Fred Wah's Relationship With His Father

Fred Pride: The Man Who’s Seen It All “We saved America.” These are the words of Fred Pride, recounting the contribution he and his fellow American servicemen and servicewomen made when called upon to defend their country after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. What made the greatest generation? According to Fred Pride, “We came out of hard times, and we made it.” We made it, as Americans, young men, and family men.

Fred Flucker was as he recalls the first person outside his family to love him. Fred was an African-American friend from school. They played together and ran together going to concerts and summer camp together. A rare true friendship that is important during one’s life. Diversity was something the writer experienced during his life.

When Waters tried to replicate dishes she had in France, she found that the American supermarkets all sold the same kind of Long Island Duck. She then found that the ducks sold in the Chinatowns of San Francisco were, “Raised on nearby farms being sold either still alive or freshly killed… [and] they had chickens that tasted like chicken” (McName 2007, 32). Waters’ access to Chinatown, a structure that provided Waters with fresh poultry and ingredients, allowed her to continue to refine her cooking skills using the techniques learned in France.

In the novel “American Born Chinese” by Gene Luen Yang (2006), it talks about three different people’s stories. The author starts off with telling a story about a monkey called the Monkey King, who lives in the jungle, seeking for higher power to become considered a god in the book. The author also tells a story about an American born Chinese boy named Jin Wang, who moves from San Francisco and struggles with fitting in at a new school. The last story the author tells is about a boy named Danny who has his cousin Chin-Kee from China visit every year. Danny ends up struggling to keep his reputation in adequate shape at school after his cousin visits causing him to switch schools often.

There were rice plants on my left and farm animals on my right. I grew up in New York City, so you can imagine the millions of questions that were running through my head. I’d never been to the countryside of the Dominican Republic before, but when I finally did, I couldn’t be more ecstatic, despite the scorching Caribbean sun burning down on my brown skin. I hadn’t visited the Dominican Republic since I was four years old. All I had was vague memories of my grandmother’s boisterous laugh and the chickens in the backyard I loved chasing after.

These old fashion traditions and values are visible throughout the short story “Yin Chin,” written by Lee Maracle. This story follows the oppression of the Chinese and First Nations communities in early Vancouver and the internal and external conflicts they faced due to racism. From the very beginning of the story, we get a sample of what went on through the heads of individuals of different ethnicities and the old fashion values they possess. At the beginning of the story “Yin Chin,” the narrator walks into a restaurant filled with Chinese and explains “It is my reflexive action on my part to assume that any company that isn’t Indian company is generally unacceptable,” showcasing the reflexive thought process that went through people’s minds if they weren’t the same skin pigment (156). They found the restaurant full and that there were no places to sit because “there aren’t any Indians in the room” (156).

If Mexican culture were a quilt, then the many varied fabric patches that comprise its surface would be meals, the batting would be equal parts family and religion, and the thread used to sew the quilt together would be tradition. The people of Mexico consider mealtimes to be of utmost importance in their culture; however, much like an attractive quilt that lacks proper insulation—pretty, but useless—mealtimes lose much of their meaning without the substance that family and religion provide. Mealtimes in Mexico are a family affair, and immediate families in Mexico are typically multigenerational and tend to be quite large. Unlike most Americans, Mexican meals are almost exclusively had in the home—rather than in restaurants—where they are prepared,

Similar to the father, he tries to pass on the culture hoping it could survive within the family. Sadly, the culture “[was] slowly dying” (341) in the sink. When the fish was being cooked in the wok, it is described as “tires on gravel, a sound so loud it drowns all other noises” (342). The noise level hints a tense argument that has been built up within the family for years. As such, when the fish is served, the tension and dissatisfaction between the son and father imploded; hence, the father acted violently towards his son for being “ungrateful” (344).

She reflects on how her family has adapted to American culture and how Thanksgiving has become a way for her to feel connected to her new home. The essay also touches on the idea of assimilation and how it can be both a positive and negative experience for immigrants. Lee’s purpose in this article is to explore the idea of how food can be used to bridge cultural divides and create a sense of belonging. Overall, Lee’s article celebrates the cultural diversity in the United States.

Rhetorical analysis Do you believe in order to understand other culture you need to try different food ? These are some ideas of this article from Amy S. Choi a freelance journalist. She wrote this article,“What americans can learn from other food cultures”. Choi betters her argument by providing real stories from other countries.

Henry didn’t hesitate. He touched the doorknob, feeling the brass could and hard in his hand. He looked back, speaking his best Cantonese. ‘I… am an American” (185). For Henry, standing up to his father was a hard thing to do.

The U Street Corridor located in Washington D.C., is a unique place full of vibrancy and resilience. Once known for its ability to nurture prominent African Americans, it now houses shops of all kinds, along with trendy restaurants. No longer largely a black community, people from varying races and age groups call it home which can be seen simply by walking the streets. Delores Hayden’s work, The Power of Place helps individuals to understand places like U Street on a deeper level and gain a better understanding of the power a place has to cultivate memories for both the residents and new people moving into the area. Overall, U Street contributes to the understanding of a neighborhood and a city through cultural belonging, place memory, and ?.

Lily Wong, in her article about food, entitled “Eating the Hyphen,” states, “Perhaps this combination (ketchup and dumplings) has something to do with the fact that since both my parents grew up in the States, we’ve embraced many American traditions while abandoning or significantly modifying many Chinese ones” (95). Wong expresses how being a Chinese American has affected her life in a positive way. Wong eats some of her food Americanized, with ketchup, but also eats food that the majority of American’s would not touch (i.e. jellyfish and sea cucumber). Comparatively, Wong eats dumplings (which derive from the Chinese culture) with a fork, knife, and ketchup (which are all culturally American). Geeta Kothari, who wrote the article, If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?

Richard, a character in Pocho, is a Mexican American who struggles to find out where he fits in a new country. He is forced to learn and speak English in the public school system. Pocho follows Richard as he grows up and the everyday struggles he faces as a Latino in a in a majority white neighborhood of California. Some constant themes I have seen while reading has been the issue of identity and the value of traditions, both American and Mexican. Richard is a first generation Mexican American.

Background information and dynamics of the family Gorden Wong, 30 years old, elder son in the family; living with father, Sing (age 70), mother, Cindy (age 65) and younger brother, Simon (age 25). Sing and Cindy retired for 4 and 10 year separately. Simon is still in the college, studying a nursing course; he will be graduated from college in coming July. Sing and Cindy were immigrants from Mainland China 35 years before. They are hard working and live frugally.