The Chinese In All Of Us Richard Rodriguez Summary

Richard Rodriguez article, “The Chinese in All of Us (1944)”, argues that many different cultures have contributed to making up the American culture. Rodriguez backs up this claim by sharing

“Although dominated by white Anglo-Saxon sociocultural patterns, American culture is in fact a tapestry woven of diverse threads that include Native American, Hispanic, Asian and African traditions, as well as those of European origin” (Craven, 2003, p. 529). America is often described as the melting pot; the concept of culture is formulated around the notion of many subcultures inside one larger nation in which, “the melting pot has not merely melted; it has cooked a broth with an unmistakable favor of its own” (Perry, 1949, p. 357).

The early 1900s were characterized by millions of people flocking to America to live the so-called American Dream. However, once they migrated to the United States, it became a constant battle of cultures. In Fae Myenne Ng’s book Bone, a family originally from China lives in Chinatown, San Francisco. The characters have hopes and dreams, but the unforeseeable reality of the city and America as a whole makes it impossible for them to reach their dream. Each character has his or her own problems, but they all stem from the conflict between Chinese culture and American culture. Each character has to choose where on the cultural scale between American and Chinese they want to live. The incorporation of Chinese symbols and phrases in the novel, though an English novel, conveys the internal cultural conflict within each character.

A new generation of Chinese-American writers has educated both the public and academia about the varying perspectives of Chinese-Americans. Shirley Geok-lin Lim in “Assaying the Gold: Or, Contesting the Ground of Asian American Literature” acknowledges that Chinese-American writers are extent in overthrowing American literary hegemony. Lawrence Mead reports a grave concern about immigration threatens to turn the United States into a mainly Latin-American and Chinese-American country in his article “Immigration: The Cultural Dimension.” Indeed, a Latin-American writer named Cristina Henriquez presents a vivid picture about the daily life of the Latin-American immigrants in her novel “The Book of Unknown Americans.” I agree with Shirley Geok-lin

Distinguishing cultures from one another has become increasingly difficult as various societies continue to intertwine and share their aspects of popular life. Constant exposure to US and other world cultures has changed the cultures of Latin American countries somewhat, but much of society remains unchanged. Moving to the United States from Latin America alters life a great deal, and keeping touch with one’s original culture may sometimes seem unimportant or simply impossible, but those who remain Latino instead of becoming “Americanized” are those who care the most for and have the strongest tie to the culture.

An aroma of freshly baked empanadas filled my nose as I walked through the kitchen of our family restaurant. “Regina,” Papa yelled from across the bustling kitchen, “be sure to try one of those churros on you way out. I tried out a new recipe today!”. I replied with a big thumbs up as I stuffed the warm bread down my throat and fumbled to put on my sandals as I scurried out the door. I quickly glanced at my watch on my way to my vespa and realized I was already late, typical me. The motor to my battered baby blue vespa hissed as I turned the key in the ignition and sped down the cobblestone street. Our restaurant is on the east side of the hispanic quarter, and Linda, my best friend, lives on the west side. On the trip across town I pass hundreds of nearly identical houses adorned with white stucco and roofs of terracotta. I know of nothing different than the Spanish lifestyle. Our society thrives because we are able to communicate with those of the same background and history as ourselves. We speak the same language, wear the same clothes, eat the same food, and believe in the same religion. Disagreement and change is rare because of this brilliant lifestyle installed by the government.

We live in a mobile and global world with the development of the technology. Still America continues to be the symbol of the land of freedom and of opportunity. Arriving to America, the Chinese immigrants who come from a traditional, structured, old world struggle to find a balance in a modern and dynamic new world. In order to realize the American dream, the first generation of immigrants have to learn the language, acquire education, and assimilate into the dominant culture. They courageously leave the past behind except what they carry in their memory. Thus, immigrants often experience shock and resistance in dealing with the new world culture. This is especially true for the second generation Chinese-Americans who resist and are

In "A Struggle To Be An All-American Girl," Elizabeth Wong describes the difficulty of assimilating into American culture. From a young age, Wong always enjoyed reading English books, eating tacos, and celebrating Cinco de Mayo, but her mother restricted this enjoyment. Her Chinese Mother wanted to be in tuned with her background. Although Wong separates herself from China, this essay is significant because immigrant teenagers have trouble with self-worth and racial profiling.

