The Old Man Isn't There Any More by Kellie Schmitt

The third section of the essay uses narration but also analysis, as Liu examines the effects of his assimilation. As Liu narrates his experiences in college, he analyzes their importance as related to his own acceptance into white American culture. Liu examines the cause and effect of his acts in college, like how he chose not to be pigeonholed by the race-specific clubs. He considers whether it was a good idea to distance himself from his Chinese culture in order to achieve success and respect in America. The third section deals with Liu’s college experience and how it played a part in his

1. Schmitt’s purpose in writing this travel narrative, is to show the differences between the Chinese and American cultures, when it comes to many different things. Main examples in this narrative are; living under the same roof, loss of a loved one, and funeral etiquette. In the Chinese culture it is excepted to come into common areas in your under clothing. Where in America, this would not be appropriate at all. In most places in America, law enforcement would be called on some one outside of their living area in nothing but their underwear and shoes. The narrative shows the many differences in funeral etiquette. One such being, white floors being the

In the 1999 novel “Chinese Cinderella”, author Adeline Yen Mah explores the theme of acceptance and belonging throughout the novel, as a result of her tragic childhood. The autobiography reveals the experiences of a young Chinese girl called Adeline, and her sense of isolation. The young girl is neglected by her family because she is being held liable for the death of her mother, who died during childbirth and leaving the family in poverty. As a result of this his heart-wrenching story, the author challenges the idea of belonging in an unkind family, to ultimately depict a sense of loneliness

China is and always will be a land seen as mysterious to those with roots in Western culture. And in its own way, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie is what can happen when Western and Far Eastern culture interact. Outside of the cultural revolution, headed by Mao Zedong, which makes the whole novel possible, and was a push back against Western involvement in China, the novel includes many other ideas of cultural interaction. However, it also prominently provides complex emotions and changes within the characters who are followed throughout the novel. In fact, one passage in particular reveals much character change and development in the narrator of the story (who will simply be known as narrator for the entirety of this essay), and it occurs on the pages of 166 to 169. The passage is a daydream of the narrator’s after having taken a beating by a band of hooligans and potential suitors of the Little Seamstress. In it, readers can see the narrator develop to the same sort of manhood as Luo: the satisfaction of changing something and reaching independence. However, after reaching this stage, he also realizes the drawbacks to having done so, causing him to feel remorse for his actions. This is achieved by the narrator’s expression of hidden desires he developed over time and what lustful feelings and desperation accompany them.

In her essay written as a travel journalist, The Old Man Isn’t There Anymore, American journalist Kellie Schmidt does a remarkable job entertaining readers with the awkwardness of her relationship with her Shanghainese neighbors, and describing a subsequent Chinese funeral. The author explains her neighbor’s hesitancy towards having a friendship with her in the shared three story house she had lived in four a year. After she observes some of her neighbors crying in the hallway, she phones her cleaning lady and learns an old man in the house, who she has believed has always said hello to her, has died. In her continued attempt to be neighborly, Kellie takes flowers to the family of her deceased neighbor; while there, she was invited to the

According to Lee Chew, a Chinese immigrant who arrived in the 1870’s , Chinese people had minimalistic life styles. They were unpretentious because they had an

Rather than a life of isolation under her husband’s domain in the New World, she deliberately makes the decision to take on the challenge of learning the new customs of life in order to connect with society. Furthermore, not only does Mrs. Spring Fragrance learn the language of the New World, but she also embraces it and applies it to her everyday life in her relationship with her neighbors and her husband. As her young neighbor Laura struggles with the cultural disparities regarding love and relationships, Mrs. Spring Fragrance exercises New World poetry to soothe problems arising from Old World tradition. Mrs. Spring Fragrance’s neighbors, the Chin Yuens, demonstrate the difficulties that arise from simply ‘looking the part’ of an American, rather than fully understanding the culture. Sin Far writes, “although the Chin Yuen parents lived in a house furnished in American style, and wore American clothes…they religiously observed many Chinese customs, and their ideals of life were the ideals of their Chinese forefathers” (17). This practice ultimately contributes to their daughter Laura’s inner conflict when she cries to Mrs. Spring Fragrance, “Kai Tzu and I so love; but never, ah, never, can we take it together again” (17). In response, Mrs. Spring Fragrance says, “you really must not grieve like that.” “’Tis better to have loved and lost. Than never to have loved at all” (18). This proves how the root of immigrant happiness doesn’t

