China Boy Essay Research Paper In my

China Boy Essay, Research Paper

In my opinion, Gus Lee did a great job in portraying a boy who was brought up in San Francisco and the hardships that he encountered. He portrays Kai Ting as a typical Chinese boy growing up in America, and how he overcomes the obstacles that he faces once in America. CHINABOY shows many examples of Chinese customs, these customs that clash with American customs. I think Kai Ting could represent any type of immigrant, who finds it difficult to start a new life in a totally different country. Kai Ting faces many different obstacles, like most immigrants, he has trouble being accepted which in my opinion is his biggest problem. Its funny how Kai Ting is portrayed as a wimp, getting bullied around by Willie, and how Kai Ting goes to the YMCA to get built, I mean how much more American can you get than the YMCA? Another big issue that Kai Ting and any other ethnic group are being faced with is racism. How else would he get the name Chinaboy? There were many parts of the book that showed examples of Chinese customs. His family called their trip to America, the Run. I felt this was a way of the family to separate themselves from the pain of the journey. In Chinese culture, when one member does something bad, that member disgraces the whole family. This was the main reason the family had left China. Kai’s father was working with Renegade American soldiers, and the Japanese Imperial Army was seeking his family. For this reason, the family fled from Shanghai to Chungking to India, and finally to America. Also, in Chinese culture, it was looked on as bad luck when a woman bore a daughter. A daughter could not continue the family name. This was why Megan, the second daughter was treated badly by Kai’s mother. The first daughter Jennifer was treated decently because she was the oldest, and was both respected and accepted for being a daughter. Normally, the last born daughter would have been blamed for the mother’s bad luck for being a daughter, which would free Megan from her rank as the worthless daughter. However, as a child, Jamie, the third daughter was sick. This caused Kai’s mother to be extremely protective of her youngest daughter. One custom mentioned in the book bothered me the most. This involved not telling a child of a certain age of their parent’s death. When, Kai was six years old, his mother had died of cancer. Since, he was within the certain age, this was kept from him. He was sent away to live with another family for a month. Also, Kai was told that his mother would be in China, when he returned. I felt very disturbed that the truth was not told to Kai. I know he must of felt real pain when this was revealed to him by his stepmother a couple years later. In my opinion, I think that some of these Chinese customs are very stupid, I realize that it has been part of the Chinese culture for centuries, but some seem very senseless to me. In writing about Chinese customs, Gus Lee could relate any of his readers to how Kai’s family has been brought up in China. I think that as an author, Lee does a great job in writing about old Chinese customs, so that people unfamiliar about Chinese customs could relate to Kai. It is clearly shown that these Chinese customs are very different from American customs. Chinaboy also displays how Chinese people are very superstitious, and how they live by their superstitious beliefs. Of my studies about Chinese culture, I have learned that Chinese people have always been superstitious, and how their everyday lives relate to these beliefs. In most instances superstitions have been used to teach lessons, to prove a point, some are stupid, but hey who is gonna mess with the gods? The most superstitious character was Kai’s mother. Kai’s mother was extremely superstitious. As a child, Kai was taught not to smile too brightly, otherwise the Teeth God would take all his nice bright and white teeth. The mother also did not allow Kai to eat peanuts because she was afraid he would die from eating. Her reason being was that her first cousin’s son had died horribly after eating peanuts. Kai, being the first-born son, had to be protected from a death from eating peanuts. As a reader I thought these superstitions were dumb as hell, but that is my American raised opinion. Lee makes you realize how different American cultures and Chinese cultures are. What may seem right to one culture may seem totally unorthodox to another. Like most Asian parents, the mother was overprotective of her first-born son, Kai. From my experiences, all Asian parents are overprotective of their first-born. Being the third child, my parents are very easy on me after being through my older brother and sister. Kai’s mother was extremely protective over her first-born son. The mother felt she had to protect her baby at all times. When Kai went to school for the first grade, his mother told his principle that he had a rare skin condition, and had to be kept inside. As a result he did not know much about the children his age. Although the mother tried to protect him by isolating him, I think that she actually hurt him by doing that.

After moving to San Francisco, Kai’s father felt that Kai needed a mother, so he married a woman named Edna McGurk. In my opinion, here is the introduction to a Cinderella like theme. Edna became the wicked stepmother that the kids would grow to hate. I began to hate Edna also, because I think she is the typical racist bitch. She