'Was Smash Flat' By Meimei

In this story, written by unknown, the author is showing that while Meimei’s mom wants to stay close to her Chinese roots, Meimei would rather assimilate as an American. This was shown using the dialogue of the mom, her dislike of “American rules” and tournaments, and Meimei’s desire to be away from her mom. Throughout the story, when Meimei’s mom was speaking, there were many grammar mistakes and syllables missing that make it sound like she is a stereotypical Chinese-American mother. When she is describing when a girl got hit by a cab, she says “Was smash flat”, instead of the more grammatically correct “Was smashed flat”. When she is talking about why going to an American tournament would be a bad thing, she says “Is shame you fall down

When she was explaining to Meimei what Chinese torture is, she explained it like this. “Chinese people do many things. Chinese people do business, do medicine, do painting. Not lazy like American people. We do torture. Best torture.” Even when explaining something as gruesome as torture, the mom still thinks that everything in China is better than it is in America. If assimilation means liking your country, and disliking your country means that you think the people are lazy and do not work, than the mom dislikes her country and does not want to assimilate. Also, her mom has a hate for “American Rules” that everyone must know. “This American rules. Every time people come out from foreign country, must know rules. You not know, judge say, too bad, go back. They not telling you why so you can use their way go forward. They say, don’t know why, you find out yourself but they knowing all the time. Better you take it, find out why yourself.” The mom here is talking about some of the knowledge needed to lawfully live in the US. She thinks that knowing and abiding by American rules is silly, and they should let people in even if they don’t know the laws. If assimilating into a country means knowing and abiding by that country’s laws, and Meimei’s mom does not think that these laws are important, than she is not trying to assimilate. Meimei learned the “American rules” and is following them, and that is why