The&Struggle&to&Be&an&All-American&Girl
Brief Introduction
Narration is telling of a story. Writers using narration
usually rely on descriptive details to advance their stories.
Involved in the story telling, moreover, is some purpose that goes
beyond mere enjoyment of the story itself. Ultimately, narration in
an essay enhances a thesis, or main idea.
In this narrative essay, Elizabeth Wong gives a poignant
account of the hurts and sorrows of her bicultural upbringing. With
concrete description coupled with imaginative comparisons, Wong
effectively offers a vivid investigation into the life of a child
who felt she had a Chinese exterior but an American
Discussion Topics
Who are the “you” and “them” of the last but one paragraph? Explain
the significance of the last sentence. What does it indicate about
Wong’s attitude toward Chinese school from the vantage point of
being an adult?
Because of their foreign ways, the mother and grandmother clearly
embarrassed the Wong children. Under what other conditions that you
can think of do parents embarrass children? Children, parents?
Is it possible for someone to maintain connections to his or her
ethnic or cultural backgrounds and at the same time to become an
“all American” girl or boy?
Were you Wong’s mother, would you identify with the children to
struggle for complete Americanization? What would you gain or lose
if you became fully Americanized?
stoically: adv. without showing emotion
kowtow: n. (former Chinese custom) touching of the ground with
forehead as a sigh of respect, submission, etc
disassociate: vt. (=dissociate)to detach from association
e.g. It is difficult to disassociate him from his teaching
career. / He disassociated himself from the leading board.
outshout: vt. shout louder than
gibberish: n. confused, unintelligible speech or language
pidgin: n. simplified speech usually mixed with two or more
People in southern China tend to mispronounce [r] in English as
[l]. The mother here most probably came from Taiwan.
Discussion of Paragraph 1
1.Why do you think the school was newly painted?
&& As the Chinese school is
rather old, its outside must have been discolored and dirty. To
make it look attractive, the school was newly painted as a kind of
face-lift.
2.What does the existence of the old school
The Chinese school is still there, which implies that still
there are many Chinese children attending Chinese lessons in the
school. Although they live abroad, Chinese parents never forget
their own culture and their own language and require that their
children learn their mother tongue.
Language work& in Paragraph 1
&& 1. Despite the new coat of
paint and the high wire fence, the school I knew 10 years ago
remains remarkably, stoically the same.
Although covered with a new coat of paint and enclosed with a
high wire fence, the school I knew 10 years ago continues to be the
same, showing remarkable defiance of the vicissitudes of time.
fence n.& structure of rails, stakes,
wire, etc., esp. one put round a field or garden to mark a boundary
or keep animals from strayinge.g.: (1) The backyard is
enclosed with a high wire fence.(2) The field is surrounded
with a stake fence.
vt.& surround, divide, or enclose a field, a
garden, etc. with a fencee.g.: (1) His land is
fenced with barbed wire.(2) The grounds are fenced in
to prevent trespassing.
adv.& with great self-control and a strong will
to endure pain, discomfort, or misfortune without complaining about
it or showing signs of feeling it
e.g.(1) She behaved stoically during the final phase of her
husband's illness.(2)They endured all kinds of hardships
stoically.
Analysis of Paragraph 1
This paragraph, the beginning of the narrative text, provides
the background of the story. From this we readers learn that the
Chinese school on Yale Street, where the author and her brother
used to go 10 years ago continues to exist there, remaining
remarkably and stoically the same, despite its new coat of paint
and its fence.
Discussion of Paragraph 2-7
1， What do you know about the headmaster of the Chinese school
according to the author's descriptions?
He is a stern man who treats the children severely. He tends to
punish those children who are lazy, naughty, and poor in their
studies, as well as those who violate the school discipline.
2，How did the author describe the classroom where they attended
Chinese lessons?
&There were little chairs in an empty
auditorium
3，What else was stressed in the Chinese school besides the
emphasis on speaking, reading and Politeness was also emphasized in
the school. The lessons always began with an exercise in
politeness. With the entrance of the teacher, the best student
would tap a bell and all the children would get up, kowtow, and
chant, "Sing san ho, " the phonetic for "How are you, teacher?"
4，What things did the writer consider to be more important and
more useful than learning Chinese?
She considered the following things to be more important and
more useful: doing multiplication tables, naming the satellites of
Mars, writing reports on Little Women and Black Beauty.
