I like relating my own experiences with the pieces of literature I read. While I was reading this book I felt like I was a child again, watching the world around me with those innocent eyes that only a child can have, constantly wondering questions and trying to find an answer for them. The funny and clear way Bich remembers her childhood and count her attempt to fit into the American society and how that process of assimilation and Americanism is paved with American junk food makes this book an interesting and readable journey. She is a Vietnamese refugee who comes with her family to live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a christian dutch society in which Bich struggles to find her own identity and in which she doesn't belong to. I could see her world through her descriptive words and how she struggled with her sense of identity in an extended family including her father, her buddhist grandmother, her sister, her missing mother replaced by a Mexican- american stepmother and her half American sister.
One of the memorable moments in the book for me was when Bich won first place in her school's spelling bee. Then, she tells she had forgotten her rain boots in class, and after coming back to the school she overheard her teachers saying: “Can you believe it?....A foreigner winning our spelling bee!” After this, the story ends with bich contemplating over these words. The emotion of nostalgia I felt towards this passage moved me, I felt like a child again, being part of a very traditional Peruvian family living in a little town in Spain, trying to identify myself with any place and asking myself why I was and felt different compared to everyone else. I didn't know that someone felt the same way i felt about finding my own identity. Over time I have learn to accept myself the way I am, it is great to be different and lucky to be a bicultural individual. This is the message I also have taken from this book, that it is a waste of time wishing to be someone else rather than accepting yourself and being proud of your culture and knowledge.
I like the way how you define the childhood. Trying to find answers to many questions... In your case, being Peruvian in Spain, I guess it was hard to understand this "new world". Congratulations, I like so much.
ReplyDeleteYou found yourself in the Bich’s story, and it is one of the best role of literatures I think. This story lets you go back to your childhood, then you recall various feelings you had. Those may be, for example, suffering matters, success experiences, or precious memories. And in fact you realized your philosophy, “it is a waste of time wishing to be someone else rather than accepting yourself and being proud of your culture and knowledge.” Indeed, Bich’s story is thought-provoking for everyone. Her stories of isolation, lack of identity, internal experiences allow people to recall their unconscious feelings, and each people can gain each massage.
ReplyDeleteAle,
ReplyDeleteI too felt like I slipped into a more childish way of thinking by reading Bich's story, especially parts where it was told in her younger voice. One distinction I'd like to consider more is between children and naivety. I think while Bich's voice is young, she isn't necessarily naive. She is just trying to figure out her new place in Grand Rapids, in her family, and within herself. I'm so happy that you connected with this piece - it is amazing how stories, like food, can transport you!
Ale,
ReplyDeleteI too felt like I slipped into a more childish way of thinking by reading Bich's story, especially parts where it was told in her younger voice. One distinction I'd like to consider more is between children and naivety. I think while Bich's voice is young, she isn't necessarily naive. She is just trying to figure out her new place in Grand Rapids, in her family, and within herself. I'm so happy that you connected with this piece - it is amazing how stories, like food, can transport you!