Blog Post 7

Of all the pieces of literature we read over the course of Jan term, the excerpt from Clay Walls on page 170 of Bold Words affected me the most, especially in that it portrayed the unmistakable animosity Korean Americans felt for Japanese Americans, and how that affected the second generation of each ethnic group. This is all due to the Japanese annexation of Korea, which happened between 1910 and 1945, and caused high tensions between Japanese and Korean people – even in America. In particular, this can be observed when Faye’s mother warns Faye against making Japanese friends, even though Faye made a Japanese friend anyway. Jane, Faye’s Japanese friend, invited Faye over to her house for dinner one time, which Faye enjoyed up until Mrs. Nagano whispered a racist slur to Mr. Nagano, which Faye overheard. “Mrs. Nagano said something to Mr. Nagano. I recognized the word … and knew it was about me. I felt ill at ease.” (Bold Words 176) This is an example of cultural nationalism, because even though everyone in the story lives in America, there are still major cultural boundaries separating the Japanese Americans and Korean Americans.

Essentially, all of this has affected my outlook on racism and inter-ethnic relations within American society by really bringing to light all the significant historical and cultural differences each group of Asian Americans brought with them to America. Clay Walls especially had an impact because it was from the perspective of a second-generation Korean girl, trying to go through everyday life, but struggling to make friends, simply due to social boundaries put up in response to problems that were happening in her parents’ home country. It’s very unfortunate it had to be this way for Faye, and it also is important to note that a significant number of (if not all) second-generation Asian Americans have to deal with these cultural barriers on a daily basis.