The Chinese American Dream
[ ☆: | here and now and with kami ]
[ ♥: |
working ]
[ ♬: | hakuei ~ lost in heaven ]
The Chinese American Dream
What are the riches worth searching for?
Table of Contents
I.Introduction
II.The American Dream
III.The Chinese American Dream
a) Angel Island Poetry and David Wong Louis's Displacement
b) Jade Snow Wong's Fifth Chinese Daughter
c) Shawn Wong's Homebase
d) Gish Jen's Typical American
IV.Conclusion
V.List of Works Cited
I. Introduction
In world's societies and media, such as literature or film, we got a few motives and terms which seem to be known in almost every country. These concepts, cursory watched of course highly stereotypical, inherit a deep connection to the social structures of the country they developed in or from. An Example from Japan would be the concept of the “Samurai“ which can give us a base for understanding modern Japanese work ethic. In Europe we find the term of “National Socialism“ which gives us possibilities for interpreting todays political and social situations and problems. And for America one concept is “The American Dream“. As said, those concepts can only be stereotypes as long as they are not investigated more closely but they become highly interesting if we start to watch them from different perspectives. This background leads to the theme and question of this paper. The American Dream has become an important symbol not only of American- but especially ethnic American literature. For sure, because America was, and still is, a country of immigration for people from all over the world and from completely different cultures. This raises one interesting question: if the slogan of the American Dream is “From rags to riches“ is the meaning of ”rags” and ”riches” the same for every immigrant? Or does it depend on cultural background? In the following I'll analyse the concept of the American Dream from the perspective of Chinese American literature, from Angel Island poetry to modern works as Gish Jen's Typical American to prove the thesis that the the Chinese American Dream differs, or better, has changed, from the western (white picket fences, family, car, dog) ideal of the concept to an alternative one with different values and expectations. Therefore I'll start with a brief introduction to the classical concept of the American Dream before I turn to the works of the different Chinese American authors. The change and alienation of the American Dream concept which will become obvious here will be transferred to the historical and social background of Chinese Americans and lead to the final conclusion which shall give the reasons for the change.
II. The American Dream
The slogan “From rags to riches” symbolises the aims of the American Dream concept. The idea of the existence of an American Dream was brought up by the Pilgrim Fathers and other early settlers who reached America escaping from famines, wars and religious prosecution in Europe. Especially the puritans believed in the concept of hard work which should enable everyone to reach success and prosperity and freedom in live. This American Dream developed slightly during the centuries and symbols, representing the aspects of the dream, were added to the concept. A (suburb) house, symbolising the own piece of land, your status and your wealth, a car for freedom and mobility, a family to show your social wealth and a dog to guard what you've gained. Regarding it closely it must be said that the American Dream in its implementation was in most cases limited to the white western man: the immigrants coming from Europe. For ethnic minority groups there was, as it can be seen from the history of the Black Americans or Chinese Americans, never an equal chance. Nevertheless they, too, saw America as land of their dreams, although it, in most cases, turned out to be an American Nightmare. That the American Dream is still alive can be easily been checked. The internet offers hundreds of Green Card lotteries and web pages advertising the endless possibilities for everyone in the American country1.
III. Chinese American Literature is, as literature from anywhere else, full of different facetes and motives reflecting the authors' views. But most works, no mater from which period of time, share similar, very interesting topics. Inbetweeness, displacement or hybridity, as it becomes obvious in the following, are always part of the novels, poems or short stories which leads directly to the question why, in search for a success story, those sad subjects play such a big role. Therefore we need to start at the very beginning:
a) When Angel Island was established in 1909 no one possibly ever thought that it might once inherit some of the most important works of Chinese American Literature. The poems the waiting immigrants carved or wrote on the walls express the feelings they had while they were waiting to be accepted into a country from which they thought it would bring them wealth and hope and work. The loss of the things they dreamed of as America, like success, a job, money, a bit of wealth, makes them resign. They cannot see a solution for their situation neither as a reason for their imprisonment and the way they are treated in the country whish should have been a land of freedom. Angel Island shows the shattered dreams of the immigrants to the outmost, but it also shows that, in their hopes and expectations, the writers were not different to the settlers who came to America from the west in any case, and this is a very important point to keep in mind.
