In "Double Face" by Amy Tan, the narrator states: "It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America." What does she mean by this? What examples and quotes from the story give us insight into this quote's meaning?
I think that the quote means that eventually you'll blend in with the other Americans, despite being a different race. It's not like people will see you any different. America is full of diversity, and people aren't seen differently often. It's almost like our school: we're diverse, and we treat other well despite being different. One example is when Lindo's daughter is worried about thinking that she is one of "them", meaning Americans. She doesn't want to blend in, but she will, and people eventually will treat her the same as they would others, despite being another race. It really doesn't matter what your race is, because we all know that the world is diverse, and there is no need to treat someone differently because of their race.
i think that this quote means that after a while when being in a new place its hard to stay true to who you are. whenever you go to another place its not to want to fit in. so eventually without even noticing you change.your still unique, but your different from the person you were at the beginning.America is very different different races and back rounds so eventually you will become one of them but still who you are
I believe that the quote signifies the development Lindo underwent. When she reminisces about China and its cultural differences, she does so while expecting America to mirror her idealistic image. Her cultural naivete causes her to dismiss Americans and brands them into stereotypical categories in order to better cling to her Chinese identity. Even the slightest challenge to her Chinese identity causes her to become fearful of losing herself. This is why she believes that as her facial appearance gradually alters, so shall her identity. Lindo however, appears to overcome her fears during the last few sentences of the story; when her daughter convinces her to accept the fact that she no longer has a straight nose i.e. Be more culturally accepting.
I Believe the quote means that Lindo can easily accustom to American Culture. America is full of all races and that allows for one type of style to sink in. America is a kind of care-free land. As long as you pay your bills and get your groceries you would be find.
The way an immigrant may have lived can be very different compared to the average person in America. For example, An-mei said that marriage would not be arranged and Anyone from anywhere were now from the same place. The limited restrictions on Chinese traditions easily help immigrants lose their ______ place. All immigrants from anywhere can lose their face not just the Chinese.
The symbol of the crooked nose is another fine example. Both Lindo and Waverly have crooked noses. Waverly is pleased with their noses, for she thinks it makes them look "devious" and "two-faced." Both of these words are negative rather than positve. Aware of these bad overtones, Lindo asks if it is a good thing. Waverly says that it is because "it helps you get what you want." This reveals Waverly's determination to succeed at any cost. Lindo is more softer in her appraisal. She wonders how much of her is still Chinese, and how much of her has become American. Both women have a "double face," the title, for they carry two cultures. But the two cultures do not mix.
The cultures show that over time anything can grow or die. It is ironic that for so many years Waverly denied her heritage. Now she is willing to embrace her culture because it is fashionable — but it is too late: Waverly knows only the most juvenile Chinese words and would never be mistaken for a Chinese person in her mother's birth country.
Hi, its Stef. I think that what the author means by saying that you can't keep your chines face in America is that America and China are so different, like in China, people don't care so much what they look like, they care about their personality. If you want go to America and live well, you have to have an American face. For an example, the mother and the daughter are both Chinese, but the daughter has an American face, and the mother has a Chinese face. I also think that it means that in China, there are expensive and beautiful temples, and the Chinese respect Buddha allot, but in America, everything is cheap because they want to save money, instead of spending it on making a temple look beautiful.
I think when the author says "It's hard to keep your chinese face in America" she is really saying it's hard to be a chinese immigrant in America. The main theme in the story is hardship. The old-fashioned mother is telling the modern daughter about all the things she had to go through so the daughter would not suffer.
Another big theme in the story is culture. " I wondered why she said i should look sincere. How could I look any other way when telling the truth?" In the quote the mother is shocked that people would lie straight to someone's face. During the story the author talks a lot about how the chinese don't show their emotions as much as Americans. The author points out that the chinese are much more reserved and lying is considered extremely disrespectful.
Overall when the author talks about not being able to keep your "Chinese face" in America she means that it is hard as as immigrant to hold onto your culture and values because you are all alone in a completely new world.
