Personal Narrative: My Hyphenated Identity

Instead of rebelling against her mother she was very submissive. In Qi Wang’s article, she indicates “Observation of Chinese immigrant families has suggested that many parents…actively preserve traditional Chinese values and practices” (pg.186). Any immigrant parents would want their children to learn and value their culture before they learn the American culture. Just like any other immigrant parents, Sourdi’s mother also wanted her to follow her native culture first and live her life in her mother’s way without

As an adopted Chinese living under a Caucasian mother there were many cultural ideals that I could never uphold. However, my sixth grade teacher showed me that I didn’t have to. She levied my confidence and helped me to pursue my passion of writing. Writing released me from the expectations others placed on me. It allowed me to express myself and explore the world without consequence.

The adjustment for this alternate environment considerably changed her views on life (Michaelson). The life she lived in China was completely different from the life she began to take on in San Francisco. Although Fae’s family and her had ample opportunities to make a name for themselves in the United States, it was still hard for her to turn her back on her hometown and as well as her other family members. When she moved to the states with her 2 sisters and mother, they were unaware of the extreme culture shock they would face. In addition to the culture shock, they would then face a traumatizing death in the family.

Lost in Translation 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.

When you fail or cannot please your elders it brings a deep feeling of shame and disappointment. Growing up in the lower class creates a drive for individuals of all races. I want to be successful in life so that I could show my parents that all the hard work they put

At the point in my life, I did not speak Korean and as Wallace said I had no link to my past. At the time of my life, I just really wanted to understand where I came from and the key to understanding myself was within my culture, but losing my language made me lose my

When I came to America, I had to go through much struggle. First and the most important was that I did not know how to speak English. Apart from this I was very shy, so I didn’t communicate with people frequently.     Growing up in America and being a son of two Indian parents, I never felt truly American or Indian. I spoke Punjabi at home, but was educated in English so I had difficulty managing two languages.

Lindo Jong, the mother of Waverly, says, “But inside I am becoming ashamed. I am ashamed that she is ashamed. Because she is my daughter and I am proud of her, and I am her mother and she is not proud of me”(The Joy Luck Club 255). The shame the daughters feel causes the mothers to feel shame. However, the shame the daughters felt because of

Where to you come from? Where exactly do you come from? These are the kind of questions that have been circulating around me for many years, as a child, who was born in Finland, but raised by Chinese parents, I do not know how to position myself in the complicated modern society. Whenever people in Finland ask me where I come from, I always answer by saying that I am Finnish. Completely stunned by my response, they often have a quick follow-up question: “Where exactly do you come from?”

The movie also depicts the cultural similarities between India and Pakistan. It also shows how a right person can bring positive differences in your life. We keep complaining about generation gap but the problem lies when we misunderstand our elders or think they have not grown with time. It’s not their age that speaks but their experience

Like the students in the article I used to have this feeling as well. I was unconfident in communicating with Americans at the beginning because I didn’t want to embarrass myself with my poor English. I just want to stay with Chinese friends because that is the environment I was used. It was a hard time for me. I wish to practice my English and make friends with local people, but I am also worried that they probably don’t like international students.

When filling out surveys or job applications, all Asians must check off the “Asian American” box regardless of national origin or place of birth, forcing a single classification on an extremely diverse group. This aggregated approach to understanding Asian American is not new, it has been present since the us versus them Occident-Orient approach that powered racism against early Asian immigrants. With the increasing presence of second and third generation Asian Americans, it is time to redefine what it means to be Asian American and to discover a new manner of framing the Asian American experience as unified yet diverse. The best approach to emphasize diversity is through stressing the national, socio-economic and gender differences within the Asian American

If you go more than three generations up in your ancestral line, you no longer share any blood similarities with your. This is due to the dna mixing and different family genes, so it makes sense that our ancestors are very different then us. Me being a caucasian female living Hawaii changed my life a lot more then it would have if I stayed in Canada. I never really thought I had a culture, my family says I'm a mixed plate. That always confused me because my skin is white and I grew up in Hawaii, so I just assumed I was just another hole.