David Wong Louis's short story Displacement shows a similar concept but goes a step further. The main character, Mrs. Chow, a well educated woman, is forced to immigrate to America for political reasons and has to sell herself under her price by working for an old lady. She searches for the image of the American Dream which, to her, must be something as high as the sky, something to bring her up like the roller coaster she loves to ride, but she does not feel herself a part of the country at all. Instead she even negotiates herself and her skills and possibilities. She becomes displaced, without a real home and always a stranger in the country she now lives in. Neither Chinese nor American she has to realize that she needs to change her view towards America. She has to find a new anchor, as well in the still strange country as in the people and in herself. She is in need to do the first step towards her own success. Her re-order of the American Dream makes it clear to her that it is not (only) a dream of material success but that it has to start with a place she can call and accept as a home.
b) In her autobiography Fifth Chinese Daughter Jade Snow Wong shows other aspects of Chinese American living in the US but elaborates similar problems. Hybridity is still an important aspect she focusses on, pointing out the normality of the Chinese American way of life compared to the general American living instead of simply showing the differences between both social groups. This struggle for normality becomes very clear in the way she describes her birthplace, Chinatown. As representation comes from psychological thinking we need mental representation. A concept of a thing is developed by a mental picture of features, a common property all share, with which we can identify „other“ same objects with this set of signs, although everyone will name or describe this things different, which is based on culture. Secondly we need language to communicate meaningful to others and name the concepts: language structures between sets of signs. Regarding this theory we can see that Wong's shape, her concept on which she identifies Chinatown, has to share more common property with the rest of the town she lives in to identify it as quite normal as to make it an abstract place (Daughter, p3). The normality outweighs the differences where representation normally is a concept to make things different from others. Wong has the power to represent Chinatown like that trough her novel which shows, as well as the way she represents her hybridity, she wants others, who still alienate Chinese American people to see them as normal as others. Therefore her American Dream seems to be a dream of equality and acceptance of the Chinese Americans as simply American in the American culture.
c) Although Shawn Wong's novel Homebase takes place about fifty years after the first poems on Angel Island were written it still shares similar concepts, visions and hopes towards the American Dream and, interestingly enough, similar struggles away from hybridity and towards acceptance, centered in the concept of the question for the own identity and the concept of home. The main character, Rainsford Chan, searches for his identity and the extinguished history of his ancestors who dedicated their whole live history to America, building an American future by trying to build their own future in America. Just like in the American Dream: A country formed with the own hands and hard work. An own piece of land, a self created home for the heroes who tamed and conquered the wilderness - but they, as Chinese Americans, got denied. Traveling around through California, and therefore living the part of the American Dream to be able to go everywhere you want with your own car, Rainsford finds the feeling of freedom in movement. But this does not able him to find what he is longing for: a home. Although he already has claimed certain parts of the American Dream, as freedom and mobility, he has to realize that this is not his way, not his dream with which is will gain succes. He realizes that it is not his problem to wrest his American Dream from the white hegemony by, vainly, trying to be a part of it. He needs a different way which he finally finds when he finally has found not only the roots of his ancestors but the roots of America in the person of a Native American who makes it clear to him that the white hegemony does not own the country although they might behave like that. And therefore their American Dream cannot be Rainsford's, for he is not the mainstream white American, either (Homebase, p.84). He needs a different approach.
d) The last work in the search for the American Dream shall be Gish Jen's Typical American. The book differs from the works analysed before for it focusses directly on the different aspects of the American Dream and the protestant work ethic. Freedom, social status and class are directly mentioned. Stations of the books characters are a house, two children, a car, a bigger house and a dog. The whole story of success builds up on the self-made man concept and pure materialism. America is depicted as the land of opportunities for every single person who is willing to work and to take a risk (Typical, p.100-107). But it disregards the factor of a fixed place in live (Typical, p.105). The main character Ralph claims this American American Dream even in a more direct way than Rainsford Chan did in Homebase. Every stepping stone, every step on the ladder up in society is guided by his mentor Grover, who seems to be the guardian dog of his success. But despite all success Ralph has to realize that this dream is nothing more than a facade. He realizes that he is cheated by Grover, the man he thought to be his guardian, with everything he gained. The American Dream in the American way is, for him, an illusion to which he loses everything. It needs a change in his way of thinking to rescue what is still left.
