Understanding Parents

            Everyone has conflicts and misunderstanding with their parents. Brad Manning and Sarah Vowell’s stories clearly portray this. Though both initially cannot get along properly or communicate well with a parent, they eventually realize that there is love in their relationships and that they are more similar than they had originally thought; Manning assumes his father’s role in their family and faces responsibility while Vowell honors her father and his hobbies. Through their competition, Manning and Vowell mature and learn to accept their parents; both also discover a profound respect for each parent in the process of reconciliation.

            These stories are extremely relatable and prompt one to analyze one’s own relationship with a parent. Like Manning and his father, my own dad and I have trouble communicating with each other. I find his nagging and questioning annoying and often yell at him to stop and “go away.” However, my mom tells me that his questions are his attempts to talk to me and express love/concern; he has my best interests at heart, but he just does not know how to communicate this effectively. I hope to one day be able to understand my father and express my appreciation for him as well.

Leonid Afremov's Corrida

There is one man. He wears a gaudy gold and crimson suit embroidered with threads of silver. His shirt is ruffled, and his pants are golden. He flourishes a red flag and taunts his opponent—the charging bull. The bull is a black but colorful blur. The background is smeared, placing emphasis on the intensity of the competition. The matador concentrates. The audience watches as the battle between man and bull unfolds; but these people don’t matter. Their cheers fade away, and now only the Bullfighter and the bull exist. The Bullfighter oozes confidence; he is prepared to win yet another match. He knows he is a champion and is ready to defend his title. No bull can outsmart him. A bullfighter is brave, cunning, fearless; just like him. He can outwit any simple brute. After all, what tough animal would be provoked by the appearance of a color? After this win, just one of many, he will celebrate with his friends, and everyone will shower him in their admiration. Oh, how amazing he is! He is glorious and wonderful—Champion of the Bulls! Meanwhile, the brute’s eyes bore into his crimson colored flag; it charges with ferocity in its eyes. It, too, is prepared to win. “GRR,” it thinks. “THIS TIME I WILL WIN!”

Assimilation

Being part of a minority can be quite difficult. Like Amy Tan, I am multicultural and am familiar with the difficulties of being a Chinese American in the United States. The decision to assimilate or not is hard, but often not even ones own choice. Societal pressure for assimilation and cultural pressure to maintain ones heritage battle each other; eventually one wins, and from what I have noticed and experienced, it is usually assimilation that triumphs.

There is a term for people in America who aren’t assimilated. These people, who are still more in touch with the cultures, traditions, and styles of their native country, are labeled FOBs—fresh off the boat. Even people of the same race often use this term negatively to describe their less assimilated counterparts. There is a social stigma that when in America, people who aren’t American should attempt to become “American” as much as possible by speaking English, adopting American customs, following pop culture etc.

I consider myself rather assimilated into American culture, just like many of my peers. If asked a question about our native cultures, chances are high that most of us cannot answer correctly. I am barely able to speak Chinese, can hardly read or write, and know nothing about Chinese culture or history. Perhaps most of this is because I was born in America, but my parents, too, are no longer as Chinese as they once were. They speak English at home and have adopted American traditions, like celebrating Thanksgiving and playing Candy Crush. In order for them to have succeeded in the United States, they had to assimilate and become “more American.”

Identity vs. Perception

Identity should be how one views oneself, including all of the complexities “that round out a character and make (one) whole” (Mairs 14). However, often, as shown in “Disability” by Nancy Mairs, others’ perceptions often overtake one’s own views and become identity instead. In “Disability,” Mairs writes about how by leaving disabled people out of the media, disabled persons are made to feel degraded and alienated. They feel like the outcasts in a world of able-bodied people when, ironically, they are the normal people. Everyone else is simply a TAP, a Temporarily Abled Person. Mairs points out, “if you live long enough, as you’re increasingly likely to do, you may well join (us)” (Maris 15) as a disabled person. Even though disability is normal, society’s perception that disability is taboo overcomes disabled persons’ identities and becomes their defining characteristics.

The same concept holds true for the African Americans shown in Maya Angelou’s “Champion of the World.” Society disregards African Americans as inferior simply because of the color of their skin. Angelou talks about how her community depends upon Louis’ win to change the perception of them being a lesser race and how losing would mean reverting back to slavery. Even when Joe Louis proves they are “the strongest people in the world” (Angelou 90), African Americans are still perceived as inferior and fear Whites as a result.