CRP to Liu
Sharon Lei
English 101
Professor Ewan Magie
13 October 2013
Critical response to Eric Liu: “Note of a Native Speaker”
Eric Liu is a writer for MSNBC and a fellow at the New American Foundation. In his essay “ Note of a Native Speaker” he starts off listing way that characterize that he is “white”. He discussed how he did not ‘ask” to be white. That he began his assimilation,- which means “whiting” before he was born .He described how he was raised in a non “typical “ Chinese family that have pushy , status obsessed ,discipline parents. He is an American born Chinese or what his parents called “ABC”. Whites would describe him as an “honorable white” but Asians would call him “banana” which means to be Chinese or “yellow” outside but in the inside one is “white”. Later on in his essay he discussed how he felt like an awkward stranger with all the ritual of all kinds. Such as ceremony, protocol and etiquettes. Liu felt bad as he slept over a friends house, he said “I was never taught by my parents to write thank-you notes . I didn’t even have a breeding to say “thank you” after sleeping over at a friend’s house. I can recall the awful ,sour feeling in my stomach when this friend told me that his mother has been offended by impoliteness.” Liu compares himself with James Baldwin and agree his statement “the world is white not longer and it will never be white again” because Baldwin was first black who step foot in the tiny Swiss village and ending up feeling not much a stranger , and liu felt that after his journey that he is not an alien but he is a citizen . Liu feel that he has neglected his heritage, and that he lost something. That even though he could speak Chinese and cook Chinese food he could not claim to be Chinese at the core. But he would not admit he is “white inside”.
“I realize certain things, things that my mother and father might also have realized about their new country a generation ago. I realize that my entry
English 101
Professor Ewan Magie
13 October 2013
Critical response to Eric Liu: “Note of a Native Speaker”
Eric Liu is a writer for MSNBC and a fellow at the New American Foundation. In his essay “ Note of a Native Speaker” he starts off listing way that characterize that he is “white”. He discussed how he did not ‘ask” to be white. That he began his assimilation,- which means “whiting” before he was born .He described how he was raised in a non “typical “ Chinese family that have pushy , status obsessed ,discipline parents. He is an American born Chinese or what his parents called “ABC”. Whites would describe him as an “honorable white” but Asians would call him “banana” which means to be Chinese or “yellow” outside but in the inside one is “white”. Later on in his essay he discussed how he felt like an awkward stranger with all the ritual of all kinds. Such as ceremony, protocol and etiquettes. Liu felt bad as he slept over a friends house, he said “I was never taught by my parents to write thank-you notes . I didn’t even have a breeding to say “thank you” after sleeping over at a friend’s house. I can recall the awful ,sour feeling in my stomach when this friend told me that his mother has been offended by impoliteness.” Liu compares himself with James Baldwin and agree his statement “the world is white not longer and it will never be white again” because Baldwin was first black who step foot in the tiny Swiss village and ending up feeling not much a stranger , and liu felt that after his journey that he is not an alien but he is a citizen . Liu feel that he has neglected his heritage, and that he lost something. That even though he could speak Chinese and cook Chinese food he could not claim to be Chinese at the core. But he would not admit he is “white inside”.
“I realize certain things, things that my mother and father might also have realized about their new country a generation ago. I realize that my entry