America used to be the melting pot of culture. However, with the ever increasing numbers of immigrants and the inevitable assimilation they undergo, America might just be turning into an amalgamation of slight variations to the same culture.
In place of the once proud and distinct eagle that represented freedom and honor now resides an impostor — a brood parasite, in ornithology. Similar to a brood parasite, this impostor leaves their children to be raised by another adult. Oftentimes, the baby bird’s cutthroat instincts lead it to push its fellow nest-mates out of the nest in order to ensure its own sustenance and safety. A mere bald-eagle wannabe, the impostor has manifested itself in America’s top social and political circles and is now an infestation, a horrible influence on the nation’s youth. They are now faced with a choice: to either follow the lead of successful corporate managers and adopt the American philosophy or find a way to strike a balance. In a way, this is the conflict faced by Andrew, the author and narrator of his very own autobiography, Catfish and Mandala.
Andrew has been influenced by the Vietnamese community, America, and especially his family. He has been told many different things by many different people and the general gist is the same — assimilate or you have failed. In this context, to fail is to accept that you will forever be mocked and scorned for sticking out. In any case, the dilemma remains: does the failure to assimilate into society equate to inadequacy? Some may say adaptation is a natural process of evolution, but not all people want to go down the same path as politicians or those in positions of power. Having power is the end goal for some, but does the reward of power outweigh the price? There is no such thing as ethical child labor. The ends do not always justify the means, and assimilation is just the same.
Early in the novel, Pham introduces the idea that, “by returning as tourists we [Vietnamese who were once trapped in Communist Vietnam] prove to ourselves that we are no longer Vietnamese but Vietnamese Americans. We return… to show through our material success that we, the once pitiful exiles, are now the victors… We return, and in our personal silence, we gloat at our conquerors… Mostly, we return because we are lost.” (Pham 7–8) Though some come back to show off the newfound freedom that they have desperately fought tooth and claw to obtain, most come back to rediscover their sense of direction in their lives. Pham, similar to others, has, at one point in his life, felt the disassociation of his identity with his nationality inevitably created by the distance between the two. Just because he has been away from his homeland for many years, the bond created by living and breathing in the culture does not diminish after all that time. There is no shame in feeling connected or even indebted to your country of origin. After all, your childhood experiences and culture would be completely different without the established country that you were born in. The divide that results from leaving such a place undoubtedly results in a feeling of wrongness that permeates the mental. Similar to how many college students get homesick after going far away from their parents, Pham must be feeling the same kind of way. Losing this feeling of belonging to a certain place would mean that Pham lost a piece of himself.
Taking the well beaten track is not always the best choice. Sometimes, going against the grain can inspire others to take a leap of faith. Pham’s sister, Chi, was one such example of a person that chose to stand out, to do the opposite of assimilate. Life needs a bit of change sometimes, and Chi was one of the rare people that left a lasting change on whoever knew her. Pham writes, one day as he and his friends were hanging out together, that “[her identity was] the one big scandal that reverberated down the years at our school. The one dead horse everyone liked to beat. Manh said, “He — I mean she — was a trans…” (Pham 251) Even though it was not an intentional choice, per se, it became such a big deal that this piece of information was passed down throughout the years to the point where it practically became a folktale. Despite being four years older than Andrew, Chi’s story was still a topic of conversation among his friends, which really showcases the impact of such an action. This example of refusing to go with the flow and affecting that many lives in the process directly disagrees with the idea that failure to assimilate equates to inadequacy.
Pham is a successful writer and his autobiography received a Pacific Rim Book Prize. However, not only Vietnamese book writers can achieve success in their careers. Lori Arviso Alvord, a Navajo woman, also achieved success in the medical field, evidenced by the fact that she is now the associate dean of student and minority affairs and assistant professor of surgery at Dartmouth Medical School. Alvord also wrote her own autobiography, “The Scalpel and the Silver Bear,” on the struggle of leaving her native reservation and casting out on her own. She writes that this generation of “Navajo children are… facing the critical decision [she] would face after [she] graduated from highschool: to leave the rez, or to stay and cleave to traditional ways… They too hear the voice of the wind and the desert, smell the strong smells of our people, and feel the ways we came from. ‘Decide,’ the world whispers, to them, ‘you must choose.’ “(Alvord 317) Although she had help from the close-knit Native American community at Dartmouth University, she eventually reached a good balance between her own identity as a Navajo and her new identity as a member of American society.
The fact that America is a two-faced, hypocritical society is a bitter truth that has been proven time and time again, namely, recent events. I, myself, am a hypocrite at times. I have certain double standards that I impose on others, and if they refuse to follow them, I call them bigoted and unreasonable. However, the utter truth of this statement by Peter Skerry hit me when I was reading his online article: “Immigrant leaders and advocates claim that America is a racist society that will not allow ‘people of color’ to become part of the mainstream of American life. Alternatively, it is argued that the assimilation of such individuals into that mainstream is an insidious process that robs them of their history and self-esteem. No one ever bothers to explain how both claims can be true.” (Do We Really Want Immigrants to Assimilate?) In the back of my mind, as a Vietnamese-American, I understood this excerpt to be true. Seeing examples of people of color being discriminated against daily is unsettling, and seeing them frustrates me to the point where I internally yell, “Just blend in!” Although I’ve never been subjected to the same level of discrimination that other people of color have been subjected to, seeing all the negativity and discrimination always brings an uneasy feeling to my stomach. America’s “melting pot” is turning into more of an end-of-year bonfire, where students bring all their trash from the school year to burn collectively. Immigrants are shedding their culture and adopting American habits. Nowadays, assimilation is more of a struggle to survive in a radical society instead of fitting in.
The phrase “sticking out like a sore thumb” has commonly been used as a negative term. We need to normalize using it positively. The last excerpt that I would like to leave you with is by Pham regarding the family reunion where Chi returns as the transgender Minh.
From personal knowledge as a Vietnamese, the pride of my parents is the highest honor that I can receive as a child. Though Minh is now a man, there is a certain begrudging pride in Andrew’s father’s eyes that can only be brought by true success. Minh may have had his sexuality stick out like a sore thumb throughout his life, but for him, it was just another aspect of his character. Minh has received the ultimate approval that I as well as many other asian children long for, even though he has done the complete opposite of assimilate. Catfish and Mandala, among other texts, has convinced me that the failure to assimilate does NOT equate inadequacy. On the contrary, it shows that you have managed to change your surroundings to fit your own self which is worth so much more than fitting in.
Works Cited
Pham, Andrew X. Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999. Print.
Lori Arviso Alvord, Elizabeth Cohen. The Scalpel and the Silver Bear: Walking the Path Between Worlds. Bantam Books, 1999.
Skerry, Peter. “Do We Really Want Immigrants to Assimilate?” Brookings, Brookings, 28 July 2016, www.brookings.edu/articles/do-we-really-want-immigrants-to-assimilate/.
