Eliza Noh Research Paper

Eliza Noh was born in Texas. Her parents were Korean and Vietnamese. They pushed their daughters to do well in school. From a young age, the sisters were pressured to maintain the stereotype that Asians are naturally smart. While the standards they set were high enough, her sister was held to an even higher standard. She was older therefore expected to do better. This caused many rifts between her and her parent. Listening to these arguments led Eliza to avoid emotional involvement. While her sister argued she concentrated on getting good grades. I think she did this to separate herself from her sister. I think if her sister had gotten good grades and complied with her parents Eliza would have responded differently. In high school, she was very curious and often asked many questions. "Yet she never enjoyed discovering something new just for the pure joy of it."(Bain). She was too consumed with extrinsic motivators like good grades that she didn't try to find …show more content…
Instead of thinking about her sister she focused on the issue. Her sister's death was not just an individual tragedy but a bigger problem. By looking past her sister's death "She could exercise that mindfulness of acknowledging her painful thoughts and feelings rather than over-identify with or repressing them". It was a way for her to do something about it without all the emotional pain. She learned that many Asian American women commit suicide. She wanted to know what caused this. She then made it her mission to raise awareness of the problem. Her research helped her come to terms with her sister's death. "She could now understand the social elements that led to her sister's death. Her denial prevented her from understanding her sister's death when she found intrinsic motivators she found peace."(Bain.) Her understanding led her to pioneer work for the epidemic that took her sisters life. Today Dr.Noh is a professor at California State University,