"It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America" means you cant keep the same exact traits from when you were in china because this is a whole new country and evfrything is different here. It also means you have to blend in with everybody else. I you ont blend in you wont be accepted or you wont have an easy life. "Auntie An-mei can cut me," I say. "Rory is famous," says my daughter, as if she had no ears. "He does fabulous work." I think when Waverly said that it shows you must blend in or change your looks to look like evryone else. At sometimes it might make the people you know embarrased when your in public. "First," she said, "you must find a husband An American citezen is best." Even though after that she said Chinese citizen, it is still meant that to have the best life in America, it's best to marry an American beacuse they are the same and know the best of America. Even a Chinese citizen would most likely know the rules and country in someway. Until i read this story i haven't actually realized how hard it is for an immigrant to get into this country.
When Lindo says "it is hard to keep your Chinese face in America" i think she is stating a believe that when your in America, even though all different cultures come to live together, you lose some of the culture you were born with. Though America is diverse, the people who live there are almost one and the same, and they all have one fact in common, they are all American. i think that no matter how hard you try, if you like it or not, your culture will decline gradually.
I think that Lindo also means that China is such a different place, from obvious facts like the language to more hidden facts, like the rituals they might preform. if you move anywhere it is not the same place as your previous home, and you will also change eventually too. The people who lived/live where you are living help you change and your culture change too. Eventually you will become an "American" and your "Chinese" will disappear a little if not disappear completely.
Hi tom, I think that the narrator is trying to say that when you migrate from China to the United States it is so overwhelming. If you come when you are little and your parents don't teach you your culture then you will get lost in the crowd and you loose who you really are. America is full of so many races and so many different cultures that you just blend in. For example a normal person when experiencing a new place feels lost in the crowd. But everyone knows that some time in their life they have wanted to fit in but many people didn't want them to. So when the narrator say's when you move to a new place you loose your chinese face i think this is what it means,
I think that this quote means that after you move to another country or place with different traditions, values, customs, morals etc. you may see yourself slowly changing to the tune of this new place. In the long run you might find yourself eventually losing some of the customs of the place you originated from. For instance, Lindo marries a man from a different dialect than her, which is against her traditions. While she might still keep some of her "Chinese face" she losses some of it too.
I think this quote means that it is hard to stay committed to your race and/or culture when you are far away from your community. In America the diversity of people can be overwhelming. The influences and the actions of others can turn your former self into a whole other person. There are places where you are accepted for who you are and places where you are not. Once people recognize you for who you are they will start to treat you like everyone else. All people are treated differently and the same as others. Inside you are the same human being. Helena
I think that that it means that once you move to America, you become a different person. When Lindo first moved to America, she knew nothing about it, but as she lived there for a longer time, she became more aware of her surroundings. Lindo was only Chinese when she first moved to America, but later on when she was able to call herself both Chinese and American, and the American part of her took over the Chinese part of her so it had seemed that she had lost her Chinese face in America. Therefor saying that she had lost her Chinese heritage/part of her to the American part. An example is when Lindo first says "It is hard to keep your Chinese face in America." When Lindo first got to America someone had told her that she had to hide her true self. Lindo had to keep her Chinese part of her a secret in order for her to make a living and to be accepted in America. I think that this quote means that once in America, you are no longer 'one face' you are the faces of the people who you are around a lot, and the face/ faces that people want you to be.
I think what the narrator means when she says "It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America." is that when you're born in an entirely different country that has different cultures and manners, you have to make a huge transition to get accustomed to the comparison of American life. "She learned these things, but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character. How to obey parents and listen to your mothers mind." The narrator explains several opinions on what Chinese character is like to her. You can tell from the story that to her, Chinese character is very important. So for her, it is especially hard to find herself becoming changed by American style and life. I think that when the narrator says it's hard to keep your Chinese face in America, applies to all immigrants. Even before arriving in America, you're pressured in a way to hide your countries values and culture. Like the narrator explains, America is a place where they smile and talk to you but at the same time hide away their real selves and faces. When you live around that for 40 years, you get pulled into it and slowly seem to pull yourself away from others as well, making "American faces and smiles" like the narrator explains. It's like she's saying it's hard to keep all your core values, cultures and countries roots when you're surrounded by America which seems to pressure you out of it.
In "Double Face" by Amy Tan, when the narrator says "It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America" I think she means that, when you're in a place like America, and you come from an extremely different country such as China, it may be hard to stay who you are, and stay with your Chinese cultures. When you're in America for a while, you begin to pick up certain things that we americans do, and it makes it hard to hang on to your old culture. An example is how Lindo's daughter used to speak chinese and be more into the culture, but now, she can barely even remember ten words and she has gotten more into material things. America and China are extremely different and the short story really shows us that by the way that it demon-straights how much Lindo has changed.
