In Mary Fisher’s speech, “1992 Republican National Convention Address,” given on August 19, 1992 in Houston, Texas she explained that having AIDS is not a reason to look at her differently or to look at other with eyes of judgment because over “two hundred thousand either are dead or dying from AIDS… a million more are infected” and there will be more in the years to come. As Fisher continues to appeal to the audiences sense of emotion by saying how she is a mother and married into a great and welcoming family that doesn’t discriminate against her because she has AIDS and she states that if you are safe from this disease you are not, you’re endanger, she wasn’t gay so she wasn’t in danger, she wasn’t a hemophiliac she wasn’t at risk, but that’s
Chapter six examines the anti-Chinese sentiment with the emerging class antagonism and turmoil between white capitalists and workers. The unwelcomed arrival of Chinese immigrants brought along their own social organizations such as the huiguan, fongs, and tongs. These types of social organizations secured areas of employment and housing for Chinese immigrants in California. This social structure that was unknown to Anglos led them to also categorize Chinese on the same level as Indians by depicting them as lustful heathens whom were out to taint innocent white women. These images were also perpetuated onto Chinese women, thus, also sexualizing them as all prostitutes. The political status of Chinese immigrants were also heavily impacted as they could not serve as witnesses for one another and required a white man to vouch for their innocence or naturalization. The rising structure of capitalism brought more anti-Chinese sentiment from the white working class basis as they feared that the Chinese would monopolize their privilege of white free labor. The class nature of the anti-Chinese sentiment also generated hostility from white farmers as they also assumed that Chinese immigrants were out to take over their agricultural sector. These racialized class relations during the era of urban manufacturing reflected the racial segregation of labor that fostered white supremacy in California. The status of Chinese women also became affected as many were forced into prostitution to serve their patriarchal family. In order to protect the white working class, racial laws were created and directly targeted towards Chinese immigrants to protect their whiteness. Chapter seven explains the new threat of the arrival of Japanese immigrants in California. During the beginning of the anti-Chinese sentiment and white working-class racism, Japanese immigrants were also under the romanticized belief of
Shame and guilt can go hand in hand, as seen in; Flight, The Glass Castle, and The Joy Luck Club. As the three novels progress, many of the characters suffer with inner shame and guilt. While the characters suffer with these things, it somehow seems to shape and change them. Through the characters hardships and struggles, the theme of shame and guilt emerges.
During the 19th century, America promised land and opportunities for all. Though some groups of individuals left their homes willingly in order to take advantage of what America had to offer, others were forced to flee due to inhabitable conditions in their homelands. Both Chinese and Irish immigrants, however, were often disappointed with their treatment upon arrival in America. The Anglo-Saxons that first inhabited America viewed immigrants as uncivilized and quickly declared their superiority, forcing immigrants to work for them. They created laws that prevented groups from accessing similar privileges as them and racialized these groups based on their cultures and languages. In his book A Different Mirror, Ronald Takaki explains how racial
Dave Berry once said, “There 's nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater,you realize that you 've been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent..” By the outside, someone may look like they fit in, while the adversities one deals with internally are hidden on the inside. The struggles one goes through needs to really be brought up to attention and the attempt to understand what one goes through day to day must happen. In From Silence to Words Writing as a Struggle, Min-Zhan Lu explains the struggles experienced growing up in China and the influences of
For first generation Americans, finding belonging in a new country can feel impossible. They are often caught between the traditions and ideals of the two differing countries. Raising a family in the new home with different values can lead to miscommunications or even a significant disconnect between parents and children. This is modeled well in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, particularly in the relationship between Ying Ying Saint Clair and her daughter Lena. The prejudice Ying Ying Saint Clair feels for American culture causes her to have a difficult time understanding and communicating with her daughter.
She shares the struggles of being a Chinese-American woman by telling the readers her story as well as other girls who went through the same thing. Their inability to speak or at lease to speak properly has a lot to do with the Chinese culture. They are taught from a young age that they live in a patriarchal society and they have to submit to it whether they like it or not. The pressure and expectations that are set upon their shoulders may have caused them to become voiceless, it may have caused them to realized that even if they had a voice, they would never be able to use it. Not only were the readers able to get a look into Chinese society but also into typical Chinese families. Families that found girls a burden upon their shoulders, who found feeding cowbirds better than feeding them, who only raise them to one day sell them off to an unknown man. These are the values, traditions, and cultures that Kingston brings forth with her stories, these are the reasons, one realizes, that make all these women voiceless. Not only does she bring to attention how many women and girls are voiceless but also why they are that
Killing two birds with one stone is exactly what Florence Kelley does in her speech at the National American Woman Suffrage Association convention on July 22, 1905. She argues against unfair child labor laws by utilizing emotional appeal, using rhetorical questions, and employing repetition. Kelley does this in order to convince her audience if women had the right to vote there would be better child labor laws.
