Candice Chu
Dr. S. Salaita
ENGL 3654
5 May 2009
The Multicultural Limbo of Second Generation Asian-America
The story of the immigrant is one that is often-told in America. For hundreds
of years now, foreigners have flocked to the United States with their spouses, families or
by themselves in search of the fabled “Land of Opportunity.” It is in this land, however,
that they face the pain and confusion of displacement and assimilation. Many accounts
have been given that describe the hardships that these immigrants encounter in America;
one ethnic group that has been of particular interest in recent years is that of AsianAmericans. Within this group, however, there is also a heavy emphasis on the second
generation experience. These young adults fit a very unique demographic because they
face the issues of identity conflicts and cultural expectations in ways that differ greatly
from both their first generation parents, as well as their Caucasian or non-Asian peers.
Although the second generation has the wealth of two diverse cultures at its disposal, it is
in fact uniquely limited by this very biculturality and the expectations that arise from
these distinct cultural spheres.
The children of Asian-American immigrants lack the experiences and
memories of their motherland that provide their parents with a strong sense of identity
and awareness. While first generation immigrants are able to remember and reminisce
over their past lives in their home countries, their children are stuck in a sort of
multicultural limbo where they cannot directly identify with the country and culture that
others associate them with (Hahn). Although it may seem paradoxical at first glance, the
recently immigrated parents actually have a better grasp on their own identities than their
children do, because of a certain sense of longing. Instead of pulling them in two separate
directions (towards the homeland and towards America), this longing actually grounds
the first generation, creating for its members two distinct, but equally real worlds in
which they can identify themselves. The second generation does not have this luxury.
Most second generation youths are socialized in an American world, attending American
schools, playing American sports and befriending their American peers. In fact, most of
these children identify themselves primarily as Americans, and it is not until later that
they become fully aware of their ethnic background, and what it means to be part of an
ethnic minority in the United States (Kang 71). For instance, in Jhumpa Lahiri's the
Namesake, Gogol often distances himself from his culture because he does not see it as
his own; indeed, so many of the customs that he experiences (often is forced to
experience) have very little impact on Gogol's idea of his own self or identity. This is
especially apparent after a 16-year-old Gogol returns to America after spending eighty
months in Calcutta, the place where his parents grew up. The experience is said to be
“quickly shed, quickly forgotten, like clothes worn for a special occasion” (Lahiri 88).
Clearly, Gogol finds it difficult to incorporate his ethnic identity into his personal view of
himself, which is overwhelmingly American.
In the past few decades, many theories have formed surrounding the idea of
ethnic identity formation as a process. One model of ethnic identity formation, by Jean
Phinney, shows a three step process by which a minority American becomes fully aware
of his status as such. The person starts out in a state of apathy regarding ethnicity, in
which he, like the child socialized in an American school, “initially accept[s] the values
and attitudes of the majority white culture, often including an internalized negative view
of [his] own ethnic group that is shaped by the majority's prejudice” (Kang 72). The next
stage involves an identity crisis, in which one begins to explore his own culture. Finally,
the process ends with the “achievement” of one's ethnic identity. However, it is the
second step of Phinney's model that is a turning point in the lives of many second
generation Asian-Americans. It is at this point that one begins to question his
understanding of his own ethnic background. For the first generation, this often means
recalling the past and reconciling it with the present, and finding a balance between the
two worlds. For the second generation, however, it is much more than that. These young
adults are challenged to come up with reasons why they cannot simply be labeled
Americans or simply be labeled Asian. They must not only find a balance between their
two cultures, but come to terms with expectations (often stereotypical and unwarranted)
that others have about their cultures (Park 85).
Second generation Asian-Americans face more unreasonable expectations
than perhaps any other minority group in the U.S. They are confronted with countless
expectations--not just stereotypes, but expectations, both positive and negative--from
both the Asian culture and the American culture. One reason why these expectations
seem more unreasonable in dealing with second generation Asian-Americans as opposed
to their parents, or their non-Asian peers, is because they are often baseless or misguided.
There are, of course, the stereotypes about Asians that most people are familiar with-they are good with math, they are good students, they all play piano, etc. But those are
stereotypes like any other, that can be dismissed as generalizations by observers. It gets
much trickier when discussing expectations that the second generation has for
themselves--expectations that arise from both Asian observers and non-Asian observers,
but expectations that are internalized by the subject, and therefore becomes his own
expectations for himself.
