Finding My Eye-dentity
In the essay, “Finding My Eye-dentity,” Olivia Chung, begins her story as a young, insecure, Korean American adult. As she progresses with her story, she also makes progress with her eyelids insecurity. As a Korean girl, she faces the facial insecurity that most Korean girls face which is having single eyelids or monoeyelids. What’s important to know for the understanding of this essay are two terms which include “sang ka pul” and “monoeyelidded girl” (107). “Sang ka pul” is what a surgery for the making of eyelids is called in Korea. A “monoeyelidded girl” is a girl with single eyelids, meaning no crease is shown above her eye (Urban Dictionary). Chung dealt with name calling and being made fun of as a young girl all because she had no creases above her
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She ended up giving up on these magazine beauty advice, including other advice that her friends would suggest to her such as tape, make-your-own-crease glue, and sang ka pul. Chung tried it all, except the sang ka pul because she was afraid of the surgery. Her mother continuously brought up the question about whether or not she wanted to get the sang ka pul, but every time she brought it up, Chung always said no. Chung didn’t understand why her mother couldn’t accept her without creased eyes. In the end, she had realized that “He looks at the heart, and that it really doesn’t matter how a person looks” (107). Chung accepted herself the way she looked and learned that the definition of beauty is “one that embraces differences and includes every girl, who can hold her head up, sang ka pul-less and chinky-eyed” (108). She hoped that her awakening about true beauty and acceptance would also help other Asian females, especially her mother realize that they are beautiful just the way God created them (Finding My