The Paper Menagerie is a short story written by Ken Liu. This story is written from first point of view and it has a plot of a child named Jack becoming more mature through his mistakes made during his adolescence. Author Ken Liu uses characterization to demonstrate the universal truth of pain of our human need to belong. There are two important points the author made. The first Point is associated with Jack’s alienation, how he got excluded because of his looks and food. The second point connects to Jack’s mother’s experience of being an orphan, because her parents went missing.
In the story “Two Kinds”, the author, Amy Tan, proposes to make readers think of the meaning behind the story. She doesn’t speak out as an analyzer to exemplify what is the real problem between her and her mother. As a substitute, she uses her own point of view as a speaker to state what she is knowledgeable in and what she feels in her mind all along in the story. She has not judged what is right or wrong based on her beliefs. Instead of learning how to solve a family issue, thse author selects to engrave a description diary encompassing her true feeling towards actions during her childhood, which offers readers not only a pure interpretation, but understanding on how the narrator feels discouraged due to failing her mother’s potentials which leads to a large fight between the narrator and her mother. Children carry the weight of parent’s hopes when they grow up and face emotive paths to create an identity.
The United States is the ideal land for immigrants who seek opportunities and American Dreams regardless of their ethnicity, however, the Chinese ended up with America closing the gate to immigration and exclusion. This book Closing the Gate: Race, Politics, and the Chinese Exclusion Act written by Andrew Gyory answers a query about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, in particular, why did the US government pass this bill? According to the author Andrew Gyory, modern historians who have examined the issue fail to offer a comprehensive explanation for this case. Gyory also claims that the Chinese Exclusion Act was not developed from nationwide racism, neither nor the behest of national labor leaders despite the fact that these elements formed an
The author talks about the federal immigration statute that was generally directed at the Chinese immigrants. He specifically mentions the1882 Chinese exclusion law that was meant to address the issues of unemployment in America by restricting the entry of both the unskilled and skilled Chinese laborers. This law turned the Chinese Americans into ’illegal aliens’ and barred them from becoming American citizens (Nokes 117). Those who were already American citizens were stripped off of their citizenship and were termed as national enemies. However, this is just an example of the many challenges that the Asian Americans have face din their quest to immigrate to America. In1924animmigrationactwasimplementedto totally restrict the Asians from entering the United States of America. During the Second World War over 120000 Asian Americans were imprisoned on grounds that they were enemy aliens. 65% of the imprisoned victims were American born citizens. This book therefore talks about the Asian American experiences and difficulties they faced living in a society that was driven by racial prejudice. The fact that the American government was able to cover up the crime against the Chinese miners despite their efforts to
A History of Asian Americans, Strangers From a Different Shore, written by Ronald Takaki, displays an extensive history of Asian Americans as he combines a narrative story, personal recollection and spoken assertions. As long as we can remember, many races such as the Chinese, Filipinos, Koreans, Vietnamese and Japanese have dealt with some type of discrimination upon arriving to the United States. A particular part in the book, Chapter 11, mainly focuses on Asian immigrants and Southeast Asian refugees from the 1960s to the 1980s that were treated as the “strangers at the gate again.” Ronald Takaki refers to them as “strangers at the gate again” as a figure of speech for the people who are from Asian background who have struggled to settle in the United States, only to find out that old
Asian Americans migrated into the United States as early as the mid nineteenth century. Asians have shown various patterns of migration into the United States. Adaptation has been one of the hardest problems they have encountered. Asian Americans is the general term for the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Asian Indians as well as a few others. Although they all fall into the Asian American category they all have significant differences. This population has faced tremendous oppressions and Social Injustices. These injustices lead to a variety of laws being passed so that the Asian population would return home such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Asian Americans have faced both positive and negative experiences since
In the poem, "When I Was Growing Up”, Nellie Wong relates the struggles of a Chinese girl growing up, searching to find her voice in a predominantly white cultural majority. The speaker begins the poem with, “I know now that once I longed to be white,” (1). This speaker longs for the privileges she attributes to being a member of the cultural majority. Ashamed of her darker Asian skin and Chinese culture, the speaker laments, “…I could not change, I could not shed / my skin…” (49, 50). The poem details the feelings of the speaker as she was growing up in America, while simultaneously being immersed in Chinese culture. She wanted to be part of the American white culture as it was depicted and glamorized by the media and movies. "When I Was Growing Up", utilizes literary devices such as diction, imagery, and symbolism to create friction and express the theme of shame and regret that the speaker feels about her longings to be white.