Living In The ‘Borderlands’Between Cultures
Lee Chew’s “The Biography of a Chinaman,” as well as Toshio Mori’s “Tomorrow is Coming, Children,” both tell tales of what it was like to live in the borderlands between cultures. Certainly their stories are different. Chew recounts the experience of leaving China to pursue wealth in America, while Mori tells a story of being a Japanese immigrant travelling to the west. Both arrived in the United States at different times, for different reasons. Both, while in the United States, struggled to learn the language assimilate into the dominant culture of white Americans. Both faced a measure of discrimination and a complete betrayal of their ideallic expectations, which drew them to the United States. …show more content…
We learn about the things that Chew did as a child in China (Chew, 166-167). We learn about the kind of Confucian cultural values upheld in Chew’s culture (Chew, 168). We also learn about the kinds of divisions between the sexes, family structures, and social relations between people in China, in the place and period Chew describes. We also learn that, in China, there is a great deal of mistrust against American’s and Britons, and how these people lack honor for their family and loved ones, or generations before them (Chew, 168). But it is not until a villager returns back to China from the United States, after having amassed a great deal of wealth, that Chew becomes interested in the new world—and sees the potential for his own profit within it (Chew, 169). This sense of promise Chew feels in America—in spite of the fact that American’s break treaties and lack any moral sophistication (in Chew’s view)—actually becomes one of the first key features of an early Asian immigrant’s experience of the United States: the hope for a better future. …show more content…
Granted, Mori was not interested in the vast accumulation of wealth that Chew was. Rather, Mori was more interested in visiting this new land, reconnecting with her grandfather, starting a new life in the new world (Mori, 15-16). As Mori wrote “...in my dreams I saw the San Francisco your grandpa wrote about: San Francisco, the city with strange enticing food; the city with gold coins; the city with many strange faces and music; the city with great buildings and ships (Mori,
Lee Chew’s “The Biography of a Chinaman,” as well as Toshio Mori’s “Tomorrow is Coming, Children,” both tell tales of what it was like to live in the borderlands between cultures. Certainly their stories are different. Chew recounts the experience of leaving China to pursue wealth in America, while Mori tells a story of being a Japanese immigrant travelling to the west. Both arrived in the United States at different times, for different reasons. Both, while in the United States, struggled to learn the language assimilate into the dominant culture of white Americans. Both faced a measure of discrimination and a complete betrayal of their ideallic expectations, which drew them to the United States. …show more content…
We learn about the things that Chew did as a child in China (Chew, 166-167). We learn about the kind of Confucian cultural values upheld in Chew’s culture (Chew, 168). We also learn about the kinds of divisions between the sexes, family structures, and social relations between people in China, in the place and period Chew describes. We also learn that, in China, there is a great deal of mistrust against American’s and Britons, and how these people lack honor for their family and loved ones, or generations before them (Chew, 168). But it is not until a villager returns back to China from the United States, after having amassed a great deal of wealth, that Chew becomes interested in the new world—and sees the potential for his own profit within it (Chew, 169). This sense of promise Chew feels in America—in spite of the fact that American’s break treaties and lack any moral sophistication (in Chew’s view)—actually becomes one of the first key features of an early Asian immigrant’s experience of the United States: the hope for a better future. …show more content…
Granted, Mori was not interested in the vast accumulation of wealth that Chew was. Rather, Mori was more interested in visiting this new land, reconnecting with her grandfather, starting a new life in the new world (Mori, 15-16). As Mori wrote “...in my dreams I saw the San Francisco your grandpa wrote about: San Francisco, the city with strange enticing food; the city with gold coins; the city with many strange faces and music; the city with great buildings and ships (Mori,