LITR 4333 American Immigrant Literature UHCL 2001 student poetry presentation

LITR 4333: American Immigrant Literature

Sample Student Poetry Presentation 2001

Reader: Laura Haynes
Respondent: Andrew Carmouche
Recorder: Rachel Mathews
Thursday, 19 April 2001

Nellie Wong, "When I was Growing Up,"

Unsettling America, p. 55

Cultural Objective #1 Immigrant Narrative

Her own Assimilation to the dominant white culture

Background Information: Member of Poets & Writers, Radical Women, The Freedom Socialist Party, National Asian American Telecommunications, Univ. of Calif. Professional Technical Employee, delegate to the San Francisco Labor Council

Education and Professional Qualifications: Chartered Accountant
Occupation: Chairman, China Operations, Arthur Andersen & Co (China)
Current Public Service: Member of the Executive Council
Community Activities:

Chairman, Executive Committee of The Better Hong Kong Foundation
Chairman, Executive Committee of Hong Kong "Lifeline Express"

Feminist poet book of poetry is "Stolen Moments." The winner of numerous honors and awards, including the Women of Words Award from the Women's Foundation, Wong: connects and draws understanding from the most fertile areas of her cultural roots, the gradual awareness of cultural differences and the effect of racial stereotypes on Asian Americans,

Recently retired from a senior analyst position in the University of California at San Francisco Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Office.

Quote: "They named all colors except white, the shell of my soul, but not my dark, rough skin"

Comments: After reading Nellie Wong's poem, I realized that the problem of perceived beauty is multifaceted.

The word God is used, but is not capitalized, maybe showing anger how she is different toward God, Why am I not white?

It encompasses not only an ideal image that magazines and the mass media presents, but also an ideal color......white.

Being a white woman and viewing a representation of a beautiful white woman on the cover of a magazine creates pressure to attain that same beauty.

However, being a woman of color viewing the same beautiful white woman presents a whole new set of complication, because the message now is that beauty is white.

White woman although pressured to attain that idolized beauty are able to do so because they are white. But for a woman of color, it is impossible no matter how hard she tries because her efforts will be overshadowed by her color.

For Nellie Wong, growing up she was surrounded by ideas that it was better to be fair, and better to be white, and not yellow.

These ideas transformed her into possessing a view of herself that denied her the ability to appreciate her own color and the beauty of that color.

Her soul was white, but her skin was not.

This is a problem that I find many people face in America. Whiteness seems to be associated with what is right, good, moral, and aesthetic.

But what about all the other skin colors and tones that are out there? So when people argue about the problems of the beauty myth, they also need to argue not just about the myth itself, but about the means that the myth is portrayed and its ramifications.

Beauty is like a rainbow, full of all colors. A white only rainbow is nothing at all.

In the writing "When I Was Growing Up", Nellie Wong talks about her life of being an Asian American female. Her writing reflects many Asian women's attitudes towards beauty. She always wanted to be white. She admired the white movie stars and wanted to pale skin like theirs.

"When I was growing up, I read magazines and saw movies, blonde movie stars, white skin, sensuous lips, a desirable women, I began to wear imaginary pale skin."

Wong completely lost her confidence because she was dark. She always compared herself with her sisters and white girls. She even felt herself dirty because she was not white.

"When I was growing up, my sisters with fair skin got praised for their beauty, and in the dark I fell further, crushed between high walls."

"When I was growing up, I felt dirty. I thought that god made white people clean and no matter how much I bathed, I could not change, I could not shed my skin in the gray water."

Class Discussion:

When I was Growing Up

Nellie Wong

Recorder: Rachel Mathews

[Please forgive any discrepancies in the text attributed or names credited in this discussion. RM.]

Presentation and discussion transcript:

Laura began with a brief introduction and biographical sketch of the author Nelly Wong.

Wong is an avid feminist, who has many awards listed under her achievements.

CO1 listed with assimilation to the dominant culture as the predominant theme.

After reading the poem, Laura presented her interpretation of it. The foremost impression was of the sign of maturity that the author displayed by mentioning the past with the use of "when." This recollection of the past revealed how the speaker had progressed or developed. Before she knew the value of her color, she had been "crushed" by the darkness of her skin. The deep desire to be assimilated into the dominant culture is revealed through the lines, "I hungered / for American food, American styles." The shame felt for other members of her race is evident in the description of the "yellow men." The author seems to be accepting the stereotyping of her race and culture.

Cleo commented about how the word "god" was not capitalized hinting at the falling away from religion that immigrants faced.
Laura pointed out that regardless of her fascination for the "American Dream," the poet

appears to be proud in her own identity in the end.

Sabrina drew the connection between Blond White Women and this poem. The episode

with the bath tub is reminiscent of the fascination the little black girl had with the markers; both trying hard to change the pigment of their skin.

Sylvia voiced that the idea of cleanliness seemed to be linked with the identity of the dominant culture, and she brought in the recurring image from the fiction piece, Soap and Water.
Andrew commented that interestingly enough it is on white people that dirt shows up a

lot easier!

Yoli pointed out that regardless of the color of the skin that the poet described "the shell / of my soul" as being white.
Laura mentioned the powerful role played by models in setting standards among the ethnic minority.
Sylvia noted that the popular culture image of the "ideal" woman presented through the media—magazines, movies, movie stars—made the immigrant minority to conform to the set standards.
Kathy reflected on the use of the color in the verse, "I would run away to purple mountains"—which could be implying to the line from the patriotic hymn, "America, the Beautiful" and the purple mountain majesty.
Dr. White reflected on how Chinatown was sharply contrasted with the wide-open spaces, suggestive of freedom.
Yoli was impressed with the description of Chinatown as the ghetto for the Asian immigrants.
Dr. White pointed out the negative stereotyping presented through the junkie image of people "shooting themselves in the arms."
Andrew commented such negative stereotypes were not usually seen in poetry.
Dawn observed that the whole poem seemed to have a negative tone to it, nothing was given as a positive image.
Sylvia noted how the poet alluded to a famous verse by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."
Yvonne stated that it was love for her people that eventually comes through.
Laura pointed out that sibling rivalry seems to be an issue addressed through the unequal color among the sisters.
Cleo stated the inevitable Barbie doll image seems to be gendered and conforming to it seems to be a pattern for women—"anxious to fit / the stereotype of an oriental chick."
Yvonne commented that to appear "exotic" was impossible for the dominant culture.
The question whether it is easier for men to assimilate was raised by a number of students.