Language work in Paragraph 2-7
sneak vi.& go quietly and secretly in
the direction specified
e.g.: (1) He stole the money and sneaked out of the
house. (2) The cat ate the food and sneaked off. (3) A thief
took all the jewels and sneaked away.
the empty lot: &the vacant or
unoccupied area or land
plead v.& make repeated urgent
offer sth. as an explanation or excuse, esp. for
failing to do sth. or for doing sth. wrong.e.g. (1) He
pleaded with his parents for a more understanding attitude.
(2) She pleaded with him not to leave her alone. (3) The boy
pleaded to be allowed to ride on the tractor.
dissuade& vt.& stop
sb. from doing sth. by persuasion
e.g.: (1) He wrote a book to dissuade people from using
tobacco.(2) Jim's father tried to dissuade him from marrying
solidly adv.& firmly and
substantially
e.g.: (1) The house has a solidly-built foundation.(2) We
are solidly united on this issue.
&n.& such things as works of
art, cultural achievements and folklore that have been passed on
from property that has been or may be
inherited by an heir
e.g.(1) These ancient buildings are part of our national
heritage.(2) She is the only heir who is entitled to
the heritage.
No amount of kicking, screaming, or pleading could
dissuade my mother, who was solidly determined to have us learn the
language of our heritage
No matter how desperately my brother and I resisted going to the
Chinese school, kicking, yelling, or repeatedly begging, we could
not make our mother change her mind, because she was determined to
get us to learn Chinese, our mother tongue, which had been passed
down from generation to generation.
forcibly& adv.& done
by or involving the u forcefully
e.g.:(1)The policemen entered the building forcibly.(2) The
pirates forcibly seized our ship as well as the cargo on
deposit vt.& lay or put sth. put
money in a bank, esp. to earn intereste.g.: (1) He
deposited his papers with his lawyers.(2)He deposited
the books on the desk.(3) The money he's deposited in the
bank is enough for a new car
defiant& adj.&
openly opposing or resisting sb. or sth.
e.g.:(1) The trade union adopted a defiant attitude toward
the boss's threat.
(2) The hardliners are angrily defiant of the government's
refusal and threaten to take action.
the stern principal: the very disciplinary head of the
Forcibly, she walked us the seven long, hilly
blocks from our home to school, depositing our defiant tearful
faces before the stern
principal.&&&&
From our home to school there are seven long groups of buildings
bounded by streets on all sides and erected on hilly slopes. She
forced us to walk past these blocks, leaving both of us in front of
the grim and serious headmaster, our faces showing rebellious
reluctance and wet with tears
sway &v.& waver,
oscillate irregularly
e.g.:(1)She swayed her body in time with the music.(2) The
wind is swaying the tall grass.(3) She swayed the
cradle with her foot until the baby went to sleep.(4) The trees
were swaying gently in the wind
clasp& vt.& hold sb.
or sth. hold sb. tightly in one's
e.g.: (1) She was clasping a knife.(2) The couple
clasped hands briefly before saying good-bye.(3) He
clasped her to his chest.
witching hands: hands that were moving
spasmodically痉挛地; hands
with&& muscles moving rapidly and
hands that were violently jerking
maniacal& adj.&
extremely enthusiastic
e.g.: (1) We hate his maniacal behavior. (2) The maniacal
expression on his face scared his wife to death.(3) These young men
are maniacal about football matches.
I recognized him as a repressed maniacal child killer, and knew
that if we& ever saw his hands we'd be in big
In my opinion, the principal was a man who suffered from
suppression of emotions and who was so stern and severe that he
would be liable to beat up a child. And I knew if we ever saw his
twitching hands, we would be in for severe physical punishment,
extreme pain, anxiety and worry, etc.
The room smelled like Chinese medicine, an imported faraway
mustiness.&&&&&
The room gave off a smell very similar to that of Chinese
medicine, a stale, mouldy, and damp smell drifting in from a
faraway place.
mothball n. a small ball made of a strong-smelling
substance, used for keeping moths away from stored clothes, books,
&& e.g.(1) She
regularly puts mothballs in her wardrobe. (2) She placed two
mothballs in the pockets of each of the woolen sweaters and
closet n.& a cupboard or small room for
storing things
e.g.This is a very spacious apartment with three big
bedrooms, a large hall, a sitting-room, two toilets, a big kitchen,
a closet, and two balconies
Like ancient mothballs or dirty closets.
n& This is a prepositional phrase, but it
stands alone like an independent clause. In fact, it is part of the
previous sentence. We can incorporate it in the previous sentence:
The room smelled like Chinese medicine, an imported faraway
mustiness, or like ancient mothballs or dirty closets. This
structure is known as a sentence fragment, which has a stressed
falling tone. Therefore, its meaning is given prominence. The
writer intended to make it stand alone like a sentence, because she
wanted to emphasize the permeation of the room with a very bad
smell just like that given off by mothballs or found in dirty
Like the soft French perfume that my American teacher wore in
public school.
