Ken PulmonesEng 225

An Uneven Mix: American vs. Ethnic Cultures

America is a melting pot, consisting of almost all the different cultures of the

world. Many would like to come and live here to experience the American way of life.

People hear about the good life of immigrants, but they do not realize that the

requirement of adjusting to a strange land is very different from what they are used to.

Whether new culture, weather, food, careers or racial discrimination, all ethnic

backgrounds will face some sort of adversity when arriving to America. One of the most

important themes in Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club” is what happens at the intersection

of American and Chinese cultures. Lindo Jong observes, “I wanted my children to have

the best combination, American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know

these things do not mix?” She is making a statement about the impossibility of two

distinct cultures finding compatibility with one another. In Bich Nguyen’s memoir

“Stealing Buddha’s Dinner” she too struggles with the several conflicting multicultural

influences in her life and in the end, she inevitably fails to find a stable medium. While

the film and memoir are set in different timeframes and different parts of America, their

the stories reach the same conclusion. The “Joy Luck Club” and “Stealing Buddha’s

Dinner” both support Lindo’s argument that it is impractical to integrate two or more

distinct cultures due to their differences in customs, religion, food and mannerisms.

In the “Joy Luck Club”, mothers and daughters have a special connection, but

take on different roles depending on cultural demands. In China, the mothers are

expected to be obedient wives and to never openly challenge authority. In America, the

daughters are independent, have the option of divorcing and taking mostly any job, and

come from the baby boomer generation, which often prides itself on challenging

authority. Since hardships in China forced the mothers to flee to America in hopes for a

successful future, the daughters were given the opportunity to grow up in America. What

this meant was not only leaving their homeland behind, but their culture as well. The

dissimilation between American and Chinese traditions meant that only one would come

out on top. A study by Chia-Fang Hsu looked into the cross-cultural adaptation among

Chinese as they live in America for longer periods of time and change their degrees of

identification with Chinese and American culture. The report found that as proportion of

life in America increased, Chinese identified more with American culture.1 In turn, they

became more willing to communicate, experienced less fear and higher communication

competence, and consequently became more successful in their lives. The daughters in

the movie who followed the same path, assimilated to American culture and thus

similarly succeeded in the endeavors. In the same way, western culture could not mix

with the old traditions in China. The movie depicts An-Mei’s mother as a woman

wearing western clothes as if she represented white American culture. Upon her return to

her family’s household to see her mother and daughter, she was banished as if to support

the theme that American culture did not belong in the old traditional Chinese culture.

Interpreting the movie in English, we can forget that the mothers are speaking in

Chinese. This fact shows how unimportant differences in language can be as the mothers

and daughters express themselves vividly whether in English or Chinese. However, this

fact also reminds us how much of the mothers intentions are lost to English speakers,

including their daughters. They seem uneducated when they speak English, unable to

1 Hsu, Chia-Fang. "Acculturation And Communication Traits: A Study Of Cross-Cultural Adaptation Among Chinese In America." Communication Monographs 77.3 (2010): 414-425. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 May 2014.

pronounce words, but are really deep reservoirs of knowledge. Many things in Chinese

culture have no real English equivalent, such as nengkan (pertained to the idea that you

can do anything you set you mind to as explained by Rose’s mother). These ideas seem

foreign to the daughters. While they understand them but often consider them specific to

their mothers' generation. Thus even a culture’s language becomes a barrier unable to

directly translate and relate social values. Lucinda Huang was a part of a family whose

parents thought that immigrating to America would only yield success, both socially and

financially. Conversely a huge language barrier stood in the way of getting where they

wanted. Difficulty to work, use public transportation, and even converse with store clerks

became a daily norm. Huang’s mother was finally forced to take English classes.2 The

singular use of the Chinese language in America appears to be more harmful than

beneficial. The miscomprehension between the mothers and daughters had resulted in a

rift between relationships and in the same way the ability to only speak Chinese for

Huang’s family lead to their ultimate downfall.

