Summary Of Beyond The Shadow Of Camptown

When the Koreans are forced to change their family names to Japanese ones, their Korean identity is weakened. Going through this traumatizing experience is

Hmong families, like the Lees in the novel “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” have been immigrating to the United States since the end of the Vietnam War. The majority of the Hmong living in the U.S. are now located in specific cities and regions of California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin (Lee and Green 2010). The Lee family moved to the Merced, California in 1980 and has had to adapt to life in a new host country (Fadiman 1997). Acculturation is used to describe how the culture of immigrants changes over time as they adapt to living in a new country (Vang 2013). Fadiman’s depiction of Nao Kao and Foua Lee’s life Merced indicates the couple resisted shedding any aspects of their culture in favor of Western culture, which is typical of first generation Hmong living in the United States. This paper will discuss why Hmong families left Laos, the findings of two acculturation studies of Hmong living in the United States, and a discussion of possible reason(s) why it has been difficult for first generation Hmong like Nao Kao and Foua to adapt to life in the United States.

Written by Margaret K. Pai, the Dreams of Two Yi-min narrates the story of her Korean American family with the main focus on the life journeys of her father and mother, Do In Kwon and Hee Kyung Lee. Much like the majority of the pre-World War II immigrants, the author’s family is marked and characterized by the common perception of the “typical” Asian immigrant status in the early 20th century: low class, lack of English speaking ability, lack of transferable education and skills, and lack of knowledge on the host society’s mainstream networks and institutions (Zhou and Gatewood 120, Zhou 224). Despite living in a foreign land with countless barriers and lack of capital, Kwon lead his wife and children to assimilate culturally,

Maxine Kingston's Making of More Americans like Amy Tan's Mother Tongue has been a controversial addition to Asian American literature. The writer has tried to answer the critical question of Chinese American identity and hence been criticized for adopting an orientalist framework to win approval of the west. Similarly Rendezvous by Frank Chin and Mother Tongue by Amy Tan also speak of a culture that neatly fits the description of the "Other" in the orientalist framework. It appears alien, remote and immensely degrading to women who were treated like non-human beings by Chinese chauvinistic society. However things changed for the generation of Chinese that grew up in the US or at least that is what authors wants us to believe.

Premised within an unbelievable scenario is the story of male soldier, Mark Fossie, in the Vietnam War who brings his sweetheart, Mary Anne Belle, to his platoon. While Fossie wishes to uphold the traditional gender dichotomy in a foreign land, he doesn’t consider the effects of a war on a sweetheart. When a person goes to war, “[they] come over clean and [they] get dirty and afterwards it’s never the same” (O’Brien 81). In Tim O’Brien’s Vietnam War fiction, The Things They Carried, he explores how humans comprehend the experiences of other humans. To convey his understanding of the inner workings of human perception, he tells a story through Rat Kiley, who “had a reputation for exaggeration and overstatement.”

In Xiaojian Zhao’s essay, “Chinese American Women Defense Workers in World War II,” the author focused on the development of Chinese American women’s accomplishments during World War II. Initially, after reading the essay, I felt a sense of pride and empowerment in my heritage as a half Chinese American woman. Zhao clearly states her thesis as the essay “focuses on the unique experience of Chinese American female defense workers in the San Francisco Bay Area.” I believe the author’s purpose is to educate readers of the World War II period which contributed to a large milestone in the progression of Chinese American women’s acceptance into American society.

Other Asian American groups were able to attain better economic opportunities for themselves because of a booming wartime economy. Through the process of naturalization, they were also recognized as citizens who had the same rights as other American citizens. This process helped to uplift their communities and change the perceptions of Asian Americans at the time. Conversely, Japanese Americans’ responses towards their mistreatment show their conviction in their rights as American citizens. These efforts were recognized with the passage of the McCarran-Walter Act, which allowed for the naturalization of Japanese and Korean immigrants. The act also eliminated the formal racially exclusive legislation that had been affecting Asian American communities. Along with the War Brides Act, which allowed for the immigration of women who had married American servicemen, new legislation after World War II helped to facilitate Asian immigration to America. This increased immigration helped to create more families in Asian American communities and bring about an end to the “bachelor societies” of Asian immigrants who had never been able to raise families. While the discussion of race and belonging during World War II featured the polarization of the Asian American communities, it is interesting to know that the struggles of Asian Americans during World War II would set