IV. In all literary references we can see parallels to the American Dream as it was lived by the early settlers and beyond. The Chinese American came to make themselves self-made man or because they had to leave their country, almost following the same push- and pull-factors as settlers from Europe. But, more than the other settlers, they had to fight not only against the nature as they most likely expected but also against the non-existing social acceptance as it can be found in the exclusion act from 1850. Exoticised they were systematically made different and strange by the old concepts of oriantalism and race as they were established in Europe and therefore brought to America with the European settlers. The misunderstanding of cultural backgrounds by the settlers from the east created prejudices and made the Chinese Americans scapegoats in more than one case just as it was done to the Black Americans.
They expected freedom but were rejected by society. Displacement shows that the immigrants are in need to restructure their dreams for their success. The concept „From rags to riches“ does not start to work until they start to accept that they have to change. This first generations of Chinese American immigrants (first not because they were the first Chinese in America but because they were still born in China) is already in need to conquer a piece of land for themselves but, as they have to notice, there seems to land left for them. Their challenge is not the wilderness but society. Later, when they were kind of established in the USA, living in Chinatowns, they had a place in society but they were never part of America, as we can see in Jade Snow Wong's autobiography. Even if they were now born in the country the now were torn between two identities. Their will to be American was confronted with their will and need to keep Chinese traditions. Regarding this closely the problem of this hybridity idea becomes obvious. They, born in America and willing to accept the American way of live were already American. They followed American judges and lived to American rules but they still felt in need to be more and more American which does not mean anything different then that they thought to be in need to follow the do's and dont's of the hegemony. Hybridity arouses from the fact that you feel in need to give up one identity for the sake of another which is, especially from the modern multicultural point of view, not understandable. This concept influences the Chinese American Dream as we can see from Jade Snow Wong's writing. Suddenly other aspects occur. Besides the dream for wealth and personal success as it can be seen in the earlier texts, and as it can be found partly in Wong's novel, for we here have the concept of family, we find the wish for a fixed accepted, integrated place in society more clearly. During time, the social acceptance grew but it was always just acceptance of a stranger, a guest in the own country. America was the country of the Americans, not those who were, by name, “Chinaman“. America was a place to be for the Chinese Americans. But in the least cases it was a home. And at this point ...'s novel Homebase fits in. Written twenty years later than Fifth Chinese Daughter it still focusses on similar problems but pointing out that there are problems and differences with and to the old concept of the American Dream. Rainsford Chan's stands as a symbol, for the Chinese Americans not to simply to try to be part of the American society by accepting that they are still looked as “exotic“ or “strange“ and “different“ in a way. They have to make clear that they are nothing different but the children and grandchildren or great-grandchildren of the settlers who came from Europe. Their American Dream cannot be build up on the American Dream of the hegemony. Mobility is not the way to claim a piece of land as it was centuries ago for the white settlers. Mobility through space is not even a stage in the Chinese American Dream as we can see, for it does not help Rainsford to find what he is searching for.. The important thing is knowledge and self confidence. Even self awareness to overcome the problem of hybridity and displacement. Regarding the tools which are necessary to reach the American Dream as the Puritans made it up we see the protestant work ethic which is of course something typical European. The author of Homebase uses, interestingly, something typical Asian to find peace and success: meditation and dreams. Both tools are, in their countries, highly respected techniques which are even connected with religion and spirituality, leading to either gods love or enlightenment.
Enlightened about the own American history no Chinese American should feel hybrid in America for he is no different part of the society than any white European American. The same can be seen with the problem of displacement. Making America their home, as it was already mentioned in Displacement, they cannot be displaced anymore for their home and place is America. It is the country they and there ancestors made what it is now. Gish Jen's character Ralph cannot anchor in a Chinese American history but still the books show an interesting similarity of values. When the American Dream breaks down for Ralph he is in need to anchor himself to something which is, in contrast to the former egocentric individuality of the dream of material success the idea of a fixed center in live. A home not only as a place in space but stability wherever it might be where the American Dream had lead them into chaos.