Food culture is another system in which two distinct cultures cannot exist.

Ingredients, preparation, eating techniques and food symbolisms are particularly

different. In the case of American and Chinese, the mixing of the two cultures food ways

would be disastrous. During the movie, the dinner between Rich and Waverly’s family

becomes a symbol of the clash of the two cultures. Lindo detests the way Rich expresses

himself as he doesn't understand Chinese table manners. He takes too much food, where

in Chinese culture it is considerate to portion a minimal amount of food until everyone

has had a chance to serve themselves. He does not compliment Lindo the way he is

2 Huang, Lucinda, et al. "Youth Empowerment: Language, Barriers, And Opportunities." Chinese America: History & Perspectives (2007): 255-256. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 May 2014.

expected to and even adds soy sauce to the whole dish. His misuse of chopsticks further

projects the ignorant image of himself. Moreover, he doesn't even see how badly the

evening went in the end. A similar misinterpretation can be seen in “Stealing Buddha’s

Dinner” during the dinner at Tara’s house. Bich disrupted the typical American pre-

dining custom as she took the seat at the head of the dinner table and began to eat before

saying grace. Without having prior knowledge of the tradition, she too incidentally

offended Tara’s family. The two perspectives on a simple dinner becomes something of a

contradiction. In both cases, the outsider (whether that be Rich, the American or Bich, the

Vietnamese) simply did not mix well at their respective foreign dinners.

The fork and knife and chopsticks can serve as a symbol for this contradiction.

The fork and knife as we know, utilizes the stabbing and cutting motion used to eat foods

like steak, chicken and fish. The American style of cooking serves the food in larger

portions and allows the eater to allocate pieces of their food accordingly. It gives more

freedom to the individual in how they wish to eat the food. Using chopstick in such

manner simply will not do. Cutting steaks with two wooden sticks will prove to be an

impossible task. Chopsticks rather work in tweezer-like fashion to grasp, hold and

transfer the food to ones mouth.3 The need to cut something or portion is a priority by the

chef when given chopsticks. In Asian cultures, maintaining the integrity of the food is

important way to pay respect to the chef. Deforming, or adding or removing ingredients

is considered disrespectful as to say that the chef did not prepare the food right. For

Americas, “the use of chopsticks requires a great deal of dexterity, making their use

impossible by those without training, and often making their use undesirable by those

3 Barthes, Roland. Empire of Signs. New York: Hill and Wang, 1982. 15-18. Print.

who do not use them regularly.”4 The result is again the misinterpretation of food culture.

For those who use forks and knives to eat sushi, they end up destroying the food as it was

intended to be. This act consequently insults the chef who prepared it. Thereby

reinforcing the notion that mixing American Western culture with Asian culture would be

as impractical as mixing chopsticks and forks.

In the book Rosa also overlooks the food preparation by Grandmother Noi. Noi,

who is deeply intact with the Buddhist religion, is described as a calm and collected

person whose religious culture is shown through her cooking. She was very methodical

in the way she prepared fruits for the children. For example, Bich “believed that the

transformation from globe (of an apple) to glistening slices involved some kind of

magic”. (318) In sharp contrast Rose chose “mealy apples…cut them up carelessly, not

bothering to peel the skin or make each slice them same size.” (444) Abruptly she puts

the plate on the table and says, “Eat.” Rosa has a blunt, cheap way of conducting the

household. Coming from a very large Mexican American family, Rosa most likely

learned to serve everyone’s needs is through cheap, efficient recourses. Clearly in her life

there is no special considerations for mere fruit. Yet to Noi, fruit denotes more than just

nourishment. Ceremonial food offerings are a common practice in Buddhism. Food

offering on an altar is an act of connecting with the spiritual world. It is used as a means

to release selfishness and open the heart to the needs of others. “The social and cultural

field in which food makes and retains meaning is one that is ordered by acts of feeding

and eating.”5 So when Rosa was “laughing at the fruit [and said] it belonged in the

4 Printz, Gerald L. "Eating utensil." U.S. Patent No. 4,809,435. 7 Mar. 1989. Google Scholar. Web. 13 May 2014.5 Garrett, Frances, et al. "Narratives Of Hospitality And Feeding In Tibetan Ritual." Journal Of The American Academy Of Religion 81.2 (2013): 510. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 May 2014.

kitchen,” she was breaking Noi’s connection to the spiritual world; she was breaking her

culture. The misinterpretation of the fruit between both cultures conflict and disagree.

