Mini Me Analysis

909 Words4 Pages
Dear Editor, My name is Lloyd Parker and I am writing in response to Warwick Hancock’s article titled “Mini Me” published on February 23rd. As a student who has recently studied the text piece Growing Up Asian in Australia I could not disagree more with the absurd suggestions that we’re no more than merely products of our parents. Undoubtedly we inherit traits and mannerisms from our parents; they’re part of our biological make up, however to argue that very few of us are capable of choosing our own life’s course in fear of the shame it may bring upon our families is evidently incorrect, and rather offensive to the many of us who have paved our own paths. Sociological studies and examples contravening Hancock’s ageist views are evident throughout…show more content…
Nguyen’s father was desperate to raise high achieving children, believing the sacrifices he and his wife had made were far too great for them not to be. From a young age the Nguyen children were brutally caned and publically humiliated for anything below a report card “A”. Their lives revolved around working seven days a week in the family restaurant, stopping only to complete homework and household chores, and scrabbling desperately to live up to the tremendous pressure their father placed upon them. Nguyen’s father controlled every hour of her and her siblings lives and when any situation fell out of his control, they were forced to suffer the full force of his anger. However, as a very young woman Nguyen recognised the injustice she had been dealt and acknowledged that she deserved better, she ran away from home and went into hiding, never to have direct contact with her father again, despite the ultimate shame it would cast over her family. Nguyen went onto graduate from the University of Sydney with an Arts degree in 1995 before having a successful and inspiring career in a number of fields. This story once again illustrates a woman who has capably broken from the stringent tyranny of family expectations. Does Nguyen fill the portrait of an insecure child afraid and incapable to step outside the boundaries of parental
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