Searching for Gold Mountain - Essay Example

?LISTENING JOURNALS 4 A Different Mirror Chapters 8, Writing under the broader of “Searching for Gold Mountain: Strangers from a Different Shore”, the writer touches on the search for Gold Mountain by focusing on minority groups in America at the time and the influential roles they played in establishing their own identities and at the same time promoting the growth of the American continent. Specific minority groups that were involved in this included the Chinese and Indians. Later in the chapter, factors that made Chinese women double minority was discussed. Double minority referred to how these were minority as Chinese in America and females in Chinese communities. Chapter 10 Further focus is given the role that the minority groups in America played in developing America in this chapter, which is named “Pacific Crossings: From Japan to the Land of "Money Trees"” the writer sees Japan as a model to exemplify the role played by the Japanese in the Pacific crossing. At some point, the author was critical of the Japanese people and labeled their action as being ill-planned because their migration had actually constituted a movement from a more blissful and independent place to one that was not that much promising for them. Page 341-350 In the opinion of the writer, the World War II was not something that the Americans were prepared for. However, as a means of stamping their ever growing global dominance down, they needed to partake. This generally brought a dilemma on them as a people, of which there was the need for them to solve. It is for this reason the topic “World War II: American Dilemmas” is selected for this component of the book. Various ways in which America played the racial card to ensure that the African American and Japanese America population were put before the war was discussed. Page 359-361 The early parts of this chapter compares the Chinese to the Japanese in what the writer refers to as silence move to distort the Japanese propaganda. This is because for all that while, there had been a perception that the Americans had put the Japanese in a corner where self freedom used to promote personal development was not possible. But given the fact that most Chinese Americans had overcome this labeling was a means of touting that propaganda. The theme of “Chinese Americans: To "Silence the Distorted Japanese Propaganda"” selected by the writer can therefore be said to have fitted the title much perfectly. Page 380-382 When America undertook the Hiroshima bombings during the final stages of the World War II in 1945, they tried to justify their actions. But in the perspective of the writer, this was just another move of Holocaust that was experienced in Germany by the Nazi government and other parts of Europe. It is not surprising therefore that the title for this section of the 14th chapter was “A Holocaust Called Hiroshima”. This is because the writer sees the move as a calculated attempt to suppress the Japanese as a people, rather than other explanations that were given. Page 402-404 As part of the broader chapter title which bordered on Clamors of Change, the writer limits these pages to a unit titled “Asian Americans: A "Model Minority" for Blacks?” The comparison of races continues in these pages of the book as the writer compares the Asian American population with the Black population who were predominantly made up of Africans. In the opinion of the writer, the Asian Americans were a perfect model minority, exemplifying how possible it was for any minority group to come out of the shells of oppression to see personal transformation and growth. Page 411-418 Vietnam is modeled as a nation that would not allow just any form of oppression to overcome it. This is because the nation rises high on its own defenses, exhibiting what the writer refers to as a Dragon’s Teeth of Fire. The writer believed that this was a situation with both merits and demerits. The merit was in the fact that a nation should just not succumb to oppression while the demerit was that it exposed the nation to excessive harm when dialogue could be used. The use of the title of “Dragon's Teeth of Fire: Vietnam” can therefore be said to have been rightly chosen. 2. Kaleidoscope Pages 322-329 The price for freedom is demonstrated in these pages as the writer focuses on the theme of “In the Land of the Free”, which happens to also be the title of the National Anthem of the people of Belize. By inference, the writer drums home the need for democracy and liberty to be earned rather than expected by chance. This is because in the pages of the book and as exemplified in the anthem, we read of a committed urge by the people to with their “manhood pledge to thy liberty”. Pages 522-530 The issue of cultural liberation is visited with these pages which focus and emphasizes on Chinese ideals and traditions in contemporary American society. This is done by use of the novel “Eat a Bowl of Tea”. The writer does this by focusing on the lives of four major characters in Chinese America and how each of them responds to the issue of cultural liberation in their own small ways. In the long run, the writer glorifies an urge for there to be a regard for one’s cultural background with an understanding that it is through such that the identities of a person truly becomes revealed. Page 531-536 The effect of what is possibly betrayal of