American Son

A detailed Summary of American Son


In the novel The American Son by Brian Ascalon Roley, two diverse Asian-American characters emerge; one representing the stereotypical Asian male, Gabe, and the other representing the stereotypical American blend, Tomas. In this paper, I will uncover the truths of Gabe and proving him to be a stereotypical Asian male trying to be a typical American male as well as Tomas as the American son with Mexican-American influences trying to be anything but Asian.

In past reading assignments, such as M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang, the Asian culture is portrayed weaker (East) than the strong American or European cultures (West). Therefore, a stereotypical view of Asians seems to be weaker. Both Asian men and women are included in this weaker stereotype. The character Gabe in The American Son displays this passive, weaker stereotype through the whole of the novel. He constantly battles with his brother, Tomas' dominant personality as well as battling himself in trying to be The American Son. At the beginning of the novel, Tomas insults Gabe and Gabe does not fight back.


Although Tomas dresses and acts the part, he contradicts himself as a Mexican-American when he believes a client's Mexican-American wife is a maid.

I think Gabe's inner struggle is trying to identify himself as an individual. He is constantly living in Tomas's shadow, even if Tomas is not the model son. I think Gabe realizes the more Tomas acts in a negative manner, the more attention he receives. This pushes Gabe to disobey his mother. Gabe runs away with Tomas's car and dog in order to prove to himself and others that he is the American son. Yet, I believe this confuses Gabe even more about who he is as an Asian-American and an individual.

Tomas's face goes red. His arms hang loosely at his sides.



Some common words found in the essay are:
Gabe Asian-American, Gabe Gabe, Mexican-American Tomas, Tomas Gabe's, Ascalon Roley, American Son, American European, Tomas American, Hwang Asian, american son, tomas chooses, stereotypical asian male, weaker stereotype, asian male, believe tomas, believe scene, struggle trying, stereotypical asian, representing stereotypical, times mexican-americans, ,

Approximate Word count = 723
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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