CHAPTER 5: Analysis
5.4 Success: Being an “American?”
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As demonstrated, the positives are more substantial and sustaining than the negatives in participants’ life experiences. Case A has created a life centered around Taiwan and therefore his positive life experiences in Taiwan represent his life as a whole. Case B finds peace within her family and therefore what she did not have in the United States she will still be able to feel more settled in Taiwan. Case C has made such strong bonds in Taiwan and even though his current life is in the United States, he cannot break free from his Taiwanese social life. Case D feels as if there is only Asia that is suited for her, she not only excelled at the educational system, but overall feels her personality does not suit the United States. Case E is young enough where all she currents knows and understands is about Taiwan. Case F are both too young and underdeveloped to really have a sense of self and therefore mimic the elders and family influences in their lives. Control Case G has filled what negativity he holds towards the U.S. with the positivity he has found here.
5.4 Success: Being An “American”?
Does an American citizenship pave the way to success? Is success found in an American education? Peter Spiro’s book Beyond Citizenship notes that birthright citizenship is not necessarily a bad thing; however, there are many more who become Americans notwithstanding a lack of future attachment to America. “One can no longer assume birth in the United States to result in a subsequent bond” (24-25). Spiro also ties in the notion of globalization in today’s work and the differences that it may have in different communities.
He even notes immigrant Diasporas, and other different communities based on ethnic heritage. These communities perpetuate an identity that is not geographically tied to the United States.
This relates the most to Case C, as he was sent to an area of Los Angeles due to Taiwanese connections. His friends there are also of a similar status. Granted, Case C did encounter the same communication and relationship building problems that Case D is currently encountering. But since Case D is shy whereas Case C is quite charismatic, a people person, Case C did not feel the isolation for very long. He found friends who were of the same or similar background. Many of his friends are also working; they do not speak fluent English, and converse amongst themselves in Chinese with bits of Taiwanese here and
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there. Some of his friends are with family, and many are the only one in their family to be in the United States. Case C does also not have anything in Taiwan but family, and the notion of his return implicates a sort of failure of the success that is assumed with an American citizenship. If he were to return home, he has no high school or college degree of use to find a job in Taiwan. His language skills are better than average, but not up to par. On paper he may appear to be an average American Born Chinese, but in person he is just an average Taiwanese guy without qualifications who would need to fulfill military service.
Of the appropriate age level (collegiate and higher), participants have solidified and confirmed their concept of self. They have endured hardships and know the difference of one identity over the other, and know that they are American on paper, but Taiwanese in heart and mind. Case E, who is in high school and has a romanticized concept of being American, has yet to experience it on her own. Her ideas that Western education is more relaxed and better than Taiwanese education is fueled on the imitation international school system at her private school. Her private school also caters to those who want to go abroad, usually an ideal that society and possibly their parents have subconsciously influenced.
Case F sisters are also too young to understand themselves, and have yet to create an identity for themselves. They adapt with their surroundings, unaware of how they have already been shaped by them.
Case G, the control case, spent most of his life in the United States. Even with his negative experiences in Los Angeles he cannot deny his American identity. His current influences are all based on his identity, with the exception of where his career and currently job ties have found him. He has been too uprooted from the United States to develop a career that is based on personal ties. His ties in Taiwan are stronger and more recent, even if his music is not directly influenced by anyone of Taiwanese descent.
The only participant that seems to have fully embraced the concept of a mixed-identity of that of Case B. Case B seems to have a love for a nation, which she is only slightly familiar with, as well as a love for the nation she has called home for the majority of her life. Although she does embrace her American spirit, she still does not view or
conceptualize the United States as home. She feels comfortable enough in two societies, to the point where she also is a bit lost and does not know which one she belongs to. Her memories of being an American are all very positive, but when she went to university in
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California, she did not feel like she was home, and was merely on an extended educational vacation. However, she is also lost; she does not know what direction her life is taking her.
She is not quite American, but then she is also not Taiwanese. Falling between into this limbo can be dangerous in trying to settle down with a career. She would have to work much harder to enter the workforce as a Taiwanese person. However, the most common job that native English speakers here hold is an English teacher job. An English teaching job is a very narrow career, it makes money, but there is no form of promotion, and a lot less chances to be stratified with a career that does not have room to grow.