Grace Wang

English 257 Section A

Due Thursday, January 26th, 2017
Mini-Essay 1 Final Draft

Part I
Thats racist!

Tossed around casually in a plethora of contexts including in a response to the video

What Kind of Asian Are You, this phrase often loses its weight and meaning. Thus, placing the

label of racist here parallels the act of perpetuating stereotypes themselves, in that it disregards

the impact of patterns of abjection faced by Asian Americans that complicate their identity in a

manner that transcends a static, binary definition of who they really are as a people. As asserted

by Patricia Chu in Assimilating Asians, abjection is the act of delineating the undesirable in

order to differentiate pariahs from the core, which, although nebulous, provides those within

with a sense of artificial security.

In the response video, one of the comments argues that a white person asking an Asian

American about their heritage would know not to reply normal American for when asked about

theirs. And yet, what the phrasing here simultaneously conceals and highlights is that white

Americans are normal. Never does it assert that there is no such person as a normal American,

and the commenter takes issue not in the phrase, but rather in the interpretation of it as a heritage.

Following the definition of abjection, the subtle lens into the core through normality could

hardly be more vague. This ambiguity leads then to a sense of insecurity and self-loathing not in

those within the core who take refuge from their own fears of self-contempt by objectifying

others, but rather Asian Americans who are concretely defined as outsiders. In the same video,

another commenter complains that the Asian American woman used low brow stereotypes to

directly mock the white American. However, her comment that his people have great fish and
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chips echoes exactly his expressed love for kimchi. The double standard that is created here

emphasizes that the core steers away from being tied down to any expectations, while they

have no problem projecting superficial methods of identification onto the abjected. By extension,

the fact that another white man then comments he loved the funny video only further

illustrates that being able to find humor in and trivialize patterns of abjection places one

comfortably within the core.

In response to years of abjection, Asian American writers have developed unique

narrative strategies that allow them to respond to the above discussed motifs that have engraved

themselves into American society. Still, in order to be heard by the larger cultural narratives,

authors exploring such issues have had to convince the American audience that their subject of

discussion is a universal Subject, strategically deciding to leave certain things unsaid with the

goal of gaining visibility overall. Still, a Subject does not indicate a position of power; some

authors utilize their position as a Subject communicated through their words in order to reverse

what is expected and challenge current ideologies to create a new imagined core, while others

may accept the established structures and question only their position within social dynamics. In

the original video referenced above, when the white American approaches the subject of heritage

with the Asian American woman, he makes exaggerated hand gestures distinguishing here,

America, and somewhere distant, where she is from. This has been the general trend: the

concept of the double identity of Asian Americans has traditionally implied that they are

inherently fragmented with two irreconcilable halves rooted in oppositely situated Eastern and

Western values. The Subject that Asian American writers are interested in then most often relates

to articulating the depth of the intrinsically whole Asian American identityand that it calls for

exploration, not a piecing back together.

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Part II

In Seeking Hot Asian Babes and Babes Continued, Tizon calls into question patterns

of abjection through his exploration of Asian American identity. His narrative style is primarily

personal, with a generally accessible tone that hides meaning in subtlety. For example, he makes

use of a striking yet simple image of a young Asian American girl, by commenting that the

heavy makeup [she wore] seemed only to accentuate the baby fat of her face (Tizon 64).

Although the girl has clearly succumbed to the stereotypes sustained by white American culture,

Tizons deliberate phrasing seems to indicate that the established patterns of abjection have not

brought about a total erasure of her true identity, just as the cosmetics fail to conceal her age and

psychological development. To some extent, he begins his attempt at introducing a more

authentic Asian American sentiment by giving Asian Americans the strength to look within,

when the pressure from social forces carve into their perceptions of the self from outward

appearances. This, among other seemingly insignificant details, lulls the reader into Tizons

narrative in a way that delivers Tizons message without alienating readers with a confrontational

tone. This potentially indicates his desire not to reimagine a core in American society, but

rather the place of Asian Americans within the current framework.

