American Son and Bildungsroman

The novel American Son, by Brian Ascalon Roley, fits the Bildungsroman, or coming of age, archetype because it is a story of Gabe’s, the main character’s, progress in coping with the many issues he faces. Gabe is a young mestizo, half American and half Filipino, living with his mother and older brother in the slums of L.A. His older brother, Tomas, is involved with a local Mexican gang and supports himself by selling attack dogs he trains and stolen stereos. Gabe’s Mother is a quiet older woman who works hard to support her two sons and is uncomfortable in many social situations due to being Filipino. The novel tells Gabe’s story of personal growth and development in the face of society’s prejudice and hate.
Gabe makes significant moral and psychological progress during the course of the book as is expected in any Bildungsroman story. He slowly becomes more confident in social situations about himself and his identity. Along with Gabe’s increased confidence, he also begins to stand up for himself and his family in situations where he feels he needs to oppose the unjust society he lives in. This progress become manifest when Gabe first stands up for his mother at the make-up counter in the mall. Gabe sees that his mother is being ignored by the young woman working the counter and is angered by this prejudice and inconsideration towards his mother. After working up the courage Gabe finally intervenes on his mother’s behalf and brings the issue to the manager of the counter’s attention. Although his mother shies away and does not want the help, this shows how Gabe no longer will stand for society’s ignorance and has developed enough confidence and courage to act.
Another aspect present in coming of age novels is a loss or disconnection that separates the character from home and family. In American Son this disconnection occurs when Gabe steals and sells Buster, and then takes Tomas’ car to drive away and leave home. This action isolates Gabe and Tomas and severs the brotherly bond between them. Gabe loses Tomas’ trust and gives Tomas’ power over him because Gabe is now in debt to Tomas and must repay him. Gabe’s actions while away from home also separate him from his mother. Gabe goes along with Stone’s impression of him as a ‘regular’ white kid because that is what he wants to be. By doing this he alienates not only his mother but every other minority group in the country by making and agreeing with Stone’s racist comments. The final act that separates Gabe from his mother is when he tells Stone that she is their family’s maid and Gabe’s mother learns of this from her sister-in-law. Gabe’s mother is crushed by this action because it shows her that her son is not only ashamed of his identity but even more ashamed of his mother.
The ending of American Son seems to be contrary to other Bildungsroman literature that should have “ …an assessment by the protagonist of himself/herself and his/her new place in that society” at the end of the novel because I was left confused about Gabe’s fate and ultimate place in society. I was felt with the question: Is Gabe better off now than he was at the beginning of the novel? Gabe appears to be following in the footsteps of his older brother Tomas. He grew up in a society that views him as a second class citizen, eventually became fed up and angry with this system and now appears to be fighting it by rebelling and using violence, like Tomas. The author does leave us with the possibility that Gabe could go to the Philippines to live with his Uncle Betino in Forbes Park, but is this best for Gabe? This move has some positive outcomes: Gabe will be separated from the influence of Tomas, he will have a new beginning at a new school and neighborhood, and will be under the watchful and guiding eye of his Uncle Betino. On the other hand, Gabe would also face many difficulties as a result of this move. He will have trouble fitting in at school and making new friends because he will be viewed as an outsider, an American. The language barrier will be a problem for Gabe at first but one he can overcome easily. The biggest problem will be separating Gabe from his Mother. Gabe loves his mother very much and sending him to the Philippines without her could make his situation even worse as he copes with being away from his mother and being in a new country. It seems like the best option for the entire family is for Gabe and his mother to move to either the Philippines together or to a new area in CA or the US where they can live in peace.

Literary Analysis Possible Paper Topics

1. How does Gene Yang use symbolism in American Born Chinese?
2. Compare and contrast the symbol of 'ghosts' in The Woman Warrior with the 'oracles' in The Oracles
3. What does America symbolize/represent in The Woman Warrior and in The Oracles?
4. What literary techniques does Gene Yang use to enrich his graphic novel? How does this compare to techniques used in film?
5. Compare and contrast the Monkey King with the swordswoman from chapter 2 in The Woman Warrior.

