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Essay about Simple is Gold For the Chinese People in "Golden Mountain"

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Keeping things simple in “Golden Mountain”, also known as Canada, is extremely important for most of the Chinese people who came to Canada. In my opinion, it is important to them for three main reasons. First, they need to ensure that their paper histories are original in the eye of Canada’s immigration officers. Second, they only say those things that are necessary so Canadians can understand them. Lastly, they do not want to forget their origins by not assimilating too much into Western culture. Hence, it is important for Chinese immigrants who came to Canada to keep things simple and we need to discuss this further to know more deeply about why it is important to be simple in Canada. First of all, the Chinese people who came to Canada…show more content…
It can be seen in the novel that old timers like Wong Kimlein only say a little about themselves when someone asks him about his past : “What was it like when you were a little boy?” He roared with laughter or sighed deeply. “Too long ago,” he would say, and leave me guessing.”(Choy 61). Additionally, young generation, like Jook-Liang and Jung-Sum, are assimilating a little bit to make life simpler or easier. For instance, the children who are a part of the Chen family just need to call their uncle, “uncle” instead of using the old Chinese traditional titles which apply differently for each relative or friend. Therefore, they are keeping traditional family titles simple by only saying what is necessary to prevent more or worse marginalization from outsiders or those who are listening, and this adaption to language can possibly make their lives easier. Lastly, Chinese immigrants choose not to assimilate too much because they want to keep everything close to their home as well as they do not want to get caught up in a third space situation. They do not want to forget who they are and where they are from. Therefore, some Chinese immigrants want all aspects which define their identity to be close to them, even if they live in Canada now. Take the case of a Chinese teenager who came to Canada to continue his study, but he was already assimilating too much that his cultural identity faded slowly. At the end, he
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