She strived for academic success, refused to cook and made herself clumsy and distasteful (Kingston, 47). When questioned for her behavior, she responded by comparing how a “bad girl” is almost similar to a boy. Yet her resistance was proven difficult because not only did she have to manage the repressiveness of her Chinese heritage but also manage the different and contradicting repressiveness of American femininity.

“Chinese-Americans, when you try to understand what things in you are insanities, one family, your mother who marked your growing up with stories, from what is Chinese? What is Chinese tradition and what is the movies?”(1327). This is a powerful point that Kingston is making, it explains all the confusion, the questions, and the doubting of their true culture values that Chinese-Americans would have when they are being intertwined with this new information given to them by their school, family members, parents, or even society itself. The feel of this literature piece is that Kingston is revealing the truth about the ugliness and flaws of Chinese culture. How the Women are treated with no respect, there were practices that were cruel and inhuman.

Let’s rewind back in time to 1996, Peter Hessler’s River Town is a graphic account of his experiences as a waiguoren (foreigner) in an ancient country. His crisp, content-rich and attention to detail style of writing keeps the reader mesmerized. Peter Hessler, a.k.a Ho Wei, volunteers as a Peace Corps officer who spends 2 years of his life in a city called Fuling, a Yangtze River town in China. The Peace Corps have assigned him to teach English and Literature in class to students who have never seen a foreigner let alone spoke English. This classroom becomes the portal from which Peter enters the Chinese culture and traditions. It combines his personal development as a recent college graduate with the development of China into the outer world. To understand the complicated Chinese languages and its ancient culture, it proves to be more daunting then to teach them about American culture. It’s a journey into history and a difficult one. Peter must cope with China’s centuries-old isolationism and distrust of an outsider.

When a fourteen year old falls in love with someone, they are increasingly susceptible to embarrassment. In “Fish Cheeks”, a short story by Amy Tan, the author talks about her own experience when she has the unfortunate experience of having Christmas dinner with her crush and his family. Tan describes her teenage struggle to reconcile her conflicting feelings toward mainstream and Chinese cultures, revealing her difficulty in establishing her identity as an American.

The minute I logged into the computer, I opened up a Google page and typed in: “Colored letters and numbers.” The page returned about a million hits of colored refrigerator magnets.

Waverly had tried to get further away from her Chinese culture and avoid it as much as possible. An example of this is when she was going to go to China for her second honeymoon and was worried that she would blend in. ““What if I blend in so well they think I’m one of them?” Waverly asked me. “What if they don’t let me come back to the United States?””

Zhu, C. (2010, November 10). From china to aermica: culture shock (food, manner) –living in a new country. Retrieved from

The streets are suddenly flooded with people spitting everywhere, the shopping district inundated by the noise of the crowds, mediocrity has at last replaced the elegance of simplicity. In the short story The Destination Chen Xin goes back to Shanghai, ten years later after having left for Xinjiang on account of the Rustication Movement. Rewarded at first by the warm of his family, he learns not before long how to cope with a deeper understanding. There is no room left for him, a bed must be arranged for him in the hut they had built in the courtyard; already white haired he has passed the marriageable age, and when he could, years back in the countryside, he let her go thousands of time for his mind was set on going back to Shanghai. Regardless private affection and sentimental connection the countryside represents a moment, more or less protracted, of transaction, the city is the place where everyone has to return to. Now that he finally reached the destination, the city, he is overtaken by the feeling that in his destination something is missing, the river is not blue as he remembered it but muddy and stinking, the landscape is oppressive with its department stores, the latest fashion, the big cinemas where everyone is compressed inside, the bus where he has to fight his way to squeeze in, inevitably he revives the immensity of the grassland, the silence of the