Analysis of American Born Chinese by Gene Yang

Gene Yang employs several literary techniques to enrich his writing. The most obvious method used in his writing is the bold face type he uses within his text boxes. He choses to make some words bold within a sentence in order to put more emphasis on them and signify the importance they have to the story. He also utilizes several conventional techniques associated with the graphic novel/comic book genre. Yang places the text boxes in stragetic places on the page in order to prompt the reader's eyes to follow the correct order of the text boxes and move in the right direction as they read. Another traditional technique used in almost every graphic novel is the abundance of onomatopoeias in action sequences. I found it interesting that Yang chose to use chinese characters when the Monkey King is demonstrating the four heavenly discplines, "fist-like-lightning", "thunderous foot", and "cloud-as-stead". I think he did this to imply the eastern tradition of martial arts and to suggest that these chinese characters are more mystical and powerful than english words, and therefore must be used in order to conjure these ancient powers. Yang also incorporates symbolism in his work in order to give it a deeper meaning and make a comment on society and humanity. On the final page of the first chapter (p20) the symbol of the Monkey King is finaly made clear. The Monkey King symbolizes a chinese person in a new environment where they are obviously different than the other people living there. The Monkey King doesn't think there is anything wrong with him and is confident in who he is until he goes to the dinner party of the gods. It is only when the gods point out his differences and say that he is inferior because of these differences that the Monkey King begins to hate himself for being a monkey. The idea of the Monkey King dispising his own smell of monkey fur can relate to an Asian person hating the traits that make them different; be it their straight black hair, single eyelids or any other Asian physical characteristic.

Paragraph from My MyTurn Essay

Only when I considered the larger implications of my Grandmother’s prejudiced comments, did I understand why these racist remnants in the ideas of my Grandmother’s generation reflect a positive change in our society. The fact that my brother, sister and I knew the comments my Grandmother made were incorrect and prejudiced, shows that our generation has progressed in our ideas regarding race and equality. When confronted with the racist ideas of a previous generation, we are shocked by them because they are so different from our own. These differences between the racial ideas of our generations act as a scale that illustrates how far society has come in its struggle to truly believe that all men are created equal. I hope that when I have grandchildren one day, I will make comments that will shock them because it will show that society is continuing to make changes in the right direction.

Possible My Turn Topics

~The Mystery of Reverse Racism

~The Oldies of My Generation: Rap and Hip Hop in Pop Culture

~Receiving Racism: Racism as a Product of Upbringing

~Isn't Segregation Illegal?: Segregation in Today's Society

~America: A Cultural Melting Pot or a Stew That Needs Stirring

~Racism is a Product of Ignorance

~What is the Racial Hierarchy present in today's society?

~What does modern society's infatuation with exotic appearences tells us about our society?

~Will I be My Grandmother? Hopefully: How the differences between generations illustrates how society has changed regarding racism and prejudice.

~Casinos and Reservations: Reparations for Genocide

The Woman Warrior: Are we all ghosts?

After class, I asked Professor Talusen a question I had about the book The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston. The question I had was: what is the purpose/significance of the second chapter in the book? (The chapter about the swordswoman training in the mountains with the two old spirits) Now, after finishing the book, I feel like I can almost answer my own question. What stuck me about the chapter was exactly what Kingston anticipated, I questioned what was actually going on in this portion of the book; was it an allegory, an extended metaphor or something entirely different. This chapter corroborates both Kingston’s style of writing and the situations of her childhood. Her writing forces the reader to constantly question the realm of reality they are currently in; are we hearing her thoughts as a child, is this a imagined story, etc. This almost confused writing style reflects the confusion surrounding her upbringing. Growing up she hardly ever knew the significance behind her mother’s elaborate ceremonies or traditions because they were never explained. She didn’t fit neatly into one group; she wasn’t a ghost because her family was from China, but she wasn’t ‘real’ because she did not grow up in China and know all the ways of the Chinese. Kingston was forced to grow up in between these realities and her writing forces her readers to constantly which between these realities as she was forced to do growing up as “a kind of ghost” in her families eyes.

My Grandfather: The Bombardier

Boom!! Boom!! Boom!!!!
My grandfather flies high over Nazi Germany watching each bomb drop, fall and explode. Dust clouds the air and although he can't hear the screams above the droning of the planes engine, they still haunt his memory to this day.

Just two months ago Charles, my grandfather, arrived in the "European Theatre" as they called it. What kind of theatre was this??? A dirty theatre playing a non-stop tradegy with millions of characters and victims taking their cue each day. Chuck had no idea what to expect. He joined the air force voluntarily as his one opportunity to better himself and future by taking advantage of the new GI Bill, which paid college tutition for veterns. After his short 2 month basic training, Charles found himself in another world; a world where death was commonplace and mercy non-existent. Chuck flew with the bombs in the dropping bay and it was his job to make sure that everything went according to plan. He controlled the dropping of the bombs, their timing, dispersal and confirmation of detonation. He watched as each and every bomb fell to earth, wreaking havoc on the landscape below.

