Ordonez

Ramses Ordonez
English 115
Professor Lawson
12 September 2014
Exercise 1
Word Count 312
What is an Identity?
I read Finding my Eye-dentity by Olivia Chung whom is an undergraduate student at
the University of Pennsylvania. The passage is about the authors past experience with her
mother, living as an Asian American student. The purpose of the article is exemplified near the
end when she says, Your eyes are beautiful. My eyes are beautiful. Asian is beautiful (151).
Chung chooses to repetitively say beautiful to get the readers to believe they are beautiful. The
purpose is to not change just because a family relative or friend says no but instead, accept who
you are and keep your outward appearance the way it was meant to be. The passage is pointed at
young, Asian girls who may experience their parents to attempt to perform sang ka pul. From the
decision not to perform sang ka pul, the author wants other girls to follow her example and not
conduct the eyelid surgery. Olivia Chung used informal language in order for the adolescent girls
to relate even more to her hardships caused by her mother.
The text not only refers to females but is also a lesson to all those who feel the need to change
themselves for the better. The author was told by her mother that there was a need to perform the
sang ka pul operation because it would be prettier and more American. The idea of being
American is a broad term that no one can actually be except those whom have lived her for
many centuries, such as the Native Americans. The populations in the United States have turned

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to the idea of being American and as a result, those that live in the country will always feel the
need to be different. On the contrary, the author states with her text that everyone is individually
beautiful no matter what background they come from.