American Born Chinese

In Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem “Facing It,” he writes about his poignant experience visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in a way that suggests he is perhaps regretful of his time as a soldier and remorseful as a survivor. Komunyakaa explains to the readers the inner workings of his brain and how permanent war is not only in his mind but in the reality of the death toll. In order to accomplish giving a detailed and understandable explanation to the audience, Komunyakaa uses techniques such as…

important in it’s own right, it is vital to understand the cultural context in which it took place. Thus, to further understand one of “the most touching poems in any language,” it is vital to explore the ancient Japanese view of death in relation to American beliefs and in relation to Hitomaro’s poem (461). Westerners seem to exclusively believe death to be a touchy subject while Asians believe death can have multiple interpretations. In America, funerals are somber occasions. The people…

The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, tells the story of a platoon in the Vietnam War. O’Brien uses many literary devices to help him portray the overall theme including repetition, details, and through emphasizing the reasons the soldiers are a part of the war. All of these combined portray the anti-war argument and illustrate the idea that when young men go into war, they carry many burdens, but the emotional burdens are the heaviest ones that they are never able to put this down.…

Year 1928 and 1929 were important years for Los Angeles born Chinese actress Anna May Wong. News reports about her Hollywood movies were decreased, instead, according to an American gossip columnist visiting Europe during Wong’s tenure, she was “acclaimed by nobility” in several European newspapers (Petersen, 2014). Severely limited by the noxious roles she was offered in Hollywood, which misrepresented Asian women, Wong left United States to Europe (Vechten, 2003). She then spent two years in…

Coast, Chinese immigrants arrived on the shores of the West Coast in smaller groups. Between 1851 and 1883, about 300,000 Chinese arrived to seek their fortunes after the discovery of gold in the California gold rush in 1848. Chinese immigrants helped build nation’s railroads, including the first transcontinental line. After the completion of the railroads, they turned to farming, mining, and domestic service. During the 1870s, many Chinese agreed to work for a low wage, but many American…

Chinese food is the most popular food in the world. More and more people from different countries know more about China because of Chinese food. In the article sunshine and water in China by Zhe Xing, the author said if there is any city with more than 50 thousand people, they must have Chinese people as well as Chinese restaurants.(Zhe 2013). Chinese food is more than 5000 years old, and it has special rules.There are five ways to judge a traditional Chinese food: color, smell, taste, meaning,…

ethnic or cultural orientation, its connection with Chinese American literature has not received the critical attention it deserves. However, with the introduction of Jade Snow Wong's representation of food in her search for identity in Fifth Chinese Daughter, it is hoped that new insights will be found like how food binds her family ties, and how it stimulates her quest for identity. This chapter explores the authenticity of Chinese American identity through the exploration of the…

The Joy Luck Club is a novel written by Amy Tan, an American writer who was born to Chinese immigrant parents in Oakland, California, in 1989. In her work, Tan often explores the mother-daughter relationship and the misunderstandings between Chinese and American culture. The Joy Luck Club is Tan’s best-selling novel. It was a novel popular enough to be adapted into a film release. In the story, Tan focuses on four Chinese immigrant families who joined the San Francisco version of the Joy Luck…

American Born Chinese and stereotypes “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” I believe this quote by Margaret Mead is very accurate and is something that all parents, teachers and adults should think about. “A stereotype is used to categorize a group of people. People don 't understand that type of person, so they put them into classifications, thinking that everyone who is that needs to be like that, or anyone who acts like their classifications is one.” (Dictionary.com).…

Kaier’s parents came much later than Josh’s, Kaier was born in China while Josh was born in San Francisco, however, Kaier still grew up in America. With this, Josh is second generation while Kaier is first generation. Lastly, Josh’s grandparents from both his mom’s and dad’s side are born and raised in China, however, due to World War II, Josh’s grandparents from his dad’s side moved over to Korea, where his dad was born, but racially they are Chinese. No matter how similar both families seem to…