This shows similar aspects to what we mentioned through almost every Chinese American text or book we have read. The search for a place to belong to, for an identity (and history) and, as the book implies, a homeland to belong to. The Chinese American came to conquer a part of America just as the other people from other nations but although they did not establish themselves there but became established by others. And here lies, as we can see from the different texts, the problem. Of course there can be a Chinese American Dream of success and prosperity but, by the historical circumstances, the way to gain the American Dream is one difficult step longer. It needs self awareness of the fact that there is no difference between them and any other ethnic group in the United States for the only group which is allowed to say that they own the land are the Native Americans. That way, the American Dream is a myth and even more, as in Rolande Barthes, myth itself. An image with a hidden message which you can only read if you are aware of the real context which, of course, differs in the way you grew up. In times of salad bowl societies this context changes from ethnic group to ethnic group for every culture has different backgrounds and so we got many different myth behind the dream. Not only the Chinese or the Africans differ from the Europeans, as visible, the different ethnic groups in one country differ, too, from each other. But still, they are, in here, all American with the same rights in a country which they are all part from. Just that everyone has to figure out their own way to reach their own American Dream instead of copying what hegemony dictates.
Works Cited
Jen, Gish. Typical American.
Wong, Jade Snow. Fifth Chinese Daughter. University of Washington Press. Washington, 1989.
Wong, Shawn. Homebase. Plume. New York, 1991.
This was one of my term papers for SoSe2007.
It's most likely full of spelling mistakes I'm too lazy to filter out now for I already got my grade for it.
If you want to make the grade somewhat better try to give more quotes from literature.
Especially Homebase is worth reading!
If you want to use this paper in any way, credit me and link back to this page!
It's written by me ~ and therefore mine. It was much to read and based on cultural theories I had to work out. Don't dare to try a copy and paste. This page can be easily found via google.
I'd be glad to know were you used it (especially because Chinese-American literature isn't that much discussed yet) but it's not necessary ~ but a comment if you take it would be much appreciated. =D
Facts:
3281 words
12pages in MLA style
graded 1.7
[ ♥: |
working ]
[ ♬: | hakuei ~ lost in heaven ]
The Chinese American Dream
What are the riches worth searching for?
Table of Contents
I.Introduction
II.The American Dream
III.The Chinese American Dream
a) Angel Island Poetry and David Wong Louis's Displacement
b) Jade Snow Wong's Fifth Chinese Daughter
c) Shawn Wong's Homebase
d) Gish Jen's Typical American
IV.Conclusion
V.List of Works Cited
I. Introduction
In world's societies and media, such as literature or film, we got a few motives and terms which seem to be known in almost every country. These concepts, cursory watched of course highly stereotypical, inherit a deep connection to the social structures of the country they developed in or from. An Example from Japan would be the concept of the “Samurai“ which can give us a base for understanding modern Japanese work ethic. In Europe we find the term of “National Socialism“ which gives us possibilities for interpreting todays political and social situations and problems. And for America one concept is “The American Dream“. As said, those concepts can only be stereotypes as long as they are not investigated more closely but they become highly interesting if we start to watch them from different perspectives. This background leads to the theme and question of this paper. The American Dream has become an important symbol not only of American- but especially ethnic American literature. For sure, because America was, and still is, a country of immigration for people from all over the world and from completely different cultures. This raises one interesting question: if the slogan of the American Dream is “From rags to riches“ is the meaning of ”rags” and ”riches” the same for every immigrant? Or does it depend on cultural background? In the following I'll analyse the concept of the American Dream from the perspective of Chinese American literature, from Angel Island poetry to modern works as Gish Jen's Typical American to prove the thesis that the the Chinese American Dream differs, or better, has changed, from the western (white picket fences, family, car, dog) ideal of the concept to an alternative one with different values and expectations. Therefore I'll start with a brief introduction to the classical concept of the American Dream before I turn to the works of the different Chinese American authors. The change and alienation of the American Dream concept which will become obvious here will be transferred to the historical and social background of Chinese Americans and lead to the final conclusion which shall give the reasons for the change.