When the narrator states “it is hard to keep a Chinese face in America” she is saying it is hard to live a double life. In one sense, Lindo is attempting to embrace her Chinese heritage, yet at the same time, she wants to wreak the benefits of America such as democracy and social justice. While I find her expectations quite reasonable (as she is trying to live a decent life in an environment suitable for children0, they are quite unrealistic. In moving to America her Chinese children gain a new attitude and even if they are immersed in their heritage, it will influence them. Americans are not by nature wasteful or disrespectful, but in living a privileged American life style you begin to take things for granted. For example, Lindo reflects upon all this as she goes to a barber, something normal for most Americans. She is not used to having a barber cut her hair, and I assume that for most of her life she cut her own hair. Not only is this something foreign to her, but it is also something considered artificial in China. In China, things like going to barber do not matter as much as social appearances. The American and the Chinese societies counter each other: each does some things right and some things wrong. The Chinese raise their children with character as opposed to American tendency to raise their children with freedom of speech and luxuries. I believe that a perfect mixture is ideal, but as depicted by the author “Double Face” highly unrealistic.
I think this quote means that the mother, choosing to move to America and raise a family there, made it harder for her to remain Chinese. She is changing on the outside as well as the inside and is becoming a whole new person. An example of this is when she decided to visit China after 40 years of living in America. "I had taken off my fancy jewelery. I did not wear loud colors. I spoke their language. I used their local money. But still, they knew. They knew my face wasn't one hundred percent Chinese. They still charged me high foreign prices." This just proves that although her efforts to remain Chinese were strong, it got harder for her to resist the urge to blend in with everyone els in America.
Although America is supposed to be a racially diverse country, some people forget that. Those people think that being different is wrong, and they don't want to be considered "seperated" from the others. They're giving up their looks, their beliefs, their culture, and their personalities to be un-noticed. They don't realize that to be different is to make a difference. I think that's really sad because they don't realize that being different is what makes you special.Otherwise, it's like you erased yourself and penciled in a diffrent person.
This story has something to do with being true to yourself. This story may also be a testament to children of mixed ethnicities. Some issues that Lindo shows are knowing who she is mentally and feeling great about herself physically. The Chinese Face in America quote has little to with Chinese and Americans, but has an even wider meaning that that. The spite basically means, "it's hard to be yourself in a different environment". Waverly, even though she is married, is as insecure as a young teenage girl checking her makeup in the beginning of the day. There may be insecurity at the beginning of the day, but soon you will blend into society and be excepted for who you are.
When the narrator expresses her ideas about "Keeping her Chinese Face in America," she is expressing the difficulty of being understood in the US. She begins the story at the beauty parlor, talking about putting on her "American Face," and her "Chinese face": "I smile. I use my American face. that's the face americans think is chinese because they cannot understand." and then, "I smile, this time, with my Chinese face." Being misunderstood is a large piece of keeping you're "Chinese face." Another aspect of the idea of "the Chinese face in america," is the discovery of not being able to find a balence of where you are welcome, and how you are seen. In America, the narrator talks about how many circumstances she put's up with. She deals with the harsh job of the cookie factory, and trying to find a husband who is a citizen. However, she tells her daughter that Chinese Americans are seen differently in China. Even if you "put on their clothes, even if you take off your make-up and hide your fancy jewelery, they know." It is not only difficult to have a "Chinese Face", or maintain the ability to still be seen as chinese, but it is also difficult to keep you're "American Face." You cannot find a middle ground in this situation.
This quote can mean a number of things. You can take it literally and say that its hard to keep your chinese face because of the American 'Melting Pot'. That you blend in with a crowd of foreigners. Chinese, African American, Irish, it doesn't matter what race you are just like everyone else. You can also look at it in the eyes of a writer, thinking of the meaning under the meaning. In this case you can think that the chinese face as innocence to the American culture. The chinese face could also be awareness, keeping in your emotion held in, sticking a happy mask over your upset one. The American has emotion spilling all over the place. The American face is disrespectful towards elders. The America face is careless. Her daughter has acquired this face.