trust is discussed in these pages titled “Tears of Autumn”. This is also a visitation of Charles McCarry's second novel, which focuses on the assassination of John F. Kennedy and why anyone would want to do such a thing. In the story, it is established that the action took place as a revenge on the American people for the assassination of Vietnam leader, Ngo Dinh Diem. Lessons of inter-country trust against betrayal of purpose are therefore the motif of these pages. Pages 537-547 Reasons as to why young Japanese boys will refuse to be faithful to the course of the United States are recounted in these pages titled “no-no boys”. The pages tell the stories of young male internees of Japan who answered ‘no’ to questions asking them of their willingness to be in the U.S army and defend the course of the army. This clearly shows a sense of national purpose as against an urge to be content with the defense and protection of the interest of some other nation. Pages 595-614 Writing on “The Grandfather of the Sierra Nevada Mountains”, the writer gives a narrative genealogy of early Chinese who settled in the United States and how they would have to defend their core traditional and cultural ideologies along the line of Anglo-American perspectives as a way of ensuring that they do not succumb to moments of master glorification. Through the story, it is realized that the fight for personal liberation is not an essay one but one that is very much possible for anyone who is prepared and ready to pursue it. Pages 658-669 From a much generalized concept of how beverages and other food products can perfectly be mixed to give off one sweet delicacy, the writer visits the topic of interracial coexistence in the United States. This is however not done without an outright admission that certain forms of half-half mixtures could lead to undesired results. In the long while therefore, a successful blend of people from different racial backgrounds in the United States works best due to how well the people are ready to work together as a people. 3. Asian American Art Art remains an important means by which the traditions and cultural heritage of the people of Asian America is protected in the United States. Clearly, these people find themselves in a half and half situation where they are neither clearly Asians nor Americans (Mayer 34). A fundamental fact however remains that these people have a heritage to protect and preserve in the form of Asian traditions and values because Asia is their origin. To do this in a very effective way, the Asian American Art Center has been in place in Chinatown in New York since 1974 for the advocacy and protection of the interest of Asian arts (Hilberg 9). There has also existed other not-for profit organizations like the Asian American Art Center that have promoted the interest of the Asian through art. Asian American Women Artists Association is a typical example of this, just as Asian American Artists and Musicians is. On the whole, there remain two key concerns that each of these groups seem to be faced with and seem to champion. The first of this has to do with the preservation of indigenous Asian art form, and the other has to do with the economization of Asian Art. In the first instance, the issue of globalization continues to be a major subject of contention for most Asian American artists. There are two major schools of thought, the first of which argues that Asian American art must continue to be indigenous without the need to blend it with contemporary art forms that emanate from globalization (Mayer 74). These people believe that the best way to trade the true cultural and traditional identity of the Asian people in America is by giving the public what is original from Asia. There is another school of thought that debates that globalization has made diversity a necessary evil and thus the need for there to be a harmonious blend between what Asia has to offer and what others have to offer (Hilberg 98). But even as these arguments take place, what remains very central is the fact that none of the debaters is calling for the need to totally abandon Asian art. Clearly, the need to hold on to the Asian heritage either as a holistic phenomenon or as a blend with diverse culture should be the concern for all who joins in the debate. With this said, another crucial element of concern will be identified to be the need for Asian American art makers to make economic wealth out of the products they produce and services they offer. This is because for a very long time, the need to attract as many people to the Asian America art dream has failed to materialize because many are those who have thought that doing so will not enhance their chances of becoming economically independent. As technology advances, it is advocated and recommended for implementation that the need to go global with the massive use of the internet as a tool for the promotion and sale of Asian American art works be taken up. Once this will happen in a more effective manner, such that Asian American art will be viewed as a luractive venture, there can be the guarantee that more and more talented people will be attracted to the art forum. Cited Works Hilberg, Raul. The Destruction of the European Jews. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003. Print. Mayer, Bernard. Entombed. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers. 1996. Print. Read More