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Cultural identity and sense of belonging
Cultural identity and sense of belonging
Cultural identity and sense of belonging
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The one thing that any author must do when writing any sort of essay is to make it comprehensible to the reader. In order to achieve this, the author must utilize anything to get their point across or else the writing would be futile. In Turkeys in the Kitchen , Dave Barry gives his own personal stories about his Thanksgiving and how he feels that men aren’t as useful as women in the terms of the culinary arts (kitchen), Barry’s flippant tone and his use of rhetorical devices such as similes and irony bring forth a light hearted explanation of stereotypes between men and women as well as describing how men are useless in the kitchen. The uses of similes throughout the essay give purpose by showing how men are useless.
One generally invites one’s friends to dinner, unless one is trying to get on the good side of enemies or employers. We’re quite particular about those with whom we break bread.” (Foster, 9) Through the breaking of bread, or in this case the laborious cleaning, cooking, and finally the eating of chitlins is representative of a communion, between the almost sacred bonds between a mother and her daughter. Throughout the exposition of the short story, we constantly see that the other members of her family reject the chitlins for being “country” or smelling strange.
While the narrator has a Japanese background, her likings do not solely consist of traditional Japanese cultural values; instead, the author characterizes her as preferring non-Japanese food and pursuing her interests. The poem states, “I will tell you I have always felt funny using chopsticks and my favorite food is hot dogs.” People usually consider hot dogs as American food, and chopsticks are part of Asian culture; thus, the author demonstrates the narrator's preference for and identification with at least some aspects of American culture. One instance of the author characterizing the narrator as dissociative from Japan or any culture is when the narrator says she has “bad spelling and a messy room.” Meanwhile, the narrator is friends with a peer named Denise, who is not of Japanese descent, as Denise does not become interned like the narrator.
The angle Wong takes on her choices of food was very new to me. Despite often relating food to culture, I had never truly noticed that I did until reading this essay. Furthermore, it made me notice that the foods I eat are also a reflection of my identity. As someone who moved around a lot as a child, I noticed that I often bring up the certain foods that I’ve eaten in conversations as a way to reinstate my personal identity.
Although sharing identical titles and depicting presumably interchangeable scenes, Thomas Nast and G.F. Keller’s political cartoons, Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving Dinner, illustrate the East and West coast’s contradictory opinions toward the prevailing issues of immigration and its relation to their differing views of the immigrants’ social status, specifically in regards to the Chinese. Written four years after the conclusion of the Civil War and heavily published in the prominent political magazine, Harper’s Weekly, Nast’s cartoon portrays a simple binary of race consisting of an in-group and out-group, with the Chinese as members of the out-group, in reality but incorporated into the national body in Nast’s idealistic depiction. In contrast, Keller’s image, published eight years later in
The story speaks the truth an American family who spends Thanksgiving at a foreigner family 's restaurant. The story recounts how the two families come to like one another and appreciate one another 's conversation. This book would be great to read with students as they meet new students from other countries as well as discussing holiday traditions. Age Level: 4 –7, 320 L (Scholastic.com). Aveni, A., & Nelson, S. (2005).
"The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford is a captivating coming-of-age story that follows the life of Henry Lee, a Chinese-American boy growing up in Seattle during World War II. Throughout the novel, Henry experiences profound personal growth and self-discovery as he navigates the complexities of racial tensions, family expectations, and first love. This essay will explore how four quotes from the book exemplify the transformative journey of Henry's coming of age. Paragraph 1: In the early stages of the novel, a young Henry grapples with his dual identity as an American-born Chinese.
Anchee Min was a writer who immigrated from China fleeing the communist party after she denounced her homeland. Notably, Min shares her perspective on American social ideals through comparing the way the star spangled banner is treated in comparison to how Min was raised to treat the flag of her homeland China. While watching people tread over the flag laid out on the floor, she routinely would do her best to clear off the footprints left by the shoes. Min showing her determination to keep the flag clean shows both the lingering habits that she kept from her childhood in China and the respect that Min has for the American flag. As a result, Min is able to appeal to the audience’s ethics by showing her dedication to the United States which provided her a safe haven from the communist party.
Zauner explains how being at H Mart reminds her of these shared memories between her and her mother, causing her to feel emotional grief about no longer having those experiences with her mother since Korean food was the method in which her mother showcased her love. In the first chapter of the memoir, Zauner exposes the reader to the world of Korean food and the cooking lifestyle associated with it. Through heart-warming imagery and detailed descriptions of memories in H Mart, Zauner conveys the emotional nostalgia when describing comfort food and one’s cultural traditions. Various readers with no familiarity with Korean cuisine find themselves appreciating the background knowledge of Korean traditions in reference to food, for example, cooking seaweed soup specifically for birthday celebrations and rice cakes for death
Dwight David Eisenhower said, “...what counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight--it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” There is a great deal of controversy about Eisenhower’s presidency. In this paper you will learn where Eisenhower was born, and where he died. You will learn the results of; the electoral college votes and popular votes, the political party he was affiliated with, his opponents, and his vice presidents for both of his terms in office. You will read about the platform he ran on when he was running for office as well as a famous quote that he said.
Living as a Chinese-American, the narrator had to take on American attributes in order to be accepted -- for example, while normal Chinese women spoke with strong and assertive voices, the narrator adopted a whisper in order to appear “American-feminine. ”(1) As a result, however, her shy demeanor caused her to be an unpopular outcast. She saw herself in another Chinese-American girl at her school, as they had certain, negative similarities. “I hated the younger sister, the quiet one.
The poem has life experiences of a fourteen-year-old girl who is caught between the Japanese and American culture. The young girl claims that she does not know how to use Japanese chopsticks that are symbolic of the Japanese culture. In fact, the girl claims that she understands more the hot dogs as opposed to using chopsticks (Rhea 7). This means that the girl seems to understand the American culture as opposed to her Japanese culture. The girl identifies more with the American culture and thus the issue of American identity.
Huong uses the significance of food in the plot as a tool to emphasize the importance of community and to display the characters’ financial status in the social order. In Paradise of The Blind, vietnamese cuisine is also a strong
Madeleine Thien’s “Simple Recipes” is not mainly about the father cooking food and his treatment towards his son, instead, the author uses food to symbolize the struggles her immigrated family experienced in Canada. While it is possible to only look at the narratives that food symbolizes, the idea is fully expressed when the father is compared with the food. The theme of food and the recipes are able to convey the overall troubles the narrator’s family encountered. Although, food is usually a fulfilling necessity in life, however, Thien uses food to illustrate the struggle, tensions, and downfall of the family. Yet, each food does represent different themes, but the food, fish, is the most intriguing because of the different environment
She argues that the silencing of Asian American women is a form of symbolic violence that reinforces their marginalization in society. This marginalization is further reinforced by the "perpetual foreigner" stereotype, which Chou explores in her dissertation. In both works, it is clear that the silencing of Asian Americans through stereotypes and cultural norms is harmful and perpetuates racism and discrimination. For example, in Woman Warrior, Kingston writes, "I had to learn to hide what I was, which was Chinese, from what I was, which was American" (Kingston 7). This quote highlights how Asian Americans may feel the need to hide or suppress their cultural identity to fit into mainstream American society.
