I’m Not Chinese Anymore and I’m Never Going to be an American Essay

Im Not Chinese any more and Im Never Going to be an the StatesnI could open this piece with a clear statement, a thesis or controlling idea of some sorta brief prevue for you, my reader, of what is to come and what is to be told. However, I wont.Instead, please close your eyes for a minutejust for a minuteand imagine yourself sitting earlier a young East Asian girl. You know shes East Asian because of her black hair, off-white skin, a pair of ebony eyes and a nose that is just a bit too flat to be mistaken for an Indian. Sitting in an armchair with her left arm supporting her cheek, she stares at you for a little while then starts to speakslowly, thoughtfully, almost tonelesslyI was born in China and came to United States about quadruplet days ago, when I was thirteen. I had no idea what the world was then, stock-still though I thought I did. And this very moment, four years later, I still have no idea what the world is. Ive seen more parts of it, true. But the puzzle pieces re fuse to come together somehow. mint often ask me if Im a Chinese living in America or an Ameri corporation born in China. An unanswerable question, yet how can you hope to understand life without knowing who you are? I am not Chinese anymore there is no purpose in denying it. But I am notand I dont want to bean American. Not completelynot like this.Now open your eyes, wordlessly think for a few moments about what she said, and return to my wordsor rather, echoes of someone else.Being Mexican-American is tough. The Anglos jump any over you if you dont speak incline perfectly. Mexicans jump all over you if you dont speak Spanish perfectly. We gotta be double as perfect as everyone else, so said a piece from the 1997 hit movie Selena.... ...n prom queen A bookish girl, Ive ceaselessly been awkward in crowds, and peoples first impression of me usually is that of a nervous, indrawn little creature. An unfortunate gift from the past, you may call it, shaped by years of stern guida nce and harsh social opinions.But all those years are gone, no matter how happy or ghastly they may be. I dont seek to relive the past, I simply shoot to make peace with it and somehow move on, as myself, under the sunlight of Manhattan and the shadows created by its glorious skyscrapers. Works CitedCofer, Judith Ortiz. Silent Dancing. Encounters Essays for Exploration and Inquiry. Pat C. flatboat II and Robert DiYanni. New York McGraw-Hill.Golden, Arthur. Memoirs of a Geisha. New York Random House. 1999. Selena. Dir. Gregory Nava. Pref. Jennifer Lopez. Becky Lee Meza. Edward crowd together Olmos. Warren Brothers. 1997.