This is another prepositional phrase. It can, of course, be
included in the foregoing sentence. A sentence fragment is believed
to be more attractive, more impressive and more emphatic. Here,
this prepositional phrase provides a vivid example of the writer's
favored scents.
tap a bell: strike a bell lightly
vt.& say, utter, talk or
sing or intone (a psalm) e.g. (1) The pupils chanted, "
How are you, teacher? " (2) She is chanting a melody. (3)
They are chanting a psalm.
ideograph& n. symbol used in
a writing system that represents any sign or
symbol for sth. e.g.(1)Chinese characters are
ideographs. (2) The dictionary includes some
ideographs.
n.& a large, discolored mark, usu. irregular in
shape on skin, paper, material, etc. e.g.(1)His face is covered
in ugly red blotches. (2)To me, that picture of his, though
said to be a masterpiece in the world of fine art, is merely a mess
of blotches.
1.Being ten years old, I had better things to learn than
ideographs copied painstakingly in lines that ran right to left
from the tip of a moc but, a real ink pen that had to be held in an
awkward way if blotches were to be avoided.
&As a ten-year-old girl, I had more
interesting things to learn than ideograms which were to be written
by hand after models, one stroke after another, in lines that ran
right to left, from the tip of an ink pen which I had to clasp in a
clumsy way if large ink marks, instead of Chinese characters, were
not to be made.
disassociate& vt.separate people or
things in one's thoughts or feelings
&e.g.(1)The teacher disassociated the
two ideas.& (2) You cannot disassociate the
government's actions from the policies that underlie them.
&& dissociate oneself from
sb. or sth.: say that one does not agree with or support sb.
e.g.(1)I wish to dissociate myself from those
views. (2) She is determined to dissociate herself from the
nag& v.& scold or
cr worry or hurt sb.
persistentlye.g.(1) She nagged at her child all
day long.(2)The problem had been nagging me for a long
time.(3) Everybody knows that he's got a nagging wife.
fragile& adj.& easily
weak, not strong or
healthy.&&&&&&&&&&
e.g.(1) This is a fragile please handle it with
care.& (2) A fragile girl is vulnerable to
illness.& (3)The old lady is increasingly
fragile after her
raunchy& adj.&
having or showing a sexual desire
& e.g.(1) He seldom feels raunchy. (2)
That man often tells raunchy stories and cracks raunchy
lilting romance: romance characterized by a light, lively
works of a literary genre with romantic
love or highly imaginative unrealistic episodes forming the central
theme, marked by a light sprightly rhythm
refinement n.& refining or being
culture or elegance of manners, taste, language,
e.g.(1) The refinement of oil, sugar, etc. has been
improved. (2) He is a gentleman of great refinement. (3) All
the refinements of the 20th century technology are very
surprising.
pedestrian& adj.&
dull, lacking imagin of or for pedestrians
e.g. (1) The text provides a pedestrian description of the
events that were actually very exciting.
More times than not, I had tried to disassociate myself from
the nagging loud voice that followed me wherever I wandered in the
nearby American supermarket outside Chinatown. The voice belonged
to my grandmother, a fragile woman in her seventies who could
outshout the best street vendor. Her humor was raunchy, her Chinese
rhythmless and patternless. It was quick, it was loud, it was not
beautiful. It was not like the quiet, lilting romance of French or
the gentle refinement of the American South. Chinese sounded
pedestrian. Public.
Detailed Study of Paras 8-11
n& n(1)What did the author think of her
grandmother's Chinese? She thought that her grandmother's
Chinese sounded rhythmless and patternless, that it was quick, it
was loud, and it wasn't beautiful, and that her Chinese sounded
pedestrian.
(2)&& What do you know about
the author's English proficiency?
n& She spoke English very fast and very well
so that she was able to keep up with the world outside
Chinatown.
How was the author's mother's level of English?
n& She was not able to speak English well.
She spoke pidgin English, and she had trouble pronouncing some
words, particularly words with the "r" sound.
What do you know about the author's brother?
n& Her brother was even more fanatical about
speaking English. He was especially hard on his mother, criticizing
her, often cruelly, for her pidgin speech. Sometimes his mother
might leave out an occasional "the" or "a", or perhaps a verb of
being. He would stop her in mid-sentence: "Say it again, Mom. Say
it right." However, when he tripped over his own tongue, he'd blame
it on her: "See, Mom, it's all your fault. You set a bad example."
Clearly, her brother spoke very good English. He was very strict
with his mother when she made grammatical errors.