II. The American Dream
The slogan “From rags to riches” symbolises the aims of the American Dream concept. The idea of the existence of an American Dream was brought up by the Pilgrim Fathers and other early settlers who reached America escaping from famines, wars and religious prosecution in Europe. Especially the puritans believed in the concept of hard work which should enable everyone to reach success and prosperity and freedom in live. This American Dream developed slightly during the centuries and symbols, representing the aspects of the dream, were added to the concept. A (suburb) house, symbolising the own piece of land, your status and your wealth, a car for freedom and mobility, a family to show your social wealth and a dog to guard what you've gained. Regarding it closely it must be said that the American Dream in its implementation was in most cases limited to the white western man: the immigrants coming from Europe. For ethnic minority groups there was, as it can be seen from the history of the Black Americans or Chinese Americans, never an equal chance. Nevertheless they, too, saw America as land of their dreams, although it, in most cases, turned out to be an American Nightmare. That the American Dream is still alive can be easily been checked. The internet offers hundreds of Green Card lotteries and web pages advertising the endless possibilities for everyone in the American country1.
III. Chinese American Literature is, as literature from anywhere else, full of different facetes and motives reflecting the authors' views. But most works, no mater from which period of time, share similar, very interesting topics. Inbetweeness, displacement or hybridity, as it becomes obvious in the following, are always part of the novels, poems or short stories which leads directly to the question why, in search for a success story, those sad subjects play such a big role. Therefore we need to start at the very beginning:
a) When Angel Island was established in 1909 no one possibly ever thought that it might once inherit some of the most important works of Chinese American Literature. The poems the waiting immigrants carved or wrote on the walls express the feelings they had while they were waiting to be accepted into a country from which they thought it would bring them wealth and hope and work. The loss of the things they dreamed of as America, like success, a job, money, a bit of wealth, makes them resign. They cannot see a solution for their situation neither as a reason for their imprisonment and the way they are treated in the country whish should have been a land of freedom. Angel Island shows the shattered dreams of the immigrants to the outmost, but it also shows that, in their hopes and expectations, the writers were not different to the settlers who came to America from the west in any case, and this is a very important point to keep in mind.
David Wong Louis's short story Displacement shows a similar concept but goes a step further. The main character, Mrs. Chow, a well educated woman, is forced to immigrate to America for political reasons and has to sell herself under her price by working for an old lady. She searches for the image of the American Dream which, to her, must be something as high as the sky, something to bring her up like the roller coaster she loves to ride, but she does not feel herself a part of the country at all. Instead she even negotiates herself and her skills and possibilities. She becomes displaced, without a real home and always a stranger in the country she now lives in. Neither Chinese nor American she has to realize that she needs to change her view towards America. She has to find a new anchor, as well in the still strange country as in the people and in herself. She is in need to do the first step towards her own success. Her re-order of the American Dream makes it clear to her that it is not (only) a dream of material success but that it has to start with a place she can call and accept as a home.
b) In her autobiography Fifth Chinese Daughter Jade Snow Wong shows other aspects of Chinese American living in the US but elaborates similar problems. Hybridity is still an important aspect she focusses on, pointing out the normality of the Chinese American way of life compared to the general American living instead of simply showing the differences between both social groups. This struggle for normality becomes very clear in the way she describes her birthplace, Chinatown. As representation comes from psychological thinking we need mental representation. A concept of a thing is developed by a mental picture of features, a common property all share, with which we can identify „other“ same objects with this set of signs, although everyone will name or describe this things different, which is based on culture. Secondly we need language to communicate meaningful to others and name the concepts: language structures between sets of signs. Regarding this theory we can see that Wong's shape, her concept on which she identifies Chinatown, has to share more common property with the rest of the town she lives in to identify it as quite normal as to make it an abstract place (Daughter, p3). The normality outweighs the differences where representation normally is a concept to make things different from others. Wong has the power to represent Chinatown like that trough her novel which shows, as well as the way she represents her hybridity, she wants others, who still alienate Chinese American people to see them as normal as others. Therefore her American Dream seems to be a dream of equality and acceptance of the Chinese Americans as simply American in the American culture.