On an ordinary day flying high over the hills and valleys of Germany the horrors of war found my grandfather and refused to be forgotten. As he was flying back to base, Chuck got the feeling of deja vu. He looked at the land below and saw an image that would remain burned in his memory forever: buildings destroyed, homes ruined, families huddling together for warmth in the corner of a destroyed factory. He saw piles of bodies but when he looked hard he could see that these were not "bodies", but people; a young mother and her infant son, an old man white who's white hair matched his pale dead flesh and a young man no older than himself. As he was observing this horrific scene, the pilot turned to him and said "Doesn't even look like the same town anymore" with a mathed sense of disbelief and repulsion. That was the moment my grandfather realized that this horrific nightmare in front of him was the busy town he had bombed just three days ago.

War is horrible. There is no way to forget it or leave it behind.
I grew up never knowing more about my grandfather's involvement in World War II than, he was a bombadier in the air force and he returned safely to his family. My grandfather never told us about the horrors he saw or the missions he went on. Maybe this was his way of leaving the war behind him, by keeping it's memories in his past and not allowing them to resurface.

Relating Tram Nguyen's book to my life and experiences

Tram Nguyen's book tells many heart wrenching stories about the immigrant community in the United States and the hardships they have had to face after the 9/11 attacks. In my life I have encountered several people and families with their own story of how they came to America and how their life has been influenced by the choice they made to come here.
When I was a young child I went to a church in West Haven, CT that provided support and encouragement for immigrant families and people. I remember one couple, Eldis and Marisol, particularly well. They were engaged to be married in their native country of Cuba, but were forced to flee to America due to the political turmoil taking place there. They escaped Cuba by floating on a raft to America with dozens of other Cuba refugees. After spending months floating at sea to make the 90 mile voyage to Florida, they finally arrived in America. Unlike the refugee families in the book, Eldis and Marisol were granted refugee status in the U.S. They were able to get married and I remember being at the wedding celebrating not only their matrimony, but their safe new found home here in America. Eldis and Marisol's story probably would have ended very differently if they made the trip after 9/11 due to the policies discussed in Nguyen's book that were enacted after 9/11.
Growing up I also had the experience of living next to a family from England. The father worked in a school for the severely handicapped, both mentally and physically, and came to America with his family on a work visa. What impacted me most about my experience with this family was seeing how hard it was for them to get a Green Card to continue living in the U.S. The children were forced to live knowing that if their green card application did not get accepted, then they would have to leave the country and their home. I was able to see first hand how incredibly difficult it is for immigrant families to gain legal status in the country. I was also able to see how complicated a subject immigrant status is. The youngest child had both American and English citizenship because he was born during his family's trip to America. When he turns 18 he will have to choose which citizenship he wants to become permanent, American or English. I never realized that Citizenship status could be so complicated.

We Are All Suspects Now: Response

I was particularity shocked by the horrific treatment of the refugees and detainees while they were in the government's control. It is appaling to know that such great injustices and violations of rights are being comitted in today's world of sophistication. The account given by the detainee in the Metropolitian detention center was disturbing. He describes being abused by the guards as they force him to strip down and give him a beating, "They cuffed my arms and legs and dragged me on the floor. Lt. Cush started to kick me on my back and at the same time DeFrancisco punched me in my stomach and punched my left jaw near my ear..." (13). Abuse like this is particulary horrific because it is completely unwarrented and undeserved. The people being attacked and abused here are victims of, not only the tradegies they faced during their persecution in their own country, but now are victims of a new foregin hostility prompted by nonexistant correlations based on the new War on Terror.
I was also suprised to read about the magnitude of people these policies and court rulings affected. More than 200,000 people each year are held in immigration detention prisons, and there is such a need for these prisons, that the government must employ private jails to house all the people pending deportation and trial. It is amazing that the one court decision ruling in favor of Jama's deportation affected up to 8,000 other Somalis (42). I was also suprised to see the discrimination of the government aganist foreign peoples trying to make America their home. This prejudice was made apparent when President Bush refused to sign the President Determination allowing 80,000 refugees to settle in the U.S.. When President Bush did agree to sign it, he lowered the number to 70,000 and of this number only 27,000 refugees were admitted.
So far, the overall cruelity and coldness of the Immigration system towards the aspiring refugees and undocumented aliens in the US has been shocking.

Question: Do you believe that the United States should accept all refugees seeking asylum in our country? And how should the distinction be made between who can stay and who cannot?

