For many centuries, women have been fighting for equality. While there has been much progress all over the world, we are far from reaching a truly equal society. Through the simplest acts such as speaking out or getting an education, women are still being reprimanded for their actions. Canada prides itself in being a progressive country, yet events of violence against women are still occurring. An example of this is the Montreal Massacre.
A review of Eric Lius', The Accidental Asian, and his search for self-discovery. Looking at how his experiences growing up relate to current and future generations of students who are trying to find where they belong in this ethnically structured society. Through Liu’s experiences, we can understand the struggle of identity and help students find their own. Finding that we do not have to have a strong connection to our heritage to have a strong identity and looking for our roots does not make us any less of the person we are now. Breaking stereotypes and understanding others is how we can help students in the future.
At school Deming is viewed as a white student: “Being surrounded by other Chinese people had become so strange. In high school, kids said they never thought of him as Asian or Roland as Mexican, like it was a compliment” (20). His peers see him as a model minority, someone who fits Asian-American stereotypes of always doing well academically. However, Deming doesn’t fit the cultural expectations and instead struggles with motivation in school. There is an internal conflict between Deming’s racial difference and his identity.
A student walks to lunch with a homemade meal, excited to eat his food. He feels alienated as others walk by and comment about his food and Asian identity. It makes it hard for him to fit in, he feels embarrassed and thinks he needs to change. Jin Wang struggles with his own identity in the book American born Chinese. While searching for a way to fit in he meets others and navigates through school to find his true self.
Faced with stereotypes in America, Lee is also tormented in China for his American nationality and lack of modern cultural awareness. Both communities view Lee and Chinese-Americans as “others”, refusing to fully accept them culturally or socially. Lee is foreign everywhere, since he is not a white American or a Chinese citizen. Only able to find solidarity in the community of “othered” Chinese-Americans, Lee feels more accepted in America than in China. However, those that only see Lee for his ethnicity and not for his inner person are racist against him because he does not fit the mold of what a “perfect” American is supposed to look and sound like.
Eric Berlin Leisl Sackschewsky English 102 10 March 2024 Annotated Bibliography Hulbert, Ann. A. & Co. Raising America: An Inquiry into the Politics of Child Rearing. Vintage, 13 Apr 2004.
In Anne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, she discusses the hardships that “negroes” faced during a time when segregation was prevalent. Anne Moody, or Essie Mae, as she was often referred to in the book, was a black rights activist. Certain events lead her to be such a strong advocate for African Americans. Her first memory of being separated from white people was at the movie theatre. Children were the last to see color, so they did not realize how sternly the segregation was enforced.
There daughters were always ashamed of and resented their mothers, especially while they were young. The daughters felt this way because of the way their mothers raised them. The mothers were very hard on their daughters, and pushed them towards successful, sometimes causing their daughter to feel overwhelmed. The mothers wanted their daughters to keep their Chinese heritage and culture, but also take advantage of the opportunities they have in America. The daughters were often ashamed of their Chinese heritage, and the way that their mothers acted.
Coming of Age in the Civil Rights Movement Despite slavery coming to an end in the mid 1800’s, African Americans struggled to live a truly free life. Even in the 20th century, poverty proved to be an inescapable burden that kept them stuck on the lowest levels of society. Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody is an autobiography about the struggle of growing up on a plantation in rural Mississippi during the Civil Rights era. Sharecropping played an extensive role at keeping former slaves in poverty. Sharecropping dominated the South, but this type of job inequality was widespread throughout the entire country, making it near impossible to obtain a respectable job, even branding a college degree.
Anne Moody wrote the autobiography Coming of Age in Mississippi where it begins in 1944 highlighting the struggles of her childhood as it progresses to her adult life in 1964. Moody sought a different path than the rest of her family which led her to be apart of the civil right movement that occurred. Coming of age in Mississippi starts by introducing the narrator of the story, Essie Mae. She discusses her childhood where her father left their family for another woman, and her mother struggles providing for her family. Essie Mae had a traumatic experience in her time on the plantation to where in her adult life she was “still haunted by dreams of the time we lived on Mr.Carter’s plantation.”
Carpe Diem and It's Presence in Literature Carpe Diem, translated as “seize the day”, is a Latin aphorism that depicts what one should do with their life. To seize the day means to live your days to the fullest and this concept is shown brilliantly in many forms of literature. The podcast, “This American Life: ‘A Better Mousetrap’” by Ira Glass, and the article, “IT’S OK TO BE DIFFERENT” by Angela Erickson, share this theme that once given life, he or she should attempt to enjoy it to the greatest extent. There are many examples from the podcast “This American Life: ‘A Better Mousetrap’” that support the message of Carpe Diem. It is neatly woven into the podcast’s story when a mother, Kristy, shares how she raises her disabled child, Tim,
As a student who is of Chinese heritage, students at Rainier Elementary view Henry as a foreigner, even though he was born in an American hospital and speaks English. On the other hand, Chinese students who attend Chinese schools view him as an American for not attending the same school as them and speaking a language other than
Jin is faced with being one of the very few Asians at his Junior High School, while everyone else is American. Of course Jin is going to feel out of sorts, especially when his teacher introduces him to the class as “Jin Jang”, and saying “He and his family moved to our neighborhood all the way from China”, when Jin’s real name is Jin Wang and his family moved from San Francisco (30). Gene Luen Yang uses this humility to display that it takes a considerable amount of open
Renowned psychologist and social experimenter Stanley Milgram once said that “obedience is the psychological mechanism that links individual action to political purpose. It is the dispositional cement that binds men to systems of authority.” In other words, man succumbs to authority because it is rooted in his obedience to jurisdiction. An example of this is the American judicial system, which man is obedient to because that is what’s known. His political or societal purpose however is a learned behavior, or one that he matriculates from the dynamic of his culture.
She thought of communicating all these feelings and issues pertaining to ethnicity, family relationships and emotional bonding though all her novels. She mirrors her memories of the past being the rebellious teenager, she joined in the "rock 'n roll" band and completely avoiding her Chinese