c) Although Shawn Wong's novel Homebase takes place about fifty years after the first poems on Angel Island were written it still shares similar concepts, visions and hopes towards the American Dream and, interestingly enough, similar struggles away from hybridity and towards acceptance, centered in the concept of the question for the own identity and the concept of home. The main character, Rainsford Chan, searches for his identity and the extinguished history of his ancestors who dedicated their whole live history to America, building an American future by trying to build their own future in America. Just like in the American Dream: A country formed with the own hands and hard work. An own piece of land, a self created home for the heroes who tamed and conquered the wilderness - but they, as Chinese Americans, got denied. Traveling around through California, and therefore living the part of the American Dream to be able to go everywhere you want with your own car, Rainsford finds the feeling of freedom in movement. But this does not able him to find what he is longing for: a home. Although he already has claimed certain parts of the American Dream, as freedom and mobility, he has to realize that this is not his way, not his dream with which is will gain succes. He realizes that it is not his problem to wrest his American Dream from the white hegemony by, vainly, trying to be a part of it. He needs a different way which he finally finds when he finally has found not only the roots of his ancestors but the roots of America in the person of a Native American who makes it clear to him that the white hegemony does not own the country although they might behave like that. And therefore their American Dream cannot be Rainsford's, for he is not the mainstream white American, either (Homebase, p.84). He needs a different approach.
d) The last work in the search for the American Dream shall be Gish Jen's Typical American. The book differs from the works analysed before for it focusses directly on the different aspects of the American Dream and the protestant work ethic. Freedom, social status and class are directly mentioned. Stations of the books characters are a house, two children, a car, a bigger house and a dog. The whole story of success builds up on the self-made man concept and pure materialism. America is depicted as the land of opportunities for every single person who is willing to work and to take a risk (Typical, p.100-107). But it disregards the factor of a fixed place in live (Typical, p.105). The main character Ralph claims this American American Dream even in a more direct way than Rainsford Chan did in Homebase. Every stepping stone, every step on the ladder up in society is guided by his mentor Grover, who seems to be the guardian dog of his success. But despite all success Ralph has to realize that this dream is nothing more than a facade. He realizes that he is cheated by Grover, the man he thought to be his guardian, with everything he gained. The American Dream in the American way is, for him, an illusion to which he loses everything. It needs a change in his way of thinking to rescue what is still left.
IV. In all literary references we can see parallels to the American Dream as it was lived by the early settlers and beyond. The Chinese American came to make themselves self-made man or because they had to leave their country, almost following the same push- and pull-factors as settlers from Europe. But, more than the other settlers, they had to fight not only against the nature as they most likely expected but also against the non-existing social acceptance as it can be found in the exclusion act from 1850. Exoticised they were systematically made different and strange by the old concepts of oriantalism and race as they were established in Europe and therefore brought to America with the European settlers. The misunderstanding of cultural backgrounds by the settlers from the east created prejudices and made the Chinese Americans scapegoats in more than one case just as it was done to the Black Americans.
They expected freedom but were rejected by society. Displacement shows that the immigrants are in need to restructure their dreams for their success. The concept „From rags to riches“ does not start to work until they start to accept that they have to change. This first generations of Chinese American immigrants (first not because they were the first Chinese in America but because they were still born in China) is already in need to conquer a piece of land for themselves but, as they have to notice, there seems to land left for them. Their challenge is not the wilderness but society. Later, when they were kind of established in the USA, living in Chinatowns, they had a place in society but they were never part of America, as we can see in Jade Snow Wong's autobiography. Even if they were now born in the country the now were torn between two identities. Their will to be American was confronted with their will and need to keep Chinese traditions. Regarding this closely the problem of this hybridity idea becomes obvious. They, born in America and willing to accept the American way of live were already American. They followed American judges and lived to American rules but they still felt in need to be more and more American which does not mean anything different then that they thought to be in need to follow the do's and dont's of the hegemony. Hybridity arouses from the fact that you feel in need to give up one identity for the sake of another which is, especially from the modern multicultural point of view, not understandable. This concept influences the Chinese American Dream as we