"O Come All Ye Black Folk": A Satire of Affirmative Action, or The Venting of White Frustration

The Primary Source, Tuft's on-campus publication of conservative thoughts and opinions, recently published an issue that included a so called satire of affirmative action policy titled, "O Come All Ye Black Folk". As Robinson, the president of the student government, stated "if the satire was meant to focus on affirmative action, 'It did a poor job." (http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/12/12/tufts). This 'carol' did not seem to address many issuses regarding affirmative action or the University's policy regarding affirmative action. The carol has the line "Fifty-two black freshman.” (http://unc0mm0n53n53.wordpress.com/2006/12/17/o-come-all-ye-black-folk) at the end of every verse, like it is or should be shocking that there were 52 black students admitted to Tufts with the freshman class. This is appaling. As I see it, it should be shocking that of out the over one thousand admitted freshman, only 52 students admitted were black. The carol conveys a sense of frustration from white students that these students were admitted. The carol also makes the assumption that none of the 52 black admitted students deserved to get into Tufts, but were only gained admission due to affirmative action. I don't know how the editors or publishers of The Primary Source could possibly print a line saying "No matter what your grades are, F’s, D’s, or G’s,Give them all privileged status" (http://unc0mm0n53n53.wordpress.com/2006/12/17/o-come-all-ye-black-folk) without realizing that the statment is not based on fact and, above all, is a direct affront on the intelligence of every colored person at Tufts. If The Primary Source wished to satirize the University's policy of affirmative action, they should have used more fact and less racism.

White Privilege In My Life

I never really thought about the concept of racism as a two way street; for one race to be disadvantaged, another must be advantaged. Like Peggy McIntosh, I never even took the time to consider how I have personally benefitted from being part of the 'Master' race. I never trully realized that being white gave me more privileges or advantages. In order to illustrate how these privileges have impacted my life, I will discuss the more important privileges I have listed on the class blog.
The first privilege I listed was 1)People of my race hold a overwhelming majority in government positions. This is an important point to pay attention to. Minorites live seeing their government run primarily by white people and have to also live knowing that these government positions are just begining to open up to them, and the highest level positions are unattainable for them and their future offspring.
Another privilege I listed was 3)I see people of my race on money. This might seem like an unimportant detail but is actually a form of oppression. I remember watching the news and hearing the announcement that Saddam Hussein's image was removed from the money. The reporting anchor then discussed how this was a big deal because the money featured the face of a cruel dictator. This could be applied to the money we use here in America. The great thinker on the subject of race, Dave Chappelle, once stated that U.S. currency "looks like baseball cards with slave owners on them". Minorities, African-Americans in this case, are forced to use currency with the images of the very people who enslaved their ancestors.
Untill people realize that "Hate is baggage" (American History X) and do something to stop the perpetuation of White Privilege, racist thinking will persist and so will the archaic system of oppression that holds Whites as the privileged class.

Datum's article "Talking About Race, Learning About Racism..."

I found this article to be very interesting and also enlightening. While reading the Racial Development Identity Theory for Whites I asked myself what stage I would put myself in. I know that I have moved past the Contact stage of development and can remember being in it. I also realized that, many of the White people I know are stuck in this stage. I grew up in a suburban neighborhood in CT next to Bridgeport, a major city. Living here provided me with the opportunity to meet and form relationships with people of different races. When I moved to the town i currently reside in, I was first able to see the impact of racism. My town is very small and is essentially segregated; for example there were only three African-American students in my entire high school!!! Living with and interacting with many of the people of the town illustrated to me how people can be stuck in the Contact stage. These people maintain their naive curiosity and fear about people of color because they rarely have or take the opportunity to interact with them. Without getting to know people who are different from you, you can never even come close to understanding their unique experience or forming a open mind. I am not pretending to be the perfect image of White understanding, or even an example of White understanding, but I am a White person who is trying to overcome the obstacles of racism in my own life and thinking. To answer my initial question to myself, I believe that I am past the Contact stage and I am pretty sure I have reached the Disintegration stage; hopefully I will skip the Reintergration stage.

Week 2 assignment #1 Asian Americans on Screen and Stage

When you think of successful popular Asian music stars in America not many names come to mind, but one of those few names is William Hung. Wulliam Hung was a contestant on the hit series American Idol. He was everything the American Idol shouldn't be; goofy, nerdy, and above all horrible at singing, but he somehow achieved national fame and recognition.
Why was this no talent excuse for a singer given so much attention? I didn't really think much about this paradox until I was given this assignment in my first english class. After thinking about the assignment I realized that there is much more to the William Hung phenomenon than meets the round eye. William Hung is, and is supposed to be, a comical image. Just look at the picture. Everything about him is humorous; he stands and looks awkward, has bad teeth and is paler than freshly fallen snow. In this picture he is an icon, a role model for the freaks and geeks. This image screams "Hey if this guy can make it, anybody can!".
When observing this image one must ask, who is controlling this image and what is its target audience, to reveal the racial implications. The makers and promoters of American Idol, and the reality TV fad, are exploiting William Hung's image and using it as an advertising ploy. William Hung is not being celebrated as a musican or entertainer, he is being mocked and humiliated as the audience laughs. The target audience of this fiasco does not encompass the Asian American community, that should and most likley does take offense to the fact that many talented Asian performers struggle to make it and one of the few to be recognized is a mockery and shame.