Gender in Asian-American Literature

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews three pieces of Asian-American literature, analyzing the portrayal of gender in these novels. The three works the paper reviews are John Okada's 'No No Boy', Jhumpa Lahiri's 'The Namesake' and Nina Revoyr's 'Southland'. The paper discusses how these books do much to provide information on the Asian-American ethnic identity but, as with any other fiction, they present the authors' subjective points of view and readers must be alert to their ethnic authenticity and transnational analytic limitations.

From the Paper:

"On the one hand Ma rejects western culture for herself and her children, but Ichiro is still drawn by American culture and disregards most of Ma's nationalistic beliefs. She is unwilling to accept his rejection and pretends it is due to his illness: "We will talk later when you are feeling better... Think more deeply and your doubts will disappear. You are my son, Ichiro" (Okada 15). Ichiro sees that "Ma is the rock that's always hammering, pounding, pounding, pounding in her unobtrusive, determined, fanatical way until there's nothing left to call one's self. She's cursed me with her meanness and the hatred that you cannot see but which is always hating..."(Okada 12). Yet, on the other hand, Mr. and Mrs. Yamada came to the U.S. to give their sons the opportunity to have an American education "which would make them better men in Japan" (205). "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2003
• Okada, John. No-No Boy. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1976
• Revoyr, Nina. Southland. New York: Akashic Books, 2003.
• Sato, Gayle K. Fujita. "Momotaro's Exile: John Okada's No-No Boy." Reading the Literatures of Asian America. Eds. Shirley Geok-lin Lim and Amy Ling, 239-58. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992.

More papers on Gender in Asian-American Literature:

• Analytical Essay # 34140 : "Gender and Ethnic Identity in Asian American Film and Literature"
• Comparison Essay # 26266 : "Gender Roles in Two Plays"
• Book Review # 67461 : "America is in the Heart?"

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