Culture Clash
Culture Clash is a story of two families from different backgrounds, culture trying to live in harmony. They are trying their hardest to understand each other's customs and traditions. One of the family is your typical middle class American family, Ellen and Ben Matthews, owners of a home, a small business, two cars and three kids. The other family are refugees from Vietnam. Kim and Quang, Vietnamese newly weds in their 20's fleeing their own country with Kim's two sisters, Lan and Minh. This book is written through Ellen Matthews's point of view about their struggles, differences and how they coped with them. Ben Matthews was in the military and served some time in Vietnam. In this service time he has gained some experience dealing with Vietnamese people and he has a rough understanding of their culture and customs. He also has some unconscious guilt about America abandoning Vietnam, which is one of the reasons why Ellen believe he has signed up to sponsor a refugee family.The two families first met in August of 1975 at the refugee campsite. In their first couple of months, aside from the obvious language barrier, there were many misinterpretations, misconceptions, miscommunications and misunderstandings. One of the fi
The language barrier and misunderstandings has always been a problem for the Minh and Lan were born and raised in Vietnam, just like Kim and Quang, they both came to America at the same time, there isn't much of an age difference, but yet, they hold different views than them. American influence has taken over their young minds. They refused to accept free lunches from school, fearing that they'll look poor among their classmates, which Ellen appreciates. Ellen compares this to Kim and her continuous request for food stamps. Ellen comments "at least they have a sense of pride". two families. One of the points that Ellen chose to make was that she did not like Kim begging other people for money and other freebies such as food stamps. In Kim's own words, she says, "We no have money to buy food". Ellen looks at this as if Kim is looking for a handout, while Ben believes that there are words and meaning lost in the translation. I agree with Ben, I believe that what Kim is trying to say is that she is looking for a job in order to buy food and support her family. Asian people tend to convey messages and use suggestive language to replace direct request. Americans are usually very direct and will take words literally, which explains some of Ellen's misconceptions to Kim's pleading, which could be interpreted as a request for a job. Kim and Quang are good examples of the missing link between the first generation of Asians that settled in American and the second generation of Asians in America. The first generation of Asians are usually are older, they tend to live life as it was in their home country, following the traditions and culture. The second generation are usually younger and tend to adapt to American society and their culture. The first generation of Asians were very much like Kim and Quang when they first came to America, they learn to value their material items, save their money and work hard. The second generation of Asians are very much the opposite, which is what became of Kim and Quang after six years of living in America. The second generation would go out and buy main brand clothing, unnecessary material items, socialize and spend money foolishly. I suggested that Kim and Quang are like t
Some common words found in the essay are:
Vietnam Vietnam, Kim Quang, Quang America, Ben Matthews, Asians America, Ellen Matthews, Quang Vietnamese, Culture Clash, kim quang, Ellen Ellen, Minh Lan, generation asians, kim quang america, quang america, middle class, melting pot, american society, food stamps, america generation, hand items donated, considered rich, typical middle class, suggested kim, americans usually direct, kim quang vietnamese,
Approximate Word count = 1507
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