Culture is a complicated concept, it is difficult to explain and hard to fit in. According to the book “American Visa,” which written by Wang Ping. Wang takes a look at love, honor, and pride by using the first-person voice of a young woman named Seaweed. Wang narrates the character’s life in both China during the Cultural Revolution and Countryside of New York. Although the main character was born and raised in a traditional Chinese family; her way of thinking and attitudes are not traditional. When she immigrated to New York, she can easily start her new life and fully admits to her real identity of Chinese and never feels shame of being a Chinese. On the contrary, the novel “American born Chinese” was written by Luen Yang. Yang uses the graphic method to narrate the main character Jin Wang, who was embarrassed about some aspects of his identity because he was lack of self-acceptance. Although he was a native born, many of his classmates treated him as a Chinese, when he deeply believed he was an American. He even transforms himself to a White guy, who was very popular in the school basketball team. Although these two books have different themes, they both identify the cultural difference between Chinese and American; besides, they both are the unrealistic story, that both writers use their unique method to bring up what people really want to be inside their mind, they both encourage readers to accept themselves for who they really are and be proud of their own gender and

In Wong’s work the character demonstrates a sense of regret for not listening to her mother and for not practicing her Chinese language. The character is now able to make a decision on her own but she feels a sense of remorse when she says “At last, I was one of you; I wasn’t one of them.” (63). Here the reader knows the character has fulfilled her dream of becoming a true American. One can assume she is now happy but on the contrary she now realizes she has lost her chance to be involved in her own culture. The reader can then assume she still wants to have her culture that was shared by her mother in the beginning. She regrets not involving herself and committing to the lesson taught in her Chinese class. Now, she values her mother and her opinion. Most human beings are concern about what others might think which creates change in a person’s life. As a result of Wong’s work the reader will appreciate, value, and maintain the culture in which the person will feel free to embrace what was taught to them since the start.

America is a Country based on diversity and immigration of many cultures creating a melting pot people from all over the world living together in freedom. The Asian American ethnic group is also based on diversity and different immigration patterns of different cultures all representing each other under one name Asian American. Asian Americans have a very diverse history and have different subgroups that have different social status. This essay will discuss and analyze the history of and how Asian Americans and subgroups are affected differently by discrimination and prejudices, and have different identities that can lead to different assimilation into American Culture and economy. This essay will discuss this through examining Chinese

Another main point in Richard Rodriguez 's essay was the fact that people should not give up their culture to become educated. Throughout his essay, he states that he must sacrifice his nationality to accommodate to the ideal of being educated. Rodriguez grew up in the 1950s and he believed the image of being educated required him to sacrifice his nationality and embrace the white American culture portrayed in the media at the time. In his essay he appears to greatly regret the fact that he sacrificed his culture to become educated. One sign of this is when he begins to talk about his parents after he won an award “A few moments later, I heard my father speak to my teacher and felt ashamed of his labored, accent words. Then felt guilty for the shame” (22). Rodriguez does not clearly express why he feels guilty, but the reader can come to the conclusion that it is due to Rodriguez finally realizing how far he has strayed from his culture and how he discarded it to become educated. However, he then realizes that his father still grasp his culture and he still has joy in his life; while, he feels guilty for judging his own father for not abandoning his nationality and it appears that he came to the conclusion that people do not need to give up their culture to

The film “Becoming American - The Chinese Experience” highlights Chinese men and women who have adventured, suffered, and overcame the struggles from their homeland to their new life in America. This film produced by Thomas Lennon, but initially written by Bill Moyers, a former White House Press Secretary, journalist and political commentator. In the mid 19th century, when Southern China destroyed by civil war and poverty, California Gold Rush began and this news spread to the port of Canton, the main seaport of Guangzhou City, China. The early Chinese arrivals had to face a life of hard work, experience the loneliness, and overcome prejudice and poverty and not finding the “Gold Mountain” which they expected in California. Chinese men also had to create their own traditional culture while they contended with the racism of the 19th century America. However, throughout the countless effort and historical events, they were able to build their considerable identity in America. This film recaps the remarkable transformation of the confined society of America’s Chinatowns into an essential part of established American society and the nation’s future.

Immigration brings uncertainty, tensions between the past and present, and alterations in identity due to acculturation as shown through Leon and other characters in Bone. In the psychological study, “The Meaning of ‘Being Chinese’ and ‘Being American’: Variation among Chinese American Young Adults,” the correlation between the Chinese immigrating to the United States abridging Chinese and American cultures varied based on their age of immigration and the duration of their time in the United States, demonstrating that immigration provides a multifaceted experience for each individual. Chinese immigrants who immigrated over the age of twelve, like Mah and Leon, present an anchored identity as Chinese, but have to adapt through consciously engaging in American culture to survive. Leon distances himself from his frustrations of living in America by going out to sea, evading Chinatown- a reminder of Ona’s death-, and by distracting himself in project inventions without any intentions of completing them. Then, Mah immerses herself in work and relationships, including her affair with Tommie Ham and her over involvement in her daughters’ lives. Chinese immigrants who immigrated under the age of twelve, like Leila, are placed in the position of mediating between Chinese and American cultures; they experience less certainty on which culture to identify with and often have to consciously act to become a part of either. In her conversation with Nina, Leila reflects on how Nina’s tour

America is a nation consisting of people from different areas with multiple cultures. As a result, lots of Americans have their ancestors in other countries. Even though they are called “Americans”, they have a special identity, that is, hyphenated Americans actually. Chinese-Americans have been one of the large groups of hyphenated Americans since a long time ago. This passage mainly observes the living conditions of Chinese-Americans in America and tries to analyze how the hyphenation identity impacts their thoughts and life. The first section gives a brief introduction about Chinese-American, including its history and construction. Then the passage unpacks their living conditions, such as careers, consumption and