With the growing emphasis on cultural exchange in recent literature, writers have attempted to highlight how difficult it was for people to maintain their ethnic identity in addition to their national identity . Assimilation into mainstream American culture seems to be a primal way of survival for Asian Americans, since they are victims of many stereotypes from which it would be natural to escape. This essay will therefore analyze how Asian Americans perceive their assimilation process, that is, whether assimilation can be said to be primordial but can be used as a masquerade by focusing primarily on Kim Wong Keltner's novel The Dim Sum of All Things. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Keltner's novel addresses the question of assimilation as a discursive process. Its protagonist Lindsey Owyang is a Chinese American girl in her early twenties, but she relates more to the white mainstream space. Its hybrid identity is further underlined by its name. 'Lindsey' is more Western and modern while 'Owyang' reflects its belonging to Chinese culture. A Chinese American named Lindsey emphasizes the importance of assimilation into mainstream white culture. Already with a name like 'Lindsey', she does not escape the negative stereotypes regarding her being of Chinese origin. As a child, she couldn't really understand why she was treated unfairly, but she soon realized that it all "had to do with the fact that [she] was Chinese." Therefore, she grew up far from her parents, except for Pau Pau, her grandmother. It is more identifiable with the white mainstream space rather than with its belonging to Chinese culture. From the very beginning of the novel itself, her free-spirited mind shows that in order to deconstruct the stereotype of Chinese Americans as "unassimilable entities," she had to adopt a Western lifestyle. She goes to clubs, dates white guys, and even thinks her mother is "old fashioned." Keltner, therefore, attempted to critique the impact of negative stereotypes on a young adult seeking to be part of decorum. Lindsey doesn't speak “Mandarin” or “Cantonese” but speaks English. Whether complete assimilation has occurred remains a matter of debate because Lindsay is growing up to be someone she should never have been when viewed from her family's perspective. In fact, while visiting her family, her English is described as “Chinglish” which indicates that she occasionally uses “Chinese words in her sentences”. Although she claims to be a modern girl with “an ignorance of grammar Chinese”, it can be said that the traces of her belonging to Chinese culture are alive in her. The beauty of Chinese culture to which she was exposed touched her heart and demonstrated that being Chinese is not something wrong made her realize that celebrating "Chinese-ness" is not at all so old-fashioned and old-fashioned. Kim is actually what makes Asian Americans feel inferior on American soil Now that Lindsey has discovered the beauty of her Chinese culture, readers are eager to know if she will give up living her Western lifestyle or continue living as she does. Before. The author quickly puts an end to the suspense and shows that Lindsey has accepted Micheal as he is, even though the latter has stated that being Chinese is a part of himself that he has never given much importance to. At this reaction from Micheal, Lindsey doesn't feel sad because she hasn't.”
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