I agree with Louisa somewhat in thinking the quote is about the hardships of being a Chinese immigrant. Lindo talks about the differences in Chinese and American culture. In China, a woman would not show her emotions and she keeps her views traditional. "I smile. I use my American face... But inside I am becoming ashamed." Lindo complains about how her daughter has been "americanized", and has retained few or any of her mother's views. I think what Lindo is basically trying to say is because of the amount of cultural differences between China and America, it is difficult to maintain the values you grew up with.
when the narrorator states "it's hard to keep your Chinese face in America"not only do I think that she is saying that it is hard to keep your tradition and culture but it is very chaotic in America so you can also become physicaly changed from injuries. She is also saying that it is hard to keep traditional promises.
I think this quote means that once you are in America-and living there, you're just another stranger in the crowd walking to where you need to be.
"At the beginning, before I even arrived , I had to hide my true self." This quote is right after "It's hard to keep a Chinese face in America."
She had to pretend to be someone else, some one she's not. She was suppose to lie to get into America. However, no one asked her any questions. Even so she still had a different life. Not all of it was a lie, but this was her only way to live in America.
She says things like " I smile. I use my American face." and "I smile, this time with my Chinese face." It goes on. So apperently there are these different faces that Americans call "Chinese" and Chinese call "American." by this you can tell, that when she says "It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America." she is saying that you can't hide. You can't get away from what you already are. They can tell. They can tell that you are different. It's something in a person's mind that they can just tell something is different about that person. So what this quote is saying is that when you are in America, the land of freedom, and they look at someone they can tell, atomatically that you are Chinese. It's your cuture, something you were born with. People will treat you differently just because the way you look.
When the narrator says that "It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America," I believe that she means it is hard to bring one culture into another. It is hard to have traditions and customs from one country, that people in America don't follow and don't believe. This is what causes people to push aside what they have grown up with and observed from other places. When people in America may not believe the same thing as you, you may feel like an outsider which could lead to feeling abnormal or different. When someone comes to a new country they usually want to fit in. For example, in Japan, sterilized masks are commonly worn. Coming to America wearing a mask may be confusing to some Americans, and this may result in this Japanese person feeling self conscious.
"No, this kind of thinking didn't stick to her. She was too busy chewing gum, blowing bubbles bigger than her cheeks. Only that kind of thinking stuck." From this quote I realize that a person will be more familiar with something they practice or do as apposed to something that their parents may do or something they did when they were little. In this quote the mother is trying to point out that her daughter is too caught up in the American culture.
As the mother was forced to get her hair done, you could see that the daughter was ashamed of her. She was sucked into these American ways and wanted her mother to be like that too.
"I think about our two faces. I think about my intentions. Which one is american? Which one is chinese? Which one is better? If you show one you must sacrifice the other". This quote talks about the ideas of having an American face Vs. a Chinese face, and the idea of the two cultures. I think when You move to America it's hard to keep your own culture and also adapt to a new one. Chinese and America are very different, and that makes the keeping your culture even harder. Moving to a new country is really hard and you have to learn how to be completely different person in some aspects, but you also have to keep your roots. Being in a new country can also make you feel like a fish out of water. When Amy Tan writes about having a Chinese face and an American face, what comes to mind is the part of the story when the mother talks about having her fortune read. Facial features such as the forehead, nose, and chin are all important in telling one's fortune, and when the mother and daughter go to the hair solon they see how similar they look. The mother sees how her face has changed over the years and connects it with having bad luck. Both mother and daughter realize they will never be able to keep their Chinese roots deep and also stay an American. As the mother said, even when she visited China they could still see the American in her.
This quote means that in spite of Chinese heritage, in America, the culture is adaptable, and the newcomer will adapt and change their ways of living to suit their new way at some point or another. In China, it’s not as important to know your way around and have the same way of living as your peers as it is in America because you have more guidance. After a while, the new style of life will really sink in and it will be hard to readjust. One example of this is the quote at the end; “It is like what happened when I went back to China last year, after I had not been there for almost forty years. I had taken off my fancy jewelry. I did not wear loud colors. I spoke their language. I used their local money. But still, they knew.” The change will especially be recognizable after one comes back after so much time blending in. It is almost a metamorphosis.
