Maxine Kingston's 'Making of More Americans' and Amy Tan's 'Mother Tongue': A Controversial Addition in Literature

Richard Rodriguez article, “The Chinese in All of Us (1944)”, argues that many different cultures have contributed to making up the American culture. Rodriguez backs up this claim by sharing

Through the personal stories of his hair, love life, and behavior, Liu is able to show the effects of his assimilation. The second section deals with Liu’s struggles to conform to white stereotypes as an Asian American. With his personal anecdotes, he establishes himself as a more credible source to speak on the subject of assimilation. The second section uses narration to provide evidence about Liu’s definition of assimilation.

In the course of reading two separate texts it is generally possible to connect the two readings even if they do not necessarily seem to be trying to convey the same message. The two articles, “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, and “Coming Into Language” by Jimmy Santiago Baca, do have some very notable similarities. They are two articles from a section in a compilation about the construction of language. The fact that these two articles were put into this section makes it obvious that they will have some sort of connection. This essay will first summarize the two articles and break them down so that they are easily comparable; also, this essay will compare the two

Amy Tan’s ,“Mother Tongue” and Maxine Kingston’s essay, “No Name Woman” represent a balance in cultures when obtaining an identity in American culture.  As first generation Chinese-Americans both Tan and Kingston faced many obstacles. Obstacles in language and appearance while balancing two cultures. Overcoming these obstacles that were faced and preserving heritage both women gained an identity as a successful American.

The tale “American Born Chinese” by Gene Luch Wang depicts the story of three characters, Monkey, Jin, and Danny. They all have the problem of fitting into their new environments. Jin Wang has to deal with Asian stereotypes. Danny has to deal with embarrassment of his cousin. Lastly, Monkey has to deal with the fact that there is no position for him in the heavenly ranks. However, over time, these characters have to come together to fit in. Yet the question remains: what exactly about fitting in is the problem? Although Jin Wang takes the form of Danny to reject his Chinese roots, the embarrassment of Chin-Knee shows he cannot hide behind a false American identity, thereby delineating that race is the source of his problem.

The first documented Chinese woman to arrive in the United States was Afong Moy, in 1834. She was brought by white people to be displayed in the American Museum. Dressed in Chinese clothing, she was meant to display Chinese customs, manners, and lifestyles, showing the Americans how different a “celestial lady” looked from a Western woman. This spirit of Westerners viewing Chinese people as separate from themselves would go on to isolate Chinese immigrants as they continued to immigrate to America. The Chinese would continue to be thought of as inferior, or part of an “other” group by white settlers. Chinese women in particular were fetishized and demeaned -- looked upon as a whole as prostitutes -- when in reality they played many different roles in society and in

In “The Chinese in All of Us,” Richard Rodriguez describes multiculturalism in America in the 1950’s and how people of different cultures reacted to it. Rodriguez was born of Mexican descent from immigrants who moved to California in an attempt to find a better life. Being raised in America, Rodriguez was exposed and influenced by the various amounts of cultures surrounding him; he explored and developed as a person with a culture that went beyond his Mexican roots. Due to his embrace of multiculturalism, critics and people in general mocked and defamed him by saying to him “you have lost your culture” (Rodriguez 729). In “The Chinese in All of Us,” Rodriguez makes claims about the definition of culture and about how people reject multiculturalism in order to preserve their own culture.

Chang-Rae Lee’s Native Speaker expresses prominent themes of language and racial identity. Chang-Rae Lee focuses on the struggles that Asian Americans have to face and endure in American society. He illustrates and shows readers throughout the novel of what it really means to be native of America; that true nativity of a person does not simply entail the fact that they are from a certain place, but rather, the fluency of a language verifies one’s defense of where they are native. What is meant by possessing nativity of America would be one’s citizenship and legality of the country. Native Speaker suggests that if one looks different or has the slightest indication that one should have an accent, they will be viewed not as a native of

