Growing Up Asian In America Summary

The author of "Response to Executive Order 9066" builds characterization through two groups of people during world war 2. The literary analysis of the story is that Japanese-Americans are not enemies to the united states , and that they are citizens just like everyone else. The excerpt shows how the author is indifferent from the rest of society and that she is the same as any American teenage girl because , she shares the same language , interest , and hobbies as other girls. The authors tone in the "Response to Executive Order 9066" is confused because she as an individual has done nothing wrong to have these type of actions evoked on her.

In this essay, written by Dwight Okita, the narrator, a young 14 year-old girl doesn’t realize what’s happening and that her family will be deported to relocation centers for being of Japanese descent. The cause of this was the current battle during World War II between USA and Japan. Denise, who is white and the girl’s best friend, was probably told by an adult about the American against Japanese matters, and mistreats the girl for this “She was sitting on the other side of the room. “You’re

Faced with the local investigators who insist on uncovering their Asian origins, Japanese Americans exercise their ability to give evasive responses in order to equally “insist on their racial citizenship as Americans” (ibid.: 414). Questions of where the Japanese American belongs can be answered by the said Japanese American with a location familiar and native to the national community, such as San Diego, California. Such tactics are less subtle than the previously mentioned methods of other migrants, and although the Japanese American example shows that it is possible to actively contest foreignization, it is still not a guarantee of avoiding racialized exclusion from the national community. At the risk of possible social impropriety, such descendants of Japanese migrants take the “‘educate’ those who are apparently ignorant or misinformed” (ibid.: 416). Not only is the method of stonewalling queries with evasive answers dangerous due to possible social offence, but such a method also only takes into account the individual, not collective, representations of belonging within the

The reason is people look at her differently and they stare at her because she is Japanese. They don’t know her at all they just look at her differently because she is a Chinese girl. The girl goes into the bathroom, looks at herself in the mirror, and thinks that she is a plain girl with a plain scarf. She smiles at the corner of her lips, which she thinks makes her look like her mother, but also less mysterious. When she walks out, the girl tells Ted that her father never writes to her.

     I think Monica Sone focuses on, and clearly shows, the tension that arose in the Japanese American community because they felt torn between two distinct cultures and amongst themselves. There was also much confusion in this pre-World War II and during WWII era concerning the place of Japanese Americans in the United States. The Issei, or first generation of immigrants from Japan, were generally highly organized in their communities. They tended to stay in close connection with traditional Japanese culture. The Issei spoke their native language, practiced traditional Japanese customs, and formed church groups, and other social communities amongst themselves. Similarly, the Nisei, or second generation Japanese American, were also highly organized and formed strong ties amongst themselves separate from the Issei. The Nisei attended Japanese schools, which enhanced their use of the Japanese language, but more importantly, created a social network of peers. They participated in church programs, and sports teams together. One main difference between the Issei and Nisei was that the Nisei were considered Americans. They were born here and they held complete citizenship. This was not true for the Issei. Another factor that separated the

The conflict exists because she has a desire to be herself. She has to swap her culture/heritage to

Discrimination against Japanese Americans drastically increased and led to an immense amount of stress on Japanese American families who had businesses and jobs. This stress built up so much to the point where they were ashamed of who they were. In Japanese beliefs “shame in [their] culture is worse than death” (Peter Ota 28), yet they were constantly being told they were the enemy everyday so it became hard for them to be themselves. They “had to prove” (Peter Ota 31) that they were Americans which still did not change many people’s views on them. Many became “more American than Americans - to blend into the community and become part of white America” (Peter Ota 32).

Although Asian Americans comprise only about 5% of the U.S. population, this group is the fastest growing segment of American society. Despite such rapid expansion, Asian Americans are widely underrepresented throughout media, whether in television, cinema, or literature. Moreover, there are different stereotypes associated with Asian Americans. One of the most pervasive stereotypes details how Asian Americans are a “model minority”. In essence, this myth describes how anyone who is Asian American will become a successful individual able to achieve the “American dream”.

Asian Americans are a diverse group of people who are among the fastest growing minority groups in the United States. Despite their minority status, they often surpass Whites in America and do so while holding on to their cultural values regarding family, education, and success.

To be young and Asian in America is a special brand of torture. There is an unspoken dictum of silence that grips Asian youth, a denial of our place in popular culture. Asian youth walk in America not quite sure where we fit in-black children have a particular brotherhood, Hispanic children have a particular brotherhood, white children own everything else. We cannot lay claim to jazz or salsa or swing; we cannot say our ancestors fought for equality against an oppressive government or roamed the great hallways of power across the globe. We do not have a music, a common hero, a lexicon of slang. Asian youth experience personal diasporas every day.

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.

The pain and the suffering, the oppression, and the exclusion all describe the history of Asia America. When they arrived to the United States, they become labeled as Asians. These Asians come from Japan, China, Korea, Laos, Thailand, and many other diverse countries in the Eastern hemisphere. These people wanted to escape from their impoverished lives as the West continued to infiltrate their motherland. They saw America as the promise land filled with opportunity to succeed in life. Yet due to the discrimination placed from society and continual unfair

Growing up as an East Asian in America meant expectations and stereotypes. Facing the judging looks on the faces of the people around me was torture. I turned away and tried to run from them. I built an invisible wall, a barrier of sorts. In front of the wall was what I wanted people to see and what people expected to see; yet, behind the wall comprised of things I wanted to do and how I truly felt.

The Journey to Identity in A Double Impulse and In Another Country The narrator in A Double Impulse, by James D. and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, faces an issue with her identity. She is a young Japanese American in school that is starting to realize that people see her differently because of race. People at her new school don’t expect her to speak English, she isn’t allowed to be friends with some kids because of their parents, and she is not allowed to join girl scouts with her friend. Her whole family struggles because of the racial discrimination that they face.

My mother was in the room. And it was perhaps the first time she had heard me give a lengthy speech using the kind of English I have never used with her.”(417) Overcoming the barrier between languages she spoke aided Tan in building a bridge between cultures. She changed her language to assimilate into American culture while also keeping familial culture. A piece of heritage that uses a language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk. Tan grew up with this language and she still uses it with her mother, husband and in her books. (418) Another method to find identity in a new host society is through appearance. In the essay, “No Name Woman” by Maxine Kingston ideals in appearance were passed from generation to generation. Altering ideals when creating identity is noticed in Kingston’s essay. A long held tradition in many Chinese families is that many generations live under the same roof and this can cause a conflict in ideals. Conflicting ideals between generations is shown as Tan tells how the younger generation hid the identities of their sexual color and their character. Hiding these new identities they hoped to avoid potential conflict with generational ideals. Kingston did not hide her identity, she found herself “walking erect (knees straight, toes pointed forward, not pigeon-toed, which is Chinese-feminine) and speaking in an audible