can see from Jade Snow Wong's writing. Suddenly other aspects occur. Besides the dream for wealth and personal success as it can be seen in the earlier texts, and as it can be found partly in Wong's novel, for we here have the concept of family, we find the wish for a fixed accepted, integrated place in society more clearly. During time, the social acceptance grew but it was always just acceptance of a stranger, a guest in the own country. America was the country of the Americans, not those who were, by name, “Chinaman“. America was a place to be for the Chinese Americans. But in the least cases it was a home. And at this point ...'s novel Homebase fits in. Written twenty years later than Fifth Chinese Daughter it still focusses on similar problems but pointing out that there are problems and differences with and to the old concept of the American Dream. Rainsford Chan's stands as a symbol, for the Chinese Americans not to simply to try to be part of the American society by accepting that they are still looked as “exotic“ or “strange“ and “different“ in a way. They have to make clear that they are nothing different but the children and grandchildren or great-grandchildren of the settlers who came from Europe. Their American Dream cannot be build up on the American Dream of the hegemony. Mobility is not the way to claim a piece of land as it was centuries ago for the white settlers. Mobility through space is not even a stage in the Chinese American Dream as we can see, for it does not help Rainsford to find what he is searching for.. The important thing is knowledge and self confidence. Even self awareness to overcome the problem of hybridity and displacement. Regarding the tools which are necessary to reach the American Dream as the Puritans made it up we see the protestant work ethic which is of course something typical European. The author of Homebase uses, interestingly, something typical Asian to find peace and success: meditation and dreams. Both tools are, in their countries, highly respected techniques which are even connected with religion and spirituality, leading to either gods love or enlightenment.
Enlightened about the own American history no Chinese American should feel hybrid in America for he is no different part of the society than any white European American. The same can be seen with the problem of displacement. Making America their home, as it was already mentioned in Displacement, they cannot be displaced anymore for their home and place is America. It is the country they and there ancestors made what it is now. Gish Jen's character Ralph cannot anchor in a Chinese American history but still the books show an interesting similarity of values. When the American Dream breaks down for Ralph he is in need to anchor himself to something which is, in contrast to the former egocentric individuality of the dream of material success the idea of a fixed center in live. A home not only as a place in space but stability wherever it might be where the American Dream had lead them into chaos.
This shows similar aspects to what we mentioned through almost every Chinese American text or book we have read. The search for a place to belong to, for an identity (and history) and, as the book implies, a homeland to belong to. The Chinese American came to conquer a part of America just as the other people from other nations but although they did not establish themselves there but became established by others. And here lies, as we can see from the different texts, the problem. Of course there can be a Chinese American Dream of success and prosperity but, by the historical circumstances, the way to gain the American Dream is one difficult step longer. It needs self awareness of the fact that there is no difference between them and any other ethnic group in the United States for the only group which is allowed to say that they own the land are the Native Americans. That way, the American Dream is a myth and even more, as in Rolande Barthes, myth itself. An image with a hidden message which you can only read if you are aware of the real context which, of course, differs in the way you grew up. In times of salad bowl societies this context changes from ethnic group to ethnic group for every culture has different backgrounds and so we got many different myth behind the dream. Not only the Chinese or the Africans differ from the Europeans, as visible, the different ethnic groups in one country differ, too, from each other. But still, they are, in here, all American with the same rights in a country which they are all part from. Just that everyone has to figure out their own way to reach their own American Dream instead of copying what hegemony dictates.
Works Cited
Jen, Gish. Typical American.
Wong, Jade Snow. Fifth Chinese Daughter. University of Washington Press. Washington, 1989.
Wong, Shawn. Homebase. Plume. New York, 1991.
This was one of my term papers for SoSe2007.
It's most likely full of spelling mistakes I'm too lazy to filter out now for I already got my grade for it.
If you want to make the grade somewhat better try to give more quotes from literature.
Especially Homebase is worth reading!
If you want to use this paper in any way, credit me and link back to this page!
It's written by me ~ and therefore mine. It was much to read and based on cultural theories I had to work out. Don't dare to try a copy and paste. This page can be easily found via google.
I'd be glad to know were you used it (especially because Chinese-American literature isn't that much discussed yet) but it's not necessary ~ but a comment if you take it would be much appreciated. =D
Facts:
3281 words
12pages in MLA style
graded 1.7