans, personal experiences, the three modes of persuasion and modern ironic precedents that

Many new arrivals still struggle to survive and often Chinese Americans still encounter suspicion and hostility. Chinese Americans have achieved great success and now, like so many others, they are stitching together a new American identity. As Michelle Ling, a young Chinese American, tells Bill Moyers in Program 3, “I get to compose my life one piece at a time, however I feel like it. Not to say that it’s not difficult and that there isn’t challenge all the time, but more than material wealth, you get to choose what you are, who you are.” (www.pbs.org)

American Born Chinese was a book that I would have initially missed reading because it didn’t appeal to me then. However, it wasn’t until the three narratives intertwined at the end that I realized that this was a great read. Jin, Danny, and the Monkey King all have one thing in common; they try to become something they are not, and they lose their sense of identity until the realization of the truth that we cannot fight who we really are. Jin comes to America and desperately tries to fit in with his classmates and assimilate. The Monkey King tried to become something greater than himself, and become an equal with the other deities. Danny is what looks to be a normal high school student, but is plagued by his Chinese cousin’s visits

According to Maya Angelou, Amy tan, Chia-Fang (Sandy) Hsu, Janell Hobson, Yong Chen, Felicia F. Thomas, and Fuchs Lawrence, culture is what brings a community together as one. In “Champions of the World,” “Fish Cheeks,” “Acculturation and communication Traits: A Study of Cross-cultural Adaptation among Chinese in America,” “Between History and Fantasy: Harriet Tubman in the Artistic and Popular Imaginary,” “Recreating the Chinese American Home through Cookbook Writing,” “African American and Socialization,” and “Immigration, Multiculturalism, and American history”. All the authors mention and talk about how important is to know once culture. For generation culture has been what makes America so unique among

Culture Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans” claims utilizing race as a basis for identifying American is not valid, culture should be what defines a person’s identity. Rodriguez emphasizes how he “declares himself as a Chinese because he lives in a culture of a Chinese city” (Rodriguez 91). This demonstrates how Rodriguez is involved with cultures of many different races, including the Chinese. Because he lives in San Francisco where there is many Chineses around him, he see’s himself as part of Chinese. The essay also mentioned that “[Rodriguez] come to the individuals as having multiple cultures, such as being a Chinese person” (Rodriquez, 92).

Her perspective and personal experiences can help to drive in the point that there are two different generations of Chinese people and how one looks down on the other because of their birth place. Liu’s article is reliable because it is a personal experience of growing up Chinese American and shows the different perspective on how growing up with two different generations of Chinese shaped her life. Maria Liu is also a reliable source because she is a student and writer for the

     What culture they had was to be forgotten – a difficult and practically impossible feat. The Chinese-Americans faced a wall of cultural difference that could only be scaled with the support of their parents and local community. The book review of Bone by Nhi Le stated clearly how “ … the first generations’ struggle to survive and the second generations’ efforts to thrive … ” made the transition into American culture possible. Overcoming barriers such as language, education, work ethic, and sex roles was just a beginning to the problems that all Asian – Americans faced.

Often times, many people feel pressured to change certain personality traits in order to conform to someone else’s standards. This typically happens because no one wants to be known as the weird person in the crowd. In the novel American Born Chinese, written by Gene Luen Yang, there are many prevalent examples on wanting to “fit in.” In the beginning of the novel it is made clear to the audience that Jin Wang, also known as Jin, is ashamed to be Asian.

As expressed in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,…”, America was born upon the belief that someone who has acquired citizenship or born in America is treated equally to one another. This is further conveyed in Letters from an American Farmer by J. Hector St. John Crevecoeur when he describes an American as someones who “ is neither European, or the descendant of an European…. He is an American. who leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, relieves new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds…. Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men….”(Letter 3). Becoming an American signifies adopting new set of cultural values and beliefs, while relinquishing your original cultural myths, in order to belong to its community. Crevecoeur implies that America cannot be bi or multicultural, one must lose their cultural identity in order to become an American. However, the U.S. is in increasingly becoming more ethnically diverse and with these new perspectives, it supposedly enriches America as a whole. In Eric Liu’s Notes of a Native Speaker, Liu describes the obstacles that he faced as a Chinese-American striving to assimilate into American society and conform into it’s norms. Liu becomes conscious to the fact that his cultural identity is at odds with the melting pot myth’s false promise that America’s cultural

In the graphic novel American Born Chinese, author Gene Luen Yang wrote about many characters that went through the challenge of trying to fit in. Each character had their own conflict that they had to overcome. The characters were all similar because they were trying to be a person they were not. The Monkey King was the first example of these conflicts. He was trying to be who he thought others wanted him to be, not who he truly was.

As America being such a diverse country, we come across the differences between cultures of immigrant families. Each culture having their own beliefs and values to what they think is right. Cultural diversity is seen everyday where there are different expressions or views from any person. Everyday cultural differences show society how each person has their own way of doing things. Amy Chua writes an excerpt called “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior,” on her way parenting her two daughters following the chinese culture. She explains how western parents are much more lenient than chinese parents with their children and education. Chua gives examples of how she raised her daughter Lulu and Sophia leading them to success. She makes comparisons between western and chinese parents throughout the essay and concludes that both type of parents want the best for their children just do it in different ways (Chua 52). In the article, named “Chinese vs Western Mothers: Q&A with Amy Chua,” is an interview with the author Amy Chua where she clarifies her chinese way of parenting did not hurt her children the way the audience thought it did. Chua explains that her relationship with her two daughters is very strong and believes there are many good ways of parenting not just the chinese way (Luscombe, par.17). Reading Amy Chua’s essay has shown the chinese immigrant way of parenting where people gain knowledge on how they do things and answer their questions on how chinese people are so

A cultural dynamic of Chinese society is loyalty to family and friends as a moral imperative. A member of the Chinese community is part of a concealed, hierarchically organized family. Each member of the family is obligated to contribute to the family as able and the family is obligated to provide each member with the resources for living. Chinese immigrants throughout the world were exposed to malicious discrimination to which they responded by relying on cultural characteristics that provided great advantages in business.