" I love Yous Are for White People" is a memoir about Lac's journey and his family immigrated to America from Vietnam, after the Vietnam's War. Lac's family had to deal with cultural shock, language barrier, and difficulty finding jobs. As a Vietnamese immigration myself, I feel like Lac's experiences live through me because there were a lot of similarities in his memoir compared to my past experiences with my parents. Lac's family and many immigrations families had the same circumstances, that had a hard time adapting to a new cultural, and establish a new life in America. As the result, this environment played a

Despite modern advances, people still draw inspiration from the 1940s and the feats of war that took place. When My Name Was Keoko is an engaging tale about World War II. Written by Linda Park, a Korean family, including siblings Sun-hee and Tae-yul, face harsh challenges while struggling to express their culture under the watchful eye of the Japanese. However, they realize that if they give up and let themselves abandon their heritage in order to follow Japanese rules, then they will feel hurt. For example, when Tae-yul has his bike forcefully taken away, or when the family has to change their names, they realize that they aren’t able to express themselves, which creates a great feeling of discomfort. When they do express themselves, like how Sun-hee writes a diary about her culture, she feels proud. Based on this evidence, it is obvious that the theme of “When My Name Was Keoko” is that being and expressing yourself has benefits.

In “The Luck of Roaring Camp” by Bret Harte, nature is seemingly created into its own character. Nature has the haunting role of being the giver and taker of life in this story. The forces of nature bring the men of the camp the blessing of a small child. Through this child the men are given life and see the beauty of nature around them. However, nature will ultimately strip the men of both of these things. Harte shows us that nature is the culprit that brings both beauty and pain.

The Second World War transformed the United States in several different ways. Over twelve million Americans will serve in the military, women will work in positions previously held by men in defense factories, along with blacks and whites working side-by-side in the military and war jobs, and the mass movements of the population throughout the country to find high paying defense job. Beth Bailey and David Farber’s book, The First Strange Place: Race and Sex in World War II Hawaii discusses the “cultural contact” between Americans. Men and women who are joined by common nationality, but are “divided by other identities – those of region, religion, gender, class, of race and ethnicity.”

Bret Harte’s 1868 story “The Luck of Roaring Camp” illustrates how those who may act tough, still care on the inside. Harte’s story is depicting,m the lives of those who moved to mining camps in California during the Gold Rush. The gold rush started in 1848 and ended in 1855. The majority of those who moved were men of rough character, occasionally there was a woman. The bravado of these men is what made the camps seem like a harsh place to be. Some of these men “were actual fugitives from justice, some were criminal, and all were reckless” (Harte, 2013, para. 6). That is just the case in this story. There is one woman in the entire camp and she is known as Cherokee Sal. Cherokee Sal is a Native American woman who was known for her sinful actions throughout the camp. The men of Roaring Camp are stuck with her son when she dies after childbirth. The men are clueless at first because, “Deaths were by no means uncommon in Roaring Camp, but a birth was a new thing” (Harte, 2013, para. 3). Nobody knew who the child 's father was, but that’s not what the men cared about. The story shows how the life of this child can make the men throw off their false toughness and come together to care for Cherokee Sal’s son.

GI’s have this pre-misconception of Korean women and Asian women. They believed these women enjoyed their job as much as the money they earned because East Asian women are these hypersexual addicts. In fact, they were seen as exotic however,

The majority of Korean women seem to have come from lower-class worker and farmer families. Korean and other Asian women were assigned to lower-ranking soldiers, while Japanese and European women were reserved for higher-ranking officers (Watanabe). This obviously portrays the condescending attitude the Japanese had toward Koreans.

She states, “Children of immigrants are living paradoxes,” and from her experience, this is proven to be true. Her parents, moving to American in hopes of creating a better life, desired Hwang to become one with American culture. However, they also desire her to stay true to what makes her herself, which is her Korean culture. Internalizing Hwang’s pain, her parents told her one thing, but expected her to do another. The emotional confusion is overwhelming. Hwang explains her parents “knew they were embarking on a rough trip,” however, if they knew the way in which Hwang feels they may not have went about the move in they way they have. “I identify with Americans, but they do not identify with me,” (13) is how Hwang feels living in America. She is split between not being Korean enough and not being American enough. She stands on the line between the two, but that line is extremely lonely and