“Be as careful at the end as you are at the beginning and you will not ruin things.” (The Daodejing of Laozi, 64, p. 67)…
Given that China and Athens were located in two separate places, they both had very different forms of government, geography, and daily life.…
One of the traumatic experiences throughout Valentino Achak Deng’s journey from Sudan to Kenya is during the period where they are famished and they have to eat the raw meat. In Book 1 Chapter 15, 250 boys including Valentino stopped at a village to get some protection, rest and food. However a group of boys tried to steal food from the villagers and the group was chased out. They continue their journey with the minimum amount of food and supplies. Many of them complain about empty stomach and some are left to die on the roadside. Luckily, some soldiers offers them meat of an elephant. Most of the boys eat the raw meat because they are too hungry to wait for it to cook. In the morning, Deng does not wake up from his sleeping. Valentino feels very sad, so he remains silent for the majority of the journey.…
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing.” This quote by Pele, a soccer player regarded as one of the best of all time, describes the determination that it took for Adeline to succeed and overcome her childhood. In the memoir, Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, the author writes about the support from Ye Ye, Aunt Baba, and also rising above her abusive childhood.…
The point of this essay, “The Chinese in All of us” by Richard Rodriguez, was to show that America is one giant melting pot. That there is no such thing as an “American” culture. An American culture cannot exist as one central thing because there are so many cultures that mixed together to form what we have now. It’s a never ending cycle of growth as a country. The immigrants come to America and with them, they bring their ideas and customs. While they learn the customs we already have we, in turn, adopt some of theirs that we observe along the way.…
The graphic novel American Born Chinese (2006), by Gene Luen Yang, is a very modern and influential piece of work that can be compared to the short indie film Two Lies (1990), directed and written by Pamela Tom, which had preceded the novel by 16 years. These two different forms of work, both utilizing their ability to teach the audience, are used as powerful venues for the topic of identity crisis among the Asian people in a majority European American world. In the film, we have Mei and her family who are all having some trouble adjusting to their lives in Southern California but more specifically we have Mei and her trouble to understand her mother 's cause and intent for having undergone double eye-lid surgery. In ABC, we have our protagonist, Jin, who is having trouble fitting into his new school in San Francisco since he is one of the very few Asian admitted to the school. Another time line in the novel is the story of the monkey king who does anything to get rid of the fact that he is a monkey in order to fit into society. The third is the story of Danny, a European American who has trouble and often becomes embarrassed with his hyperbolic Chinese cousin, Chin-Kee. This character is first introduced by saying "Harro Amellica!" while Jin 's father, carrying giant Chinese take out container says "I 'll put your luggage into your room, Chin-Kee" (48). All three of these time line show our characters having some sort of shame or embarrassment to the fact that their own image or background is different from those around them.…
I have finished reading Legend by Marie Lu. The prompt I have chosen for my Journal Entry is “Describe the author’s craft (language and style). What was good about the author’s writing? What thing might you try to do in your writing that you learned from this author?” Things that I believe the author did well in her writing were the use of perspective, character development, and foreshadowing.…
The graphic novel American Born Chinese, by Gene Yang, tells three stories, which revolve around a main character who has to overcome the pain of being a social outcast, while having a goal to maintain his or her identity. The characters in the novel are too caught up trying to be someone they are not, however in doing so they forget their true identities, which they should not forget. There is first the monkey king who would like to be in heaven. Throughout the novel, the Monkey King is shown just as strong as any other God, by mastering the twelve Kung Fu disciplines. One night, a guard forbids the Monkey King from entering a party, “Yes, yes. I apologize profusely sir, but I cannot let you in…you may be a king- you may even be a deity- but…
Amy Tan allows us to deepen our understanding of her world by finding every day items and ideas that Americans can relate to such as a mother’s desire to do the best for their children, or using meals to represent a nurturing love, or a vase to represent a rocky foundation, or the pain that comes from hiding your true self. The use of figurative language in this novel removes the barriers from both the Chinese and the American cultures and customs therefore allowing us to examine each other not through the eyes of a specific race but through the eyes of one race, the human race.…
"Identity is the essential core of who we are as individuals, the conscious experience of the self inside" - Kaufman (Anzuldύa 62). Coming to America and speaking more than one language, I often face similar situations as Gloria Anzaldύa and Amy Tan. Going to high school where personal image is a big part of a student 's life is very nerve racking. American Values are often forced upon students and a certain way of life is expected of them. Many times, in America, people look down on people who do not accept the American Way of Life. The struggle of "fitting in" and accepting the cultural background is a major point in both essays, _Mother Tongue_ by Amy Tan and _How to Tame a Wild Tongue_ by Gloria Anzaldύa, which the authors argue similarly about. Both essays can be related to my life as I experience them in my life at home and at school.…
This essay will be about the conflicts that happen in the book American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. There will be one man vs man conflict, and a man vs self in this essay.…
“You can't change who you are. No matter how you struggle, some things will never change. And maybe they shouldn't” (Thurman, Rob). “Identity is a powerful organizing presence in social life today” putting people into sections concerning likes and dislikes, culture and customs, separates them via social, economic and religious differences, identity makes a person, a person (Leve, Lauren). The character regarding one’s self is shaped by identity, how they view themselves, and largely how society views them. Influences that impact people into what or whom they will become, and how their presence is perceived, will shape them throughout his or her lifetime. Many are more conscious of their identity when put into situations where they stand out.…
When Amy Tan falls in love with the minister’s son at the young age of fourteen, she takes for granted what her mother was trying to show her about life. Young Amy’s trying to impress her boyfriend by appearing as a traditional American girl not wanting to appear in any way Chinese American. Tan, still not experiencing life yet, had not grasped that being different is what makes someone who they are. It wasn’t until many years later that she came to realize that all her mother was trying to express to her was that she should be proud of her Chinese heritage. “But inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame.” (117) She was not appreciating the diversity of different cultures and how both cultures have their own richness and value. Tan was embarrassed the whole time at Christmas dinner when she was trying to impress her young love Robert not realizing that her mother was making the meal for her. “For Christmas Eve that year, she had chosen all my favorite foods.” (117)…
The moment we are born, we enter a world in which there is a fine line between conformity and our identity. (It’s outstanding how people chooses to change who they are in order to not be perceived as different)By conforming to the pressure of those around us, we are allowing the need to feel normal dictate our identity. Firstly, due to society’s portrayal of having children being the norm, people often believe that those who do not choose this lifestyle don’t fit in. Additionally, because of the pressure put upon the Korean band, EXO, they were forced to change and conform to their record company’s ideal image. Moreover, by confining to social pressure, I lost sight of my racial identity. Lastly, through The Giver, Lois Lowry paints a picture of how society pressures people to conform to their ideals by eliminating their choices. With this in mind, the battle between taking the risk of being different versus people’s desire to fit in often results in conformity winning the fight, ultimately losing hindsight of our individuality.…
Isolation from others can cause individuals to feel lonely and torn. This isolation will cause them to feel outcast from the world while makes them work hard for what makes them happy. Gene Yang makes us feel this throughout the novel. In the beginning of American Born Chinese, Jin is on the playground when some kid comes up to him and makes stereotypical insults. “Come on. Let’s leave buck tooth alone so he can enjoy lassie” then the kids walk away smiling. (Yang 33). In this case, Yang uses stereotypical remarks to show that the kids didn’t like hanging out with Jin because of his race. This discrimination causes Jin to push away from the crowd, which only made Jin feel lonely. Whereas, the author of Linh Lai shows that race isn’t the only way to feel isolated from others.…