When Amy Tan says "It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America.", I think she means that it's hard to keep a balance between multiple cultures at once. When you move from one country to another, it's like being a fish out of water; it's awkward. Eventually after living among other people, people that don't look like you or act like you, you slowly start to blend in. You lose your identity and forget about who you really are. Sometimes you forget your old culture after you adopt a new one. You can embrace this new adopted culture, but it's easy to get caught up in it. Before you know it, you've left your old culture behind. Waverly's mother, Lindo almost fell into the trap and forgot who she was, but by the end of the story, you could tell that she knew who she was and cherished her identity. -Kai M.
I think that when the Narrator speaks of keeping your Chinese face she is talking about how despite her best efforts, her daughter turned out to be completely american. The Narrator still feels like an outsider and is looked upon as one even by her own daughter. When she sees her daughter, she sees a lot herself in her, but as a more american version of her. This would explain the title of the story, “Double Face”, meaning that she was the Chinese immigrant version of herself and her daughter was the American version of her. Her daughter will always be an American and will always continue using her American culture.
I think that she means it is hard to not try to fit in when you are in a new strange place. It is hard to keep your old ways and traditions when you are forced to be in a totally different environment where those ways and traditions do not exist. after a while it can make life easier if you change and fit in with the new culture because when you are put in a new environment you may not be able to keep doing things the way you have always done them. It can help to try and adapt to your new environment so you can more easily prosper. Lindo was having a hard time being an outsider from all the people she was surrounded by so she tried to become more American herself. In the hair salon she explained how it felt to be treated as an outsider and how no one talks to you the same way or looks at you the same way. How it seems people can always tell you are an outsider.
It was a great short story. When Waverly’s mother says, “It’s hard to keep on to your Chinese face in America” She means that it’s hard to hold on to your old identity when you have a new one. Not being recognized as Chinese and not wanting to have an American identity have left Waverly’s mother feeling out of place. She idealizes Chinese culture and looks down on American culture. For example her insight on American and Chinese culture is visible when she sees the two fake- pagodas. “I saw two pagodas, one on each side of the street, as though they were the entrance to a great Buddha temple. But when I looked carefully, I saw the pagoda was really just a building topped with stacks of tile roofs, no walls, nothing else under its head. I was surprised how they tried to make everything look like an old imperial city or an emperor’s tomb. But if you looked on either side of these pretend-pagodas, you could see the streets became narrow and crowded, dark, and dirty. I thought to myself, why did they choose only the worst Chinese parts for the inside? Why didn’t they build gardens and ponds instead? Oh, here and there was the look of a famous ancient cave or a Chinese opera. But inside it was always the same cheap stuff.” This passage in the story is a metaphor for how an American face at first sight looks very welcoming, but like the pretend-pagodas, deep inside the person they are cheap and dirty. Waverly’s mother would have chosen to decorate the inside rather than the outside of the building represents the Chinese Face. The Chinese face looks very modest from the outside, but in the inside is serene and beautiful.
Throughout this whole short story, there is this notion that she feels like an outsider. From the time where she went to the hairdresser with her daughter to when she's talking about what papers she has to fill out to go to the U.S. I think the narrator is basically saying it's hard to stay in America for a while without getting accustomed to they're way's of life. In other words, you loose some of your Chinese culture; Soon, they might forget where they're from and start becoming something they aren't from originally.
The intention of the quote, "It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America" is to have the reader really visualize the two cultures (American, Chinese) and think of all the ways they contrast. To go from a place that is very greatful to a place with people that tell you, "we are in American now. Even a beggar can starve on this dollar." I assume the character is shocked by the old woman's complaint since everyone in China takes things for granted.
The main character talks about how in China, each and every body part symbolizes a negative or positive result. A positive result is if you were blessed with a wide forehead which symbolizes cleverness. A negative result would be a crooked nose which is "bound" for misfortune. The main character feels as if her body parts on her face have all turned into a negative. It's almost as if she feels like her beloved culture is fading from her.
I feel if you move from one enviorment to another, you'll just become more accustomed to your newer one, which will make you feel as if you've changed.
i think that she thinks it is hard for one to keep their chinese traditions and customs if one communicated a lot with Americans, and will change to be like them because one would think it is natural to act American; he/she is around americans. I believe that Lindo dislikes some habits of americans-very open, their face does not conceal anything and chew gum. She does not want to have these habits, but it really is hard to not act "normal", like others(not saying that the american description would fit for everyone, it only is what Lindo thinks). But no matter how much effort one puts in to acting chinese, people would know you are american in the inside, and the knowledge of that would make you feel embarrased. Embarrased that people are thinking, "stop being Chinese, we know you are american" towards you.