In his essay on Chinese identity and Asian-America, Michael Sue describes
his experience with cultural expectations and his own identity formation. Sue gives a
humorous account of his introspection that was prompted by his discovery of a popular
asian soup called pho. Sue talks about how he feels like an “ugly american” when he eats
pho, because he can never figure out how much sauce to put in the soup. Sue’s
implication is clear: if he were a first generation immigrant, maybe Sue would know the
proper way to eat pho. But since he is not, what separates him from being just another
“ugly american”? What makes a second generation Asian-American truly Asian, after
all? (Hans 86).
“Sometimes I feel as if even though I look Asian, I somehow am not Asian
enough and I should be,” Sue says, when thinking about the expectations that result from
his appearance (Han 87). The fact that he adds “I should be” at the end of his sentence
shows how these expectations have been internalized in Sue’s mind and are not just about
appearances. He feels as though he is not fulfilling certain areas of his life that should be
fulfilled if he is to call himself Asian. Again, this situation is entirely unique to the
second generation’s perspective, as the first generation does not have to worry as much
about why they are considered Asian, or how they should act as Asians; they already
know. For Sue and other children of immigrants, it is a serious preoccupation that
perhaps they are not living up to their parent’s, the public’s or their own standards of
what it means to be Asian.
In the Namesake, Lahiri does a thorough job of depicting the cultural and
generational gaps, as well as the disconnect between expectations and reality, between
the first and second generations of Gangulis. Besides showing, through Gogol’s repeated
rejection of his Indian culture, the failed expectations of Ashoke and Ashima towards
their children, the Namesake also provides an example of the reverse--the expectations of
Gogol towards his parents. When Gogol finds the mailbox in front of his house defaced,
with the family’s last name changed from “Ganguli” to “Gangrene,” he is immediately
outraged, though he does have a strange feeling that this is somehow more directed as his
parents than at him. He informs Ashoke, whom he expects to become angry or
embarrassed, but Ashoke tells him not to worry about it, because it was only a silly joke.
The disconnect that is evident here between Ashoke and Gogol gives the reader the sense
that Gogol, although he is as much Bengali by blood as his parents are, does not have the
same knowledge or grasp of the culture that his parents have. He feels defensive because
he expects that is how he is supposed to feel, and expects that this is how his parents
should feel, but his father, who understands that “Ganguli” is an Americanized name
anyway, is not bothered.
This interaction shows how little the second generation really knows about
the experiences and feelings of the first generation toward their culture. It also brings up
the question of how, or by what means, is the second generation supposed to discover
anything about its culture or ethnicity if not solely through the first generation (Dave 35)?
Furthermore, if this disconnect is such a prominent part of the first-second generation
relationship, what does this say for future generations of Asian-Americans? Will 10th
generation Korean-Americans continue to call themselves Korean-Americans, or just
Americans? Or perhaps it is what Korean-American Michelle’s father says: “You might
think you’re an American, but when American people see you they don’t think that
you’re an American, they see you as being Oriental. It doesn’t matter what you think”
(Kang 121).
The struggles that second generation Asian-Americans face in terms of their
identity is extremely unique to their demographic. The second generation must overcome
more uncertainty and unreasonable expectations than either their first generation or nonAsian counterparts. The journey of coming to terms with one’s identity has never been an
easy one, but it is an especially confusing one for second generation Asian-Americans-and only seems as though it will get more confusing for the generations to come.Works
Cited
Dave, Shilpa, LeiLani Nishime and Tasha G. Oren. East Main Street: Asian American
Popular Culture. New York: New York University Press, 2005.
Garrod, Andrew and Robert Kilkenny. Balancing Two Worlds. Ithaca: Cornell University
Press, 2007.
Goellnicht, Donald C. and Eleanor Ty. Asian North American Identities, Beyond the
Hyphen. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004.
Hahn, Steven and Francis Hsueh. Party. 2006. DVD.
Hans, Arar and John Hsu. Asian American X. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
2004.
Kang, Steve S. Unveiling the Socioculturally Constructed Multivoiced Self: Themes of
Self Construction and Self Integration in the Narratives of Second-Generation
Korean American Young Adults. Lanham: University Press of America, Inc.,
2002.
Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Lee, Stacey J. Up Against Whiteness. New York: Teachers College Press, 2005.
Park, Lisa Sun-Hee. Consuming Citizenship: Children of Asian Immigrant Entrepreneurs.
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005.