The story picked is What Means Switch written by Gish Jen. It revolves around the life of Mona Chang, an 8th grade American-born Chinese girl in New York during the 1960s. She meets Sherman Matsumoto, a new Japanese student who becomes her boyfriend. She battles Japanese, traditional and modern Chinese influences, in a western environment. The concepts derived from this short story are as follows. Pull & Push Factors of Acculturation, Acculturation Process, Family models, Freudian Psychoanalysts, Discrimination, Socialization and Sex vs. Gender.
Pull & Push Factors of acculturation refers to factors either attract individuals to or pressure them to leave a society. Pull factors (Positive) refers to “greener pastures”, like employment opportunities, allowing one have a better life. Push
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Seen from, “Scarsdale ... Whitman Road Gang used to throw crab apple mash at my sister Callie and me and tell us it would make our eyes stick shut.” (What Means Switch, 1998, p1). This occurred when foreigners were not welcomed, shown in: “civil rights on TV, we 're not so much accepted” (What Means Switch, 1998, p1). Their actions portrayed racist degrading views of the Asian people and their integration.
Sex vs. Gender. Concentrating on gender, it refers how society or culture defines as masculine or feminine. It is social constructions of what it is like to be a male or female in society referring to roles (Females only cook), identity (I’m a man, I’m strong) and stereotypes (Only men work) stemming from learned beliefs.
From the story, “Later she tells me if I don 't like school, I don 't have to go every day. ... "No good for a girl be too smart anyway."” (What Means Switch, 1998, p9). This portrays Mona’s mother’s biased perception on the social standing of females, viewing education as unimportant and irrelevant to females. This illustrates a perception that importance is inclined to males than females in