Just like for Waverly, she would try to keep her chinese face in china, but its really hard as she is already "americanalized", so people would know that she is american on the inside and make her feel embarrased.
I Notice when my mom is in the nail salon that people have a more severe face when they are speaking their dialect versus the seeming more mellow English. This could be part of what Amy means. But she may also mean presentation and how a more Americanized Chinese person may carry themselves differently or even use different facial expression that are not common in their native language. An exaple could be the face people make when they are trying to say ummmmmmm. its very confused. It is a facial expression that not many other cultures use. So I think Amy is talking about he little things that only a trained ear can hear and when different you look different making you lose your Chinese face.
Since she is not from America and is Chinese, she thinks that she doesn't really fit in America. it also seems hard to stay with her culture when she is far from her country and their ways of life. Moving is tough to get used to. So Lindo was kind of inundated with all this american stuff when she is used to having chinese traditions and cultures around her. “Double Face” means even though she has a Chinese face, she also has an American face. Like living two worlds, Chinese and American. When at the hair salon, Lindo’s daughter was ashamed of her because she was Chinese and got very upset when her husband to be said that they looked alike. Her daughter thought that looking the same makes her Chinese, and she just wants to be American. She doesn’t want to be like her mother.
When the girl says "its hard to keep your chinese face American" i think she means that when you live some where a while you start to get use to the customs in that place. While when you were in the place you were from you know how to act and nothing changes but when you go to a new place things start to change. Also that because you a certain race, it does not mean you will stick out of the crowd. Every one is different in their own way. I think the author really put depth in the story, it kind of catches the reader's eye and pulls him or her in. -Isaiah
I think she means that living with American customs and people can give you an American face no matter where you are born. She knows she is chinese, but she may look into the mirror and see an American. Americans have all different faces, but an American can tell who is an American and who is not, same as anywhere else. When Lindo says, "They knew my face was not one hundred percent Chinise. The still charged me high foreign prices," she means that she couldn't help that her face had become American. That even though she still has her Chinese face in her heart, her American face is dominant. She is "double faced." -Camrin
i think the quote means that she is an outsider because she is different. "When you go to China, you don't even need to open your mouth. They already know you are an outsider"(p1) It means that they are different and it is hard to keep your culture. For example say you are american and you go to Mexico but you don"t speak Spanish at all, they will know you are an outsider
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I think that the quote means that eventually you'll blend in with the other Americans, despite being a different race. It's not like people will see you any different. America is full of diversity, and people aren't seen differently often. It's almost like our school: we're diverse, and we treat other well despite being different. One example is when Lindo's daughter is worried about thinking that she is one of "them", meaning Americans. She doesn't want to blend in, but she will, and people eventually will treat her the same as they would others, despite being another race. It really doesn't matter what your race is, because we all know that the world is diverse, and there is no need to treat someone differently because of their race.
i think that this quote means that after a while when being in a new place its hard to stay true to who you are. whenever you go to another place its not to want to fit in. so eventually without even noticing you change.your still unique, but your different from the person you were at the beginning.America is very different different races and back rounds so eventually you will become one of them but still who you are
I believe that the quote signifies the development Lindo underwent. When she reminisces
about China and its cultural differences, she does so while expecting America to mirror her idealistic image. Her cultural naivete causes her to dismiss Americans and brands them into stereotypical categories in order to better cling to her Chinese identity. Even the slightest challenge to her Chinese identity causes her to become fearful of losing herself. This is why she believes that as her facial appearance gradually alters, so shall her identity. Lindo however, appears to overcome her fears during the last few sentences of the story; when her daughter convinces her to accept the fact that she no longer has a straight nose i.e. Be more culturally accepting.
I Believe the quote means that Lindo can easily accustom to American Culture. America is full of all races and that allows for one type of style to sink in. America is a kind of care-free land. As long as you pay your bills and get your groceries you would be find.
The way an immigrant may have lived can be very different compared to the average person in America. For example, An-mei said that marriage would not be arranged and Anyone from anywhere were now from the same place. The limited restrictions on Chinese traditions easily help immigrants lose their ______ place. All immigrants from anywhere can lose their face not just the Chinese.
