Ken Pulmones

Eng 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 Tans 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 Nguyens memoir
Stealing Buddhas 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 Buddhas
Dinner both support Lindos 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-Meis mother as a woman
wearing western clothes as if she represented white American culture. Upon her return to
her familys 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 Roses mother). These ideas seem
foreign to the daughters. While they understand them but often consider them specific to
their mothers' generation. Thus even a cultures 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. Huangs 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
Huangs 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 Waverlys 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 Buddhas
Dinner during the dinner at Taras 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 Taras 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 applescut 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 everyones 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 Nois 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.
6
While
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 Rosas 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. Rosas 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 wifes 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
neighborhoods 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
cultures cannot mix is not only a common theme in Bich Ngyuens memoir or Amy
Tans movie, but is very prevalent in todays 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.


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