Chinese exclusion represented just the first stage in a global restriction movement

targeting Asian immigrants. Transnational debates over the new “problem” of Japanese

immigration, in particular, including the characterization of Japan and Japanese as the

“Yellow Peril,” intensified by the early 1900s. In this context, the transnational character

of Asian exclusion in the Americas underwent a significant shift in which Orientalism

and anti-Asian policies were shared and replicated among white settled societies.6While

these acts are no longer implemented in society, their effects still remain and not

exclusively for the white American culture. As a child, Bich suffers the burden of being

unable to blend with two cultures: the American one she grew up in and Rosa’s Mexican

culture. The American culture is something that she has strived for, but never attained.

Her upbringing and household customs had been attributed to the fact that her parents

were, or came from a foreign background. But even she has felt like a foreigner amongst

her own relatives. Rosa’s family parties in Fruitford proved to be another medium for

exclusion. Other than eating, Bich “had no more purpose in Fruitford.” (2287) Physically,

she looked different and she also could not speak their language. Though she was

occasionally spoken to in English by the tias and tios, she was still as outcast and never

felt the same embrace as with her blood relatives. In the same way her father who

“enjoyed himself just about as much as Rosa did at Vietnamese parties” (2268) would

have preferred to play cards and drink than be with his wife’s family. Simply put, Bich

and her father did not fit in.

6 Lee, Erika. "The "Yellow Peril" And Asian Exclusion In The Americas." Pacific Historical Review 76.4 (2007): 537-557. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 May 2014.

With such discrepancy, it begs the question, how can the melting pot that is

America exist? America being the immigration capital of the world, shows that it is

possible for immigrants to live comfortably in a new country. Unlike the British and

French cultures, American culture has been described as a culture in the making because

of the continuous influx of immigrants, which is influencing and reshaping its customs,

norms and values. Generally speaking the American culture is characterized by

individualism, task orientation and other elements that comprises Western culture. Ethnic

groups who have migrated here tend to show a more collective identity. Those who come

from a similar background automatically share a special connection. This unity amongst

people with the same ethnicities can be see in societies all over the country. This

collective identity allows for a cultural revival, something that they have left behind in

their homelands. Communities can dress, speak, dance and cook the ways they were

taught in another country with out being ridiculed. It is when these communities mix, that

predicaments occur. In a study for the school of social work in New York, particular

attention was paid to the ethnic diversity (known as heterogeneity) of neighborhood

residents as a risk factor for child welfare system involvement. Theories on social

disorganization suggests that cultural differences and racism may decrease a

neighborhood’s social structure and capacity to enforce norms regarding acceptable

parenting and this, may in turn increase the neighborhood rates of child maltreatment.

Results indicate that Black, Hispanic and White children living in diverse neighborhoods

are significantly more likely to be reported to Child Protective Services than children of

the same race living in more homogeneous neighborhoods.7 The theme that diverse

7 Klein, Sacha, and Darcey H. Merritt. "Neighborhood Racial & Ethnic Diversity As A Predictor Of Child Welfare System Involvement." Children & Youth Services Review 41.(2014): 95-105. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 May 2014.

cultures cannot mix is not only a common theme in Bich Ngyuen’s memoir or Amy

Tan’s movie, but is very prevalent in today’s society. In so forth, it is not to say that one

culture is better than the other, nor would it be practical to attempt to find a common

ground between cultures. Rather we must cherish these cultural differences and not be

ashamed of them.