Like Flowers In The Sky Analysis

Race is complicated for us Asian Americans. We aren’t as disadvantaged as some races, yet we also aren’t as privileged as others. On one hand, we face harsh racial criticism. Asian Americans are perpetually seen as foreigners. Many White Americans often ask Asian Americans, “Where are you from?” or, in other words, “Why don’t you look like me?” The world is taught to believe that White Americans are the default Americans, and that the rest are outsiders. Asian Americans are not outsiders. Asian Americans are Americans. Asian Americans are also highly exoticized and fetishized, which is dehumanizing. For instance, White males who have “Yellow Fever” are obsessed with Asian women and the idea that they are submissive and hypersexual. Simply put, …show more content…
Her poem, “Like flowers in the sky” is one example of this. Huang writes, “I witness Laini remembering / remembering her father’s poem about self defense after / the killing of Sean Bell. my gut knows / we still ain’t seen no poem stop a .38.” In 2006, a group of undercover policemen shot an innocent Black American male named Sean Bell. Huang uses the word “witness” to refer to the court case regarding Sean Bell’s murder. A “.38” is a reference to a type of gun, where the diameter of the loaded brass case is 0.38 inches. Guns are typically the murder weapons in shooting incidents involving Black American victims. The phrase “we still aint seen no poem stop a .38,” implies that activist poetry alone cannot end racial prejudice against Black Americans. This is ironic because Huang writes activist poetry, but also believes that poems are futile attempts to eliminate institutional racism. However, she continues to write these poems because she wants her readers to comprehend the hardship Black Americans are forced to experience. Huang witnesses Laini, who is most likely a Black American child, recalling their father’s poem. This poem is not about red roses or blue violets. Instead, it is a warning for Laini. If Laini does not learn how to defend themself in any situation, they could lose their life. This story is particularly effective in Huang’s poem because it reveals the sad reality of …show more content…
Throughout his poem, “If You Want To Know What We Are,” Bulosan repeats, “We are.” For example, Bulosan writes, “We are multitudes the world over, million everywhere,” “We are the men and women reading books,” “we are the factory hands field hands mill hands everywhere,” “We are the sufferers who suffer for natural love,” and more. Huang, however, cannot use “we” in her poem to refer to her and the Black American community because she is not confined by the same stereotypes. For example, in her poem, “Like flowers in the sky,” Huang writes, “my gut knows / we still ain’t seen no poem stop a .38,” and “we can usually only see this / from afar.” The “we” in these stanzas must be referring to the entire community, not just Black Americans. Because Huang is an Asian American, she cannot group herself with Black Americans and graft herself onto their “we.” By using “we,” Huang pulls the reader into her poem, and forces them to view the world from the poem’s point of view. When Huang writes, “we can usually only see this / from afar,” she recognizes her position in the situation. She knows she is different from Black Americans. Therefore, she can only see the surface of Black American racism. Assuming the “we” refers to her fellow Asian Americans, we can deduce that Huang wants her readers to also realize that we are not able to