Learning about Asian-American literature helped me to expand my worldview past Eurocentrism. I had previously been sheltered from the racism of many white Americans in the past, and the historical readings illuminated this fact. A good example of this is the founding father's desire for a white America-something I had innocently not realized before taking this class. Thomas Jefferson advocated for a white America, and he "looked forward to distant times when the American continent would be covered with such a (white) people," (Takaki 16).
The literature that I connected the most with was the film Eat a Bowl of Tea. This was mainly because it showed the struggles of assimilation into American culture. I used to believe that assimilation was natural and even easy. However, through films such as this one and other pieces of literature, I began to understand why American minority groups sometimes hold onto their customs and their languages.
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