Language Work
n& chaotic and frenzied: completely
disorganized and wildly excited, agitated, in a state
of complete disorder or confusion and extreme excitement or wild
n& talking gibberish:talking
ta engaging in unintelligible
n& sweetlyadv. amiably,
charmingly,attractively
e.g.(1) She smiles sweetly whenever she comes across her
colleagues.
(2) She smiles and nods sweetly before she begins to
cluck& vi. make a noise that a hen
makes whe express sth. by making a similar
&e.g.(1) The hen is clucking, while
calling her chicks. (2) Whenever she has made progress, her mother
will cluck and say, "You are a nice girl."
n& do well: be successful or
be making a good recovery from an illness
&e.g.(1) Simon is doing very well at
school. (2) The patient is doing pretty well after the
operation.& (3) Mother and baby are doing
"My, doesn't she move her lips fast, " they would say, meaning
that I'd be able to keep up with the world outside Chinatown.
n& "My goodness, doesn't she speak English
fast?" they would say, meaning that I would be able to keep pace
with the world outside Chinatown. // "My God, how fast she speaks
English!" the people in my culture would say, indicating that I
would be able to move or progress at the same rate as the world,
and that I would be able to stay well informed and live an active
social life outside Chinatown
pidgin& n.& a blending of
languages resulting from contact between European traders and local
peoples, e.g. in West Africa and Southeast Asia, containing
elements of the local language(s) and esp. English, French, or
Dutch, and still used for international communication
e.g.(1)Her mother speaks pidgin English.& (2)There
are still many people who speak in pidgin.
n& chop suey: the English transcript for the
Chinese characters "杂碎"
&&&&&&&&&&
A chop suey is a Chinese-style dish of meat stewed and fried with
bean sprouts, bamboo shoots and onions, and served with
He was especially hard on my mother, criticizing her, often
cruelly, for her pidgin speech -- smatterings of Chinese scattered
like chop suey in her conversation.
n& He treated my mother with severity,
criticizing her, often mercilessly, for her speech containing
elements of both Chinese and English -- words and expressions of
Chinese dispersed like chop suey in her conversation.
When he tripped over his own tongue, he'd blame it on her: "See,
Mom, it's all your fault. You set a bad example."&
When he committed a minor error in speech, he would find fault
with her, "See, Mom, you're to blame for it. You so often make
errors that my speech is affected."
infuriate& vt.& make sb.
extremely angry &e.g.(1)The man was finally
infuriated by her never-ending nagging. (2) They infringed the
contract, which infuriated me.
&&&&&&&&&&
corner& vt.& get (a person or
animal) into a position from which
into a difficult situation
e.g.(1) The escaped prisoner was cornered at last in the dead
alley. (2) The interviewer cornered the politician with a
particularly tricky question
What infuriated my mother most was when my brother cornered her
on her consonants, especially "r".
n& What made my mother extremely angry was
when my brother put her into a difficult or awkward situation by
asking her to practice her consonants correctly, in particular the
consonant "r". // My mother was extremely enraged when my brother
put her into an embarrassing situation by finding fault with her
consonants and demanding that she pronounce them again and again,
in particular the consonant "r".
After two years of writing with a moc but and reciting words
with multiples of meanings, I finally was granted a cultural
divorce. I was permitted to stop Chinese school
n& After two years' endeavor to write with
an ink pen and recite the Chinese words with endless meanings, I
finally was allowed to stop. I was given permission not to go to
Chinese school any more.
I thought of myself as multicultural.
I felt that I had been brought up in a home where Chinese and
American culture both had an influence on me.
n& I preferred tacos to egg rolls.
I liked tacos better than egg rolls. // I enjoyed tacos more
than egg rolls.
At last, I I wasn't one of them. --- In the end,
I I was no longer one of them.
In this sentence, the author was indicating that she remained
a Chinese in spite of all the efforts she had made in order to
become an American
American Born Chinese ----A B C
Banana :香蕉人& Yellow
outside and White inside
Banana is the ABC originally, but now it usually refers to
overseas chinese immigrants and thieir second generation and third
generation.
They are& belong to the yellow race.
They live in a foreign country and& acquire
an western education.
They cannot speak nor understand Chinese.
thoughts,ideas, concepts, belief are westernized.
humorously sar‘castic or mocking or ridicule=make fun of
Egg: 鸡蛋人White outside and
Yellow inside
It refers to the whites who love chinese culture and try
their best to learn and promote Chinese culture.
They live in china,they acquire an eastern education, speak
chinese, like native chinese, and know& little
about their own country.
Most famous person----
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