Answer one or more:
- How does the autobiography serve the telling of this diasporic narrative(s)?
- The flashback history journey that the autobiographical subject decides to embark in takes her through moments of Chinese and of Japanese history. How do these flashback journeys affect what you alresdy knew about Asian-American diaspora in the US?
- Choose the following or any other page (recording its number) to analyse in terms of text (close-reading) and image composition.
On page 160 of Tessa Hulls’ “Feeding Ghosts - A graphic memoir”, we are initially faced with the same image repeated 10 times. A new text accompanies it each time; in the image, we generally see a blank expression, with only a brief change in her attire. We also see no significant difference in her reaction across the images. Her lack of words and expressions when faced with stereotypical (“You must be a terrible driver”), often xenophobic/racist [“Go back to China where you belong”/”You got some Oriental in you, don’t you? (...)”], and fetishized comments (“Are you part Asian? My first wife was Chinese. My second was Filipina. Now my girlfriend is from Hong Kong…” and “Cool! Asian chicks are hot.”) can be seen or interpreted as Tessa having no real way to respond. Many of these comments stem from how people interpret her statement, “I am Chinese,” and from the conflicts or contention that may arise from the clash of expectations, preconceived notions, and her appearance. This is exemplified by Tessa’s own words, “The only points of consensus are that I am ‘vaguely ethnic’ and that my family is a lot more Chinese than is reflected in how I look,” and also in the first square, where she speaks about how being mixed in America is similar to a “sociology experiment” due to the forcing of binaries. One could argue here that this concept also coincides with the Third Space coined by Homi Bhabha, or, in this case, its absence, due to the lack of the possibility of negotiating one’s identity, culture, and, often times, essentialist structures. The “no response” reaction that she exhibits isn’t unusual and can often be seen as a defense mechanism or even fruit of not being able to define oneself, something we do see Tessa go through, particularly in the first portion of the book, where she speaks about taking on an identity, a Cowboy, in an attempt to idealize her cultural myths in a way to mask her woundedness. Essentially, this page reflects how Tessa’s attempt to adopt an American identity is confronted with her family heritage and the expectations placed on what Asian people are.
ReplyDelete"(...) in this case, its absence, due to the lack of the possibility for negotiation of one’s identity and culture because of the more essentialist structures within normative socity standards"
DeleteTessa Hulls’ Feeding Ghosts is a vivid autobiographical recollection of the author’s quest to understand and reconnect with her Chinese roots after having initially chosen to distance herself from her traumatic past. As a child of mixed heritage, both Asian and White, she struggled making sense of her own identity and of the places she could claim to belong to. On page 160, she shows how that process was made even more complicated by people weighing in with – unrequited – opinions: she portrays her face ten times, surrounded by the comments of other people, as well as, sometimes, her own thoughts on them.
ReplyDeleteThe comments are a series of grossly stated assumptions, which at times see her as being White and at times Asian, the general consensus being, as the author writes, that she was "vaguely ethnic". We can assume an array of vastly different people making such statements on a daily basis: the fact that this is almost a part of her routine is shown by the fact that the author chose to portray her face several times rather than just draw one version of it, and in slightly different outfits and hairstyles. Her expression in each frame does change as well, but in a rather subtle way: her brows, eyes and lips suggest some different micro-expressions, but in general it seems that the author’s reaction upon hearing these comments is somewhat stifled, as if being constantly exposed to intruding words made her used to them, and weary of having to interact with such people, let alone give them answers that she did not even have yet for herself.
- How does the autobiography serve the telling of this diasporic narrative(s)?
ReplyDeleteThe autobiography serves as a basis for the self growth the author experiences by connecting with her roots. She is able to question them, understand how they affected her grandmother and her mother and, subsequently, herself. Through these acknowledgments she's able to make peace with her women ancestors and with her whole self, which she had felt as being severed by being both American and Chinese.