Writing for the Asian Pacific American Issues Newsmagazine, a UC Berkeley publication, Yifan Zhang penned a scathing review of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. She discusses the harmful stereotypes perpetuated within its pages, specifically that Asian students are inherently talented in academia. Zhang writes that “mainstream commentaries on Amy Chua parallel the classic depictions of Yellow Peril.” Yellow Peril was a fear-mongering tactic employed to establish a fear of Chinese during their original immigration. Zhang goes on to provide examples, such as a Time magazine article on Amy Chua, which included claims that the fast-growing middle class and economy in China is a looming threat. Time is a mainstream, far-reaching publication. Its opinion is valued, and it can easily influence people. Chua’s book marks the beginning of the decline of the Chinese-American public

     The focus of our group project is on Chinese Americans. We studied various aspects of their lives and the preservation of their culture in America. The Chinese American population is continually growing. In fact, in 1990, they were the largest group of Asians in the United States (Min 58). But living in America and adjusting to a new way of life is not easy. Many Chinese Americans have faced and continue to face much conflict between their Chinese and American identities. But many times, as they adapt to this new life, they are also able to preserve their Chinese culture and identity through various ways. We studied these things through the viewing of a movie called Joy Luck Club,

     What culture they had was to be forgotten – a difficult and practically impossible feat. The Chinese-Americans faced a wall of cultural difference that could only be scaled with the support of their parents and local community. The book review of Bone by Nhi Le stated clearly how “ … the first generations’ struggle to survive and the second generations’ efforts to thrive … ” made the transition into American culture possible. Overcoming barriers such as language, education, work ethic, and sex roles was just a beginning to the problems that all Asian – Americans faced.

Mark Twain and Maxine Hong Kingston are both influential writers when it comes to the history of the Chinese Immigrants. Bother of them showed a great amount of detail on their journey to America. Mark Twain actually pities the “friendless Mongol,” there were many superficial stereotypes of the Chinese immigrants (Ou 33). Twain ridicules the American’s racist attitudes against the Chinese. For example, in Roughing It, he wrote,

The United States is a place where people can have diverging views on how to describe the diverse nation. The country in fact does not have an official language because of the myriad of distinct ethnicities residing within the country. With all this diversity it is only natural for people to struggle with which cultural norm to follow. Of the many immigrants that have journeyed to the U.S. for a better life, Chinese immigrants perhaps have been discriminated against the most because at one point they were considered an alien incapable of assimilating which lead to laws preventing their immigration and

At eleven years old, Jade Snow realizes that “the struggle for a new voice and a different identity can be a long and painful process”(Rakow, 228). Jade Snow was sent to an American junior high school outside Chinatown borders, in which she made no friends among the foreigners. On her way back home one day, she was encountered for the first time with a “racial discrimination”(68). Richard, one of her classmates, chortled, “look at the eraser mark on the yellow Chinaman. Chinky, Chinky, no tickee, no washee, no shirtee!”(68). Jade Snow's reaction was as “ Mother and Daddy had taught her”, she “must not strike him, for then [her] guilt would be as great as his”(14). She considers the situation and decides to ignore the “ignorant”. She uses her pride of Chinese culture to dismiss Richard’s ignorance. Believing that “[E]verybody knew that the Chinese people had a superior culture” (68), she overcomes this unexpected humiliation and places herself in a superior position to overlook Richard’s racial discrimination. She also came to the conclusion that “foreigners were simply unwise in the ways of human nature” “they hadn't even learned how to peel a clove of garlic the way the Chinese did”(69). This comparison through food, that Jade Snow did, introduces the important role of food in shaping her identity.

During 19th century, westerners had an ‘Orientalism’ mind about the Eastern countries. The word ‘Orientalism’ was used first in the book Orientalism by Edward W. Said in 1979. Its original meaning was an exoticism of the East appearing in European (Western) culture and art. Today, however, it is used to imply the distortion and bias of the West towards the East, justifying supremacy and domination of the West to the East. During that time, the West and the East (especially China and Japan) had contacted each other and their attitudes towards the West were similar in some ways but different in others. In my essay, I will discuss how the West thought of China and Japan with the concept of Orientalism and their purpose of stepping toward the eastern countries. Also, I will talk about how Japan and China acted differently to the West and how this relationship has changed later on.