In the American Society Essays -- Gish Jen

Gish Jens In the the Statesn inn is, on the surface, an entertaining look into the charmings of a Chinese American family reservation their way in America. The reader is introduced to the life of a Chinese American restaurant owner and his family through the eyes of his American-born daughter. When we examine the work in depth, however, we discover that Jen is addressing how traditional Chinese values work in American culture. She touches on the difference in gender roles, generation gaps amid immigrants and their American-born children, and the hesitance of these immigrants to conform to the American way of life. To truly understand multicultural literature, one must first try to understand the cultural compass of the author. In the case of this piece, we are examining the Chinese culture and Jens experiences which influence her writing. Gish Jen is a second-generation American. Her parents immigrated separately in the 1940s. Her mother came to America to go to ammonium alum school and her father came as part of the war efforts during World warfare II. With the rise of Communism in china, both were forced to remain present and ended up building a life together and peak their 5 children as Americans. Because they came in the second of three waves of Chinese in-migration, their reasons for feeler and the process of assimilating into the American way of life was very polar than other Chinese immigrants. During the first wave, from 1849-1882, the reasons for immigrating were mainly economic. Thousands of poor three-year-old males came from China to labor in America. In 1882, however, the Chinese Exclusion doing was passed, making it so the second wave of immigrants contained only diplomats, merchants, and students. Chinese immigrants were segregated from mainstream America and lived in Chinatowns with no diplomatic rights until the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Along with this act came the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which allowed more Chin ese to come to America to be with their families. This was also the time where equality was being demanded by many young Chinese Americans. We are currently in the third wave of Chinese immigration. At this point, most of the people culmination over are both select well-educated Chinese or those looking to escape repression and semipolitical instability in their homeland.Chinese culture is rich with tradition and values, which pai... ...e water, Mr. Chang sic that pride above his expose judgment by throwing both the apparel and the suit coat in the water. This story is an allegory of life for many Chinese Americans. Many came to America for the opportunity to lead a better life. Entrepreneurship is a big part of that American dream. The Changs owning a pancake firm represents so many of the Chinese people that own their own restaurants upon coming to America. Mr. Changs hesitance to Americanize and his idea that to embrace what he embraced was extol also represents the view s of many Chinese immigrants. Jens own parents maintained both(prenominal) of their own ideas of how she should live her life. They didnt believe that writing was an honorable social function for a woman to do and didnt support her in her end until her picture and story was run on the front page of a Chinese newspaper and their people accepted it. Works CitedChinese Immigration to the United States. Accessed 03/27/2005. Lauter, Paul. The Health Anthology of American Literature. Accessed 03/20/2005. Moyers, Bill. Public affairs Television Becoming American Personal Journeys Interview with Gish Jen. 2003. Accessed 03/23/2005.