Towards the end of the chapter, Tizon recounts a conversation he had with an Asian

American woman, who laments that in public she is labeled as either a docile lotus flower or a

flame-breathing dominatrix (Tizon 78). By demonstrating the ridiculousness of this stereotype

of Asian American women, Tizon undoes the general pattern through which Asian American

women have been abjected, which relies on having clear definitions on their identity as a pariah

in American society. Once restricted to one role or the other outlined with rigid walls, Asian

American women can, through Tizons presentation of them as complex individuals, find
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themselves newly defined with more amorphous expectations; this is a privilege inherently

assigned to the core. Moreover, Tizon also directly makes connections between Western

culture and the identity of Asian Americans in order to make an argument against their abjection

as outsiders. Throughout his work, he makes references to both Greek mythology and Christian

narrativeshe points out that Aphrodite was an amalgam of goddesses whose origins traced to

the Orient, and that Asian American women are often seen as forbidden fruit, but who are

somehow accessible (Tizon 69, 67). By connecting the traits of Greek goddess of love to the

way Asian American women are viewed and alluding to Genesis, Tizon accomplishes the feat of

placing Asian Americans within the Western literary tradition. Because identity draws from

factors rooted in cultural literary canons and history, Tizon makes a significant contribution

towards infiltrating Asian Americans into the nebulous core of America that Chu described in

Assimilating Asians.

In a work of contrasting style, Bulosan, though Life and Death of a Filipino in

America, criticizes the core while building the bridge of shared humanness with white

America. The imagery of a cool summer night with rice fields golden in the moonlight that

begins the short story ultimately brings it to conclusion in full circle when Leroys entrails are

spread on the cool grass under the pale light of the April moon (Bulosan 85, 89). Because

this introduces the theme of perpetual cycles within nature, Bulosan evidently connects it to the

fate of Filipino Americans, implying a certain helplessness. And yet, it is also communicated that

the prescribed destiny of Filipino Americans is not determined by natural forces, but rather by

the abjection of all Asian Americans by a predominantly white America. Thus, those looking for

a window into the authentic Asian American experience in Bulosans work are surprised by the
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author, who turns to quietly compel them to reflect upon the consequences of utilizing the

abjection of others to define their own identity.

The linearity of the narration towards a final culminating point is also invariably

significant. As Bulosan moves through describing the various deaths he encounters, there appears

to be less and less emotion attached to each event. Parallel to this is the decrease in detail that the

reader receives about each character; however, antiparallel is the fact that the experiences begin

universal, and move into scenarios that are increasingly and unfortunately unique to the Asian

American experience. By beginning with the death of his mother, Bulosan appeals to a broad

audience for their empathy with an experience of deep pain that puts him and all other

individuals on the same level as mortals, who all at some point cope with losing loved ones. In

examining the descriptions Bulosan gives of each of the Filipino American men he meets, we

will notice that the descriptions move from detailed towards the abstract. For instance, we learn

that Marco had a way of throwing his head back and laughing, and was both quick and

sensitive in addition to being honest (Bulosan 87). We learn that Crispin had poetry in his

soul, but are only ever told that Leroy explained words with gifted simplicity before learning

about his death; the narrator then abruptly changes the tone in claiming that all his life he would

remember Leroy and all the things he taught [him] about living (Bulosan 89). On the surface,

Bulosans undertones of sarcasm in reflecting on the impact Leroy had on his life evokes a

certain heaviness and profound sense of woundedness. However, the way in which Bulosan has

articulated and organized this short narrative also works to reverse the abjection of Asian

Americans. By distancing himself slowly from the cycle of death and failure driven by white

America, Bulosan makes the argument that he and other Filipino Americans are more than the

mask they are given to wear. The more abstract descriptions of his friends and acquaintances
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furthermore breaks down the structure of abjection, which, as mentioned, relies on a concrete

understanding of what the core designates as an outsider.

However, unlike Tizons reflective, vulnerable style, Bulosan is much more explicit in his

discussion of the cruelty and ruthless brutality faced by Filipino Americans and their experiences

as affected by the current patterns of abjection. Considering this, it is evident that he seeks a new

imagined core; he strives not to distance himself from white America, but rather practically

understands the magnitude of change he advocates for.

