Yellow Don Lee Analysis

In 1998, Eric Liu wrote a book about his struggle with acculturation titled “The Accidental Asian”. A chapter within the book called “Notes of a Native Speaker” depicts an essay written by Liu which fully describes his struggles with race and how he overcame them. Eric Liu is an American born Taiwanese Asian. His parents immigrated to the United States before he was born and in so, gave him a mixed cultural background. He started becoming a writer after attending Yale University and graduating from Harvard Law School. In his “Notes of a Native Speaker” author Eric Liu argues that as he was “becoming white” he was achieving, learning the ways of the upper

First, by looking at the way Henry’s ethnicity played a large role in getting him bullied in school. Henry’s parents decided that it would be better off if Henry would go to an all-white school rather than a Chinese school. In the hope that, Henry would become accustomed to American culture. However, this resulted in Henry being bullied in school by all the white children and even the other Chinese in his neighborhood. Before going to school he would pass by his neighborhood where all the Chinese kids that were once his friends called him “white devil” and Then he would get to school and the white kids would call him “yellow” (Ford 39). Once they started to get all the Japanese and take them to the internment camps. Henry started to get bullied even more since several of his classmates thought he was Japanese American. Likewise, to Henrys ethnicity playing a large role for getting him bullied in school, his ethnicity also cost him the distant relationship with his parents.

A world once filled with Asian friends and neighbors crashes harshly as Jin is left stranded in a white dominated school. Stereotypes and teasing are quickly placed on him from his racial background. Still new to the area, Jin presumes, “The only other Asian in my class was Suzy Nakamura. When the class finally figured out that we weren’t related, rumors began to circulate that Suzy and I were arranged to be married on her thirteenth birthday. We avoided each other as much as possible” (Yang 31). Embarrassment clouds Jin as he realizes that he’s not like the other kids in his class. With distinct features and his native tongue, Jin felt like a reject surrounded by his Caucasian classmates. He was entirely alone amongst his peers, and he didn’t like that one single bit. In this way, it’s clear how both Junior and Jin felt like outcasts in these two oceans of white students and teachers.

Liu opens his essay by cataloging ways that he could be considered “white” in order to inform the reader about the similarities the author shares with white people, even though he is not white. The purpose of the list is to convey the message that Liu shares similarities with white people, and introduce the audience into his personal story about his integration into the white culture of America. The list is not specifically meant to be humorous, yet it has that effect, due to the generalizations and stereotypes that Liu states, like “I wear khaki Dockers” or “I vacation in charming bed-and-breakfasts” (1). Liu may have included these exaggerated stereotypes of white Americans for a humorous effect in order to engage the

Danny faces complications trying to find his own identity. He is unsure of who he really is because he views himself through other people’s eyes. For instance, Danny tends to always explain how others identify him, “I'm a white boy among Mexicans, and a Mexican among white boys” (Peña 90). This is a problem because he does not have confidence in himself and with who he is. He feels the need to be accepted by others in order to accept himself. “Nobody paid him any attention anyway because he was Mexican. He roamed the school halls with his head down like a ghost. Drifted in and out of classrooms without a peep. Nobody even saw him as a real person. But down here, where everybody's skin is dark, everybody seems to be coming at him.” (Peña 16). This shows the amount of attention and care Danny gives into what others see him as and how they might feel about his race. Another conflict he encounters with his identity is not being a part of his father’s roots.

Jin Wang was born in America but is also Chinese. He faces some difficulties with racism and stereotypes as he grows up. He just moved to a new school from San Francisco. The teacher introduces him to the class and says,” Class, I'd like us all to give a warm Mayflower Elementary welcome to your new friend and Classmate Jin Wang...He and his family recently moved to our neighborhood all the way from China!”(30). Jin has this look on his face of annoyance. Like, did she actually say this. She is too ignorant to ask so she just assumed that since he is Chinese, that he must be from China. He was born in America. This just shows how ignorant people are about other cultures. It makes it even harder to fit in if people don't even care where you're from and just make assumptions. Jin now experiences this first hand. He tries so hard to fit in and be normal. He goes as far as changing his hair to match the guys hair that Amelia likes. When he isn't noticed as much he wants to become someone else, someone who will fit in. He wakes up in the morning a new person, as he has transformed into someone he is not, he thinks to himself,”A new face deserved a new name. I decided to call myself...Danny”(198). He changed his race he didn't like his heritage and cultures so much

Defining someone by their skin color is an everyday phenomenon. Many people see a specific shade of skin and believe they know exactly how that person is going to speak, carry, and illustrate themselves. It seems to be embedded in one’s head at a young age to have specific views given by family, friends, and coworkers such as, believing interracial relationships are immoral, or it being acceptable to judge others according to their skin color. In the articles “Race is a Four Letter Word” by Teja Arboleda and “Mr. Z” by M. Carl Holman, the color of the authors skin plays a substantial role on how they are treated and perceived. Living in a society that doesn’t understand one’s culture can make their life extremely difficult.

