Native Speaker Chang-Rae Lee Essay

Gene Luen Yang’s writing style in his graphic novel, American Born Chinese, demonstrate great technique of suspense and foreshadowing. Yang grew up with two parents who were an electrical engineer from Taiwan and a programmer who grew up in Hong Kong and Taiwan, both of whom emigrated to the United States. His experiences follow this book’s plot and his writing style follows exactly how he may have felt during that part of his life. His parents helped give him a strong work ethic and reinforced their Asian culture to make sure he was never ashamed of where he came from.

Throughout this novel, Delaney helps to further develop the black identities throughout the diaspora. There are two characters that exemplify different identities that blacks took on during this time period. The first is Henry, who exhibits black pride. As an educated, smart man, Henry exhibits his bravery with each of his encounters. This is displayed first when Mr. Franks asks Henry to ride on a horse with him. Henry refuses to ride without his wife “strike away if you will, sir, I don't care—I won't go without my wife!” (Delaney). This upsets Mr. Franks, who threatens to beat Henry, or put him up for sale too. Henry replies that he would not stand to be treated like a dog. Henry also emphasizes his identity by using his last name. This gives him integrity and sense of self, even if it is dismissed by his master, “permit the bearer my boy Henry, sometimes calling himself Henry Holland—a kind of negro

Henry was a normal boy and did all of the normal things young boys do: making noise, being busy and active, nosing around in the refrigerator, and asking questions - all part and parcel of being a normal child. But he was brought up to believe he wasn't a "model boy." His parents were constantly interrupted by him - his mother while she was reading and grading papers, and his father so much so that he spent most of his time in his office on campus, joining them only at mealtimes. His father wished to remain "blissfully unaware."

Amy Tan’s ,“Mother Tongue” and Maxine Kingston’s essay, “No Name Woman” represent a balance in cultures when obtaining an identity in American culture.  As first generation Chinese-Americans both Tan and Kingston faced many obstacles. Obstacles in language and appearance while balancing two cultures. Overcoming these obstacles that were faced and preserving heritage both women gained an identity as a successful American.

From a young age Henry was given the opportunities to become an American by his father. By sending him to a white private school Henry;s father hoped that Henry would be able to assimilate with Americans. In order to fully do this Henry’s father made a big change is his life by forcing Henry to only speak English and wear an “I am Chinese pin”. “No more. Only speak American.” This allowed Henry to practice his English so he could better communicate with Americans and show that he was not Japanese given that tensions were high between America and Japan during this time period. This happened to have a negative effect on Henry and his father’s relationship. Since Henry’s father didn’t understand English he could never speak with his own son. This broke the communication link between him and his father starting a series chain of events that would affect Henry greatly in the future. Adult Henry becomes fearful of the fact that he might

Henry was born and raised in the United States. When he was twelve years old, he was “scholarshipping” in Rainier Elementary School, a “top white school” (Ford, 183). As the war progressed between Japan and America, his parents were desperate for him to become more “American”. As a result, they insisted for him “to stop speaking their native Chinese” and become fluent in English (Ford, 12). However, this created a problem, because Henry’s parents could not speak English, and they scolded him if he spoke Cantonese to them. Due to this, Henry had a difficult time conversing with his parents, which means that they rarely spoke with each other. Although his parents forced him to only speak English for his own safety, it ended up isolating Henry from his own family. They obviously could not form a close family relationship if they did not communicate with one another. Moreover, Henry befriending Keiko made the situation worse. His father could not accept the fact that his only son became friends with a Japanese girl.

A relationship that has shaped Henry's life is between him and his father. Both of them are stubborn in their beliefs; beliefs that always differ from the other. Although they're Chinese, Henry's father wants Henry to be like an American. For instance, Henry can only speak English to parents that won't ever understand him. Once the war starts, his dad forbids Henry to associate with any Japanese. It just adds the the list of things that they disagree with. Eventually their relationship cracks, "His father was stubborn, and traditional. He hadn't just threatened to disown him-- he'd gone through with it. All because Henry couldn't stop thinking about Keiko" (191). Henry gets fed up with his father and stands for what he believes. Loosing his

Henry uses logical and ethical approaches to help make his point stand out more to the

Henry is a young Chinese boy living in the heart of a town where whites make up the majority of the population. When Henry was a young boy, his father made him go to Rainier Elementary, an all white school, where he worked in the kitchen serving food during lunch hours. This is where he met his friend, Keiko, who was Japanese. This was a problem because Henry 's father detested the Japanese. At first, Henry did not want to become friends with Keiko because of his father, but being with her everyday in the lunchroom made him think otherwise. Henry and Keiko became best friends. Sharing all of their secrets and past experiences. Henry would escort Keiko home everyday after school. Eventually, Henry started courting Keiko, and he fell in love with her. During the war,

To begin with, Henry and his father always had a very complicated relationship. In the novel, the father and son never seemed to understand each other and their intentions. As a child, Henry was baffled to why his father always seemed to contradict what Henry was asked to do. Henry being a Chinese American was “asked-no, told him to stop speaking their native Chinese” (Ford, 12). During this time, the Japanese and Chinese relationship were faltering as it was at the peak of World War II. Henry’s parents were “desperate for him to learn English” (Ford, 12). Henry’s parents never spoke to him in English, always Cantonese. Henry was told, to “only speak you American” (Ford, 12) by his father. This foundation would later create more conflict as Henry and his parents never seemed to understand each other. Since Henry was told by his parents to only speak English, Henry had a difficult time communicating with his parents. Henry never had a good foundation with his parents because of the language barrier that was created. Throughout the novel, Henry would try and communicate with

The book describes a Chinese-American boy named Henry Lee who falls in love with Keiko, a Japanese-American girl and because of the war they have been separated. During this process of Henry trying to see Keiko, there are so many obstacles in his way such as Henry’s father and relocations. Moreover, Henry has seen witnessed

Florence Kelly worked hard in the fight for just labor laws and the rights of women. She worked hard in between the years of 1859-1932, successfully helping destroy the abuse of child labor. During her years of fighting the end in child labor and women’s rights she writes a speech and uses many rhetorical devices deeply to persuade her audience, two of which are repetition and oxymorons. To remind the audience of the speech, the most important parts of the speech Kelly uses repetition, while Kelly uses oxymoron to show how she has the need to express her sarcasm through irony. In the Florence Kelly speech, which she wrote in July of 1905, Kelly explains who works in the factory, adults and children, and the difficulty of working in the factories.

Chang-Rae Lee’s Native Speaker expresses prominent themes of language and racial identity. Chang-Rae Lee focuses on the struggles that Asian Americans have to face and endure in American society. He illustrates and shows readers throughout the novel of what it really means to be native of America; that true nativity of a person does not simply entail the fact that they are from a certain place, but rather, the fluency of a language verifies one’s defense of where they are native. What is meant by possessing nativity of America would be one’s citizenship and legality of the country. Native Speaker suggests that if one looks different or has the slightest indication that one should have an accent, they will be viewed not as a native of

Jack’s predicament with finding himself being stuck between his original lifestyle and new desire to fit in was cleverly established in the story, drawing my sympathy, as I have also personally experienced this struggle. In the middle of the story when Jack began to realize that his Chinese life was different from others’, he narrated, “Mom learned to cook American style. I played video games and studied French” (4). These succinct sentences stood out, as the surrounding

Danny’s jaded perception of his identity is a result of American society’s injustices. From a young age, Don lee reveals that Danny struggled with typical generational differences with family relationships, mortified by Korean culture as he demands that his parents “Speak English!” and refuses