Accidental Asian Analysis

The Accidental Asian analysis paper sociology
 
 
 
Eric Liu grew up doubting his own identity. Early on he had trouble dealing with the problems of being an Asian-American. Growing up in a white suburban neighborhood Liu constantly felt out of place in. The suburbs that he grew up in caused him to struggle with his individuality. Who and what was he? How did he fit in the “big picture” as an American? He grew up with a family that allowed him to choose what he wanted to be never forcing any culture on him. Because of this freedom to choose, Eric in turn could not figure out for himself how he should act in a modern United States society as a minority. Liu’s group of collective essay’s deals with the entire process of what it means to be…show more content…
He states that he is not Chinese-American but Chinese American in that exact order. A different, more determined tone is conveyed throughout the rest of the book. The next topic deals with what he calls the “New Jews”. He believes that Asian Americans compare to Jewish immigrants in many ways. The final section of Eric Luis collection covers his marriage to a white women and how that may affect his own personal assimilation.  
 
In Liu’s memoir, he goes into great depth describing his father’s role in his life. His father’s sickness was cleverly masked from the family for so many years. Liu wants to be able to relate to his father’s past. He struggles with the idea that he will never have the same cultural background as his parents had. It worries him that he struggles with the Chinese language and feels as though his culture is fading from generation to generation. His father is described as having an “endless reserve of inner strength” pg 30. The emptiness Liu feels is in part because he thinks he cannot live up to his father. He emphasizes that his “chineseness” lies with his looks and behavior. He questions his own loyalty to his family because he does not truly believe that he is “shaped by ethnicity” but rather, “shaped by situation” pg 30. Sadly as Liu began envisioning his future with his father and even progressing toward identifying with him, he passes and Liu falls back into questioning and reminiscing about what his