In the essay “‘blaxican’ and other reminded Americans” Richard Rodrigues states that “I am Chinese, and that is because I live in a Chinese city”. This evidence reveals that in America there are many kinds of cultures you don't need to be considered either black or white.

Chang-Rae Lee’s Native Speaker expresses prominent themes of language and racial identity. Chang-Rae Lee focuses on the struggles that Asian Americans have to face and endure in American society. He illustrates and shows readers throughout the novel of what it really means to be native of America; that true nativity of a person does not simply entail the fact that they are from a certain place, but rather, the fluency of a language verifies one’s defense of where they are native. What is meant by possessing nativity of America would be one’s citizenship and legality of the country. Native Speaker suggests that if one looks different or has the slightest indication that one should have an accent, they will be viewed not as a native of

In this essay, I attempted to lay bare the issues of being an Asian-American and being labeled as an ethnic “other” in modern America. This label of “other” causes them to become marginalized and lose their sense of identity, belonging neither to Western culture nor Eastern culture. In order help stop this loss of identity in Asian-Americans, we must tear down the social construct of the “other” and integrate the different cultures into the melting pot of popular culture. Once we have stopped alienating different cultures, we can then have a moral society that upholds diversity and identity.

For instance, Jin is alienated due to the sole fact of his appearance, which happens to be different from the rest of the class. Moreover, Jin’s roots create assumptions, or stereotypes, rather. As stated earlier, his classmates thought he ate digs because he was Asian, resulting because of his appearance. When acting as Danny, he was not suspected for being Asian, because he looked like the typical American kid, but when Chin-Knee came he detailed Chinese stereotypes so humorously that Danny was made fun of because of his cousin, another form of racism. For example, Danny had to switch schools because he was made fun of so much, and he stated, “By the time he leaves, no one thinks of me as Danny anymore. I’m Chin-Knee’s cousin”(127). This statement shows how bad Chin-Knee has an effect on Danny and his social life. He is constantly degraded with guffaws about China and his cousin, and despite Danny’s American roots, he is faced with racism because of his cousin. Therefore, race really is the problem, for Danny is ostracized about Chinese culture, and Jin is ostracized because of his

The intersection of dominant ideologies of race, class, and gender are important in shaping my social location and experiences. By exercising my sociological imagination (Mills, 1959), I will argue how my social location as an Asian American woman with a working class background has worked separately and together to influence how I behave, how others treat and view me, and how I understand the world. The sociological imagination has allowed me to understand my own “biography”, or life experiences by understanding the “history”, or larger social structures in which I grew up in (Mills, 1959). First, I will describe my family’s demographic characteristics in relation to California and the United States to put my analysis into context. I

In his essay “Paper Tigers,” Wesley Yang discusses his own experiences as an Asian American, tying them into the larger picture of Asians functioning in American society today. Yang’s argument is that even though Asian Americans are one of the most successful ethnicities in the country, stereotypes that Asian Americans are exposed to affect the way other Americans view them. Because of personal bias and racism, human society fails to see other people for who they are and put too much emphasis on what they are supposed to or not supposed to be in America today. Stereotypes cloud people’s vision and judgment and keep some from achieving their goals because others have a pre-created

Well-known author Amy Tan, in her short narrative “Fish Cheeks”, writes about the embarrassment she has because of her culture and ethnicity. She talks about this when a white father and his son, Robert, whom she likes, want to come over her house, and as a chinese-american young woman, she is a little ashamed of the chinese food. She also is ashamed by the type of house and environment she lives in.

Wong feels that she needs to fit into the dominant culture from an early age. The reason for this is because society stresses the dominate culture, promotes the dominate culture and pressures immigrant children to fit in. Wong uses herself as an example of the tremendous pressure children of immigrants are under to fit in, which is a burden placed on them by society. The pressure is so great that many are embarrassed by their roots and their heritage. Wong experiences this burden, and this is what drives her to want to become the stereotypical All-American girl. She learns to hate her culture so much that she does not want anything to do with it and she wants a divorce from her ethnic roots, “Wong’s adolescent embarrassment of her ethnic