While Bulosans narrative strategies first elucidate Filipino Americans as individuals with

more commonalities with the core established by white America before attempting to break the

pattern of abjection, Nguyen, author of Pioneer Girl, arguably abjectifies Americanness

directly. In her narrative, what is left unsaid holds almost as much weight as what is. Looking

primarily at the general descriptions given about the buffets, we notice that the imagery focuses

on logisticsthe narrator comments that a particular setup will tell you about the restaurants

ambitions, and then moves on to admire the speed at which dirty plates are removed out of sight

(Nguyen 49). Although Asian Americans are often branded as inhumanly efficient and robotic,

the description here serves not to confirm stereotypes that help establish the abjection of Asian

AmericansNguyen makes it clear that these buffets are only a grossly inaccurate vision of

what white America finds it convenient to believe what an authentic Asian experience is by

painfully ignoring the grueling labor and emotional strains behind running a buffet. Moreover, as

if the descriptions of caramel sprinkles and red dye cherry pie did not already paint

American culture as vibrantly artificial, we can examine the fact that the narrators memory of

these things and other fried dishes being the dishes she loved most leads her to know for

certain that she was in fact, American (Nguyen 51, 54). Like Tizon and Bulosan, Nguyen
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likewise finds a way to address the abjection of Asian Americans by firmly defining the

superficiality of the core through a narrative technique that strips it of its ambiguity, from

which its original power is derived.

However, Nguyen does place a heavy priority on not alienating readers, addressing her

audience in second person, asking if they know what [she] mean[s] and comparing their

feelings to hers (Nguyen 50). Still, her intent is not to infiltrate Asian Americans directly into the

core. At the end of the chapter discussed, the audience is informed that the grandfather always

responds to white customers who make the same foolish remarks with a smile, and Ong Hai,

[the name they gave him], [becomes] the name he answer[s] to at work and at home (Nguyen

56). There is a certain air of acceptance in this scene which Nguyen uses ironically, advocating

not for wearing the mask of Americanness over a mask of the white American perception of

being Asian American and lamenting the predictability of the cores attitude. Ultimately, she,

like Bulosan, introduces the idea that a new Asian American sentiment must be slowly fabricated

independent of existing dynamics between the core and the abjected in manner that shifts the

nature of the former.

Part III

Evidently, all three of these authors have approached the issue of undoing the double

identity with the hopes of creating a more genuine sentiment by first paradoxically undefining

the nature of an Asian American identity. By unraveling the labels that place Asian Americans in

a position of abjection both directly and indirectly, Tizon, Bulosan, and Nguyen allow, through

their narratives, an Asian American sentiment to grow organically, rather than in reaction to a

preconceived notion of what it is, or even what it is not. However, it would not be fair to assert

that they have fully resolved the issue on their owntogether, they piece together a few
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cornerstones of a larger growing puzzle that morphs in response to changing social contexts.

Tizon undoubtedly leaves himself in a position of ambiguous vulnerability, Bulosan further

delves into the complexity of an Asian American individuals psyche in a way that validates

Tizons experiences as authentic, and Nguyen utilizes a personal story to examine Asian

American identity by contrarily presenting a new perspective on what it does not entail.

Clearly, all three have successfully challenged the established patterns of abjection in

ways that allow the myth of the double identity to be dispelled, but there is still an emptiness that

hasnt yet fully been filled with a satisfying, holistic expression of the Asian American identity.

Even though Nguyen closes her chapter with a statement that she has found her American way,

there is a certain irony in the statement that leaves the reader not quite satisfied (Nguyen 56).

Bulosans work too ends on a hollow revelation. For those who may argue these authors do not

leave enough flexibility for Asian Americans to embrace their individuality, the opposite has

been accomplished. For now, the hole opened up after years of silence has left almost too much

room. And yet, the discomfort of not having a mask to hide behind must be cherished if an

honest sentiment of the Asian American identity is to be birthed as a Subject known to, respected

by, and accepted into, the American culture at large.