Good Daughter Essay

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The Good Daughter Caroline Hwang first published her following essay, The Good Daughter, in Newsweek in 1998. Hwang says, “I’ve often heard it said that the difference between being an editor and writer is that the editor has power and the writer gets the glory.” (12). The Good Daughter is a non-fiction story of Hwang’s own personal life and what she had experienced back in the days when she was a young girl. Hwang is from a Korean family. When she arrived at the dry-cleaning store, right away she knew the lady at the counter was from Korea and was hoping perhaps she would get a countryman’s discount by impersonating the traditional obeisance. The woman did not notice her attempt so she asked for her name. “Hwang? Are you Chinese?” (13). When she was asked that that question it caught her off guard. The woman corrected her and said, “Oh Fxuang,” with a little bit of laughter the lady told her, “You don’t know how to speak your name.” (13). Later on that day when Hwang arrived at home she asked her parents why they never bothered to correct her. Her mother said, “Big deal, you are American.” (13). She felt that her sense of identity was already collapsing and it left her unhappy knowing her cultural character is barely precise. Hwang’s parents immigrated to the United States thirty years ago, two years before she was born. They came to America for the opportunities and freedom they wanted for Hwang. But they do not see the straddle she has between the two cultures. She says, “I’ve never known what its like to belong to a community.” (14). She feels she knows more about other continents and cultures other than her own. It makes her wonder if she would be happier if her parents never left Korea, but it has been an agreement with her and her parents. Hwang’s parents wanted her to go to law school, but she wanted to pursue her dreams as a writer. Little did she

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