What Is Growing Up Asian In Australia Essay

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”Ding” the seatbelt sign was off. I took out the book I brought for the boring plane trip and leaned back in my seat. I brought this anthology because I could relate myself to it. “Growing up Asian in Australia” is just the phrase to describe me. As I flicked though the pages, one story caught my eye. “Silence”, I thought, sounded very intriguing. But what really piqued my interest was the ending of “no going back”, of “that other world becomes ‘what ifs’.” I started reading in earnest. Finishing the story, I was left was a sense of sadness. I understood the ending now. The protagonist, Tony Ayres, realizes the difference between him and a traditional Chinese waitress. It isn’t misunderstanding; it is “the gap between two cultures.” After crossing to another, Australian, culture, he can’t go back anymore and that Chinese culture will be inaccessible. He defines himself as from an Australian culture and his identity marks difference to that of the waitress. Is culture the…show more content…
I felt terrible in thinking she was a terrorist. I automatically connected her and terrorism because of her ethnic identity. I noticed her cultural background first and most predominately. I saw only her cultural identity and failed to notice all other identities. A person can have multiple, different identities. But people prioritize one particular identity over all others like what I did. It decides people’s world view, how they treat others and their status in society. I have many identities so is there one that can dominate my life? I think no identity should be prioritized over another. Although this sounded logical in my head, I still made that mistake. That man still assumed I couldn’t understand English because of my Chinese background. People’s identities may not be developed according to their background and their identities shouldn’t be restricted to their culture. Cultural identity is not the only
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