The symbol of the crooked nose is another fine example. Both Lindo and Waverly have crooked noses. Waverly is pleased with their noses, for she thinks it makes them look "devious" and "two-faced." Both of these words are negative rather than positve. Aware of these bad overtones, Lindo asks if it is a good thing. Waverly says that it is because "it helps you get what you want." This reveals Waverly's determination to succeed at any cost. Lindo is more softer in her appraisal. She wonders how much of her is still Chinese, and how much of her has become American. Both women have a "double face," the title, for they carry two cultures. But the two cultures do not mix.
The cultures show that over time anything can grow or die. It is ironic that for so many years Waverly denied her heritage. Now she is willing to embrace her culture because it is fashionable — but it is too late: Waverly knows only the most juvenile Chinese words and would never be mistaken for a Chinese person in her mother's birth country.
Hi, its Stef. I think that what the author means by saying that you can't keep your chines face in America is that America and China are so different, like in China, people don't care so much what they look like, they care about their personality. If you want go to America and live well, you have to have an American face. For an example, the mother and the daughter are both Chinese, but the daughter has an American face, and the mother has a Chinese face. I also think that it means that in China, there are expensive and beautiful temples, and the Chinese respect Buddha allot, but in America, everything is cheap because they want to save money, instead of spending it on making a temple look beautiful.
I think when the author says "It's hard to keep your chinese face in America" she is really saying it's hard to be a chinese immigrant in America. The main theme in the story is hardship. The old-fashioned mother is telling the modern daughter about all the things she had to go through so the daughter would not suffer.
Another big theme in the story is culture. " I wondered why she said i should look sincere. How could I look any other way when telling the truth?" In the quote the mother is shocked that people would lie straight to someone's face. During the story the author talks a lot about how the chinese don't show their emotions as much as Americans. The author points out that the chinese are much more reserved and lying is considered extremely disrespectful.
Overall when the author talks about not being able to keep your "Chinese face" in America she means that it is hard as as immigrant to hold onto your culture and values because you are all alone in a completely new world.
"Double Face" by Amy Tan
"It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America" means you cant keep the same exact traits from when you were in china because this is a whole new country and evfrything is different here. It also means you have to blend in with everybody else. I you ont blend in you wont be accepted or you wont have an easy life.
"Auntie An-mei can cut me," I say.
"Rory is famous," says my daughter, as if she had no ears. "He does fabulous work." I think when Waverly said that it shows you must blend in or change your looks to look like evryone else. At sometimes it might make the people you know embarrased when your in public.
"First," she said, "you must find a husband An American citezen is best." Even though after that she said Chinese citizen, it is still meant that to have the best life in America, it's best to marry an American beacuse they are the same and know the best of America. Even a Chinese citizen would most likely know the rules and country in someway.
Until i read this story i haven't actually realized how hard it is for an immigrant to get into this country.
When Lindo says "it is hard to keep your Chinese face in America" i think she is stating a believe that when your in America, even though all different cultures come to live together, you lose some of the culture you were born with. Though America is diverse, the people who live there are almost one and the same, and they all have one fact in common, they are all American. i think that no matter how hard you try, if you like it or not, your culture will decline gradually.
I think that Lindo also means that China is such a different place, from obvious facts like the language to more hidden facts, like the rituals they might preform. if you move anywhere it is not the same place as your previous home, and you will also change eventually too. The people who lived/live where you are living help you change and your culture change too. Eventually you will become an "American" and your "Chinese" will disappear a little if not disappear completely.
Hi tom,
I think that the narrator is trying to say that when you migrate from China to the United States it is so overwhelming. If you come when you are little and your parents don't teach you your culture then you will get lost in the crowd and you loose who you really are. America is full of so many races and so many different cultures that you just blend in. For example a normal person when experiencing a new place feels lost in the crowd. But everyone knows that some time in their life they have wanted to fit in but many people didn't want them to. So when the narrator say's when you move to a new place you loose your chinese face i think this is what it means,
I think that this quote means that after you move to another country or place with different traditions, values, customs, morals etc. you may see yourself slowly changing to the tune of this new place. In the long run you might find yourself eventually losing some of the customs of the place you originated from. For instance, Lindo marries a man from a different dialect than her, which is against her traditions. While she might still keep some of her "Chinese face" she losses some of it too.
