Rolling the R's by R. Zamora Linmark

841 Words3 Pages
“No… we have a daughter, and I don’t want to break a holy vow” (Linmark 94). This is a perfect example of how religion has oppressed these people over time. Furthermore, this may contribute to the extreme discourse between the parents and the children throughout the novel. The children can see how religion has affected their parents as they are virtually brainwashed by their spiritual beliefs and the children wish to avoid the oppressions of this institution. They do so by using their language to rewrite traditional Catholic litany and hymns invoking other “cultural” saints to paint a picture of their lives and the lack of God’s presence that they feel. The education system serves to be another oppressive institution as the teachers purposely alienate the Asian American students from the others. Instead of being seen as unique for being first-generation citizens, they are viewed as being deviants and hassles. The teachers, though some have Asian roots, refuse to understand the struggle or lifestyle of these children who have come from immigrant families. This is seen when Florante talks about Mrs. Takara saying she is, “A Japanese and an American wrestling in one mind. He says that her American upbringing has blinded her from reading between the lines of the history textbooks where silent people choke from invisibility and humiliation” (Linmark 49). This mindset definitely results in the obvious racist undertones that are evident throughout the education system.
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