I think this quote means that it is hard to stay committed to your race and/or culture when you are far away from your community. In America the diversity of people can be overwhelming. The influences and the actions of others can turn your former self into a whole other person. There are places where you are accepted for who you are and places where you are not. Once people recognize you for who you are they will start to treat you like everyone else. All people are treated differently and the same as others. Inside you are the same human being. Helena
I think that that it means that once you move to America, you become a different person. When Lindo first moved to America, she knew nothing about it, but as she lived there for a longer time, she became more aware of her surroundings. Lindo was only Chinese when she first moved to America, but later on when she was able to call herself both Chinese and American, and the American part of her took over the Chinese part of her so it had seemed that she had lost her Chinese face in America. Therefor saying that she had lost her Chinese heritage/part of her to the American part. An example is when Lindo first says "It is hard to keep your Chinese face in America." When Lindo first got to America someone had told her that she had to hide her true self. Lindo had to keep her Chinese part of her a secret in order for her to make a living and to be accepted in America. I think that this quote means that once in America, you are no longer 'one face' you are the faces of the people who you are around a lot, and the face/ faces that people want you to be.
I think what the narrator means when she says "It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America." is that when you're born in an entirely different country that has different cultures and manners, you have to make a huge transition to get accustomed to the comparison of American life. "She learned these things, but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character. How to obey parents and listen to your mothers mind." The narrator explains several opinions on what Chinese character is like to her. You can tell from the story that to her, Chinese character is very important. So for her, it is especially hard to find herself becoming changed by American style and life. I think that when the narrator says it's hard to keep your Chinese face in America, applies to all immigrants. Even before arriving in America, you're pressured in a way to hide your countries values and culture. Like the narrator explains, America is a place where they smile and talk to you but at the same time hide away their real selves and faces. When you live around that for 40 years, you get pulled into it and slowly seem to pull yourself away from others as well, making "American faces and smiles" like the narrator explains. It's like she's saying it's hard to keep all your core values, cultures and countries roots when you're surrounded by America which seems to pressure you out of it.
In "Double Face" by Amy Tan, when the narrator says "It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America" I think she means that, when you're in a place like America, and you come from an extremely different country such as China, it may be hard to stay who you are, and stay with your Chinese cultures. When you're in America for a while, you begin to pick up certain things that we americans do, and it makes it hard to hang on to your old culture. An example is how Lindo's daughter used to speak chinese and be more into the culture, but now, she can barely even remember ten words and she has gotten more into material things.
America and China are extremely different and the short story really shows us that by the way that it demon-straights how much Lindo has changed.
When the narrator states “it is hard to keep a Chinese face in America” she is saying it is hard to live a double life. In one sense, Lindo is attempting to embrace her Chinese heritage, yet at the same time, she wants to wreak the benefits of America such as democracy and social justice. While I find her expectations quite reasonable (as she is trying to live a decent life in an environment suitable for children0, they are quite unrealistic.
In moving to America her Chinese children gain a new attitude and even if they are immersed in their heritage, it will influence them. Americans are not by nature wasteful or disrespectful, but in living a privileged American life style you begin to take things for granted. For example, Lindo reflects upon all this as she goes to a barber, something normal for most Americans. She is not used to having a barber cut her hair, and I assume that for most of her life she cut her own hair. Not only is this something foreign to her, but it is also something considered artificial in China. In China, things like going to barber do not matter as much as social appearances. The American and the Chinese societies counter each other: each does some things right and some things wrong. The Chinese raise their children with character as opposed to American tendency to raise their children with freedom of speech and luxuries. I believe that a perfect mixture is ideal, but as depicted by the author “Double Face” highly unrealistic.
I think this quote means that the mother, choosing to move to America and raise a family there, made it harder for her to remain Chinese. She is changing on the outside as well as the inside and is becoming a whole new person. An example of this is when she decided to visit China after 40 years of living in America. "I had taken off my fancy jewelery. I did not wear loud colors. I spoke their language. I used their local money. But still, they knew. They knew my face wasn't one hundred percent Chinese. They still charged me high foreign prices." This just proves that although her efforts to remain Chinese were strong, it got harder for her to resist the urge to blend in with everyone els in America.
Although America is supposed to be a racially diverse country, some people forget that. Those people think that being different is wrong, and they don't want to be considered "seperated" from the others. They're giving up their looks, their beliefs, their culture, and their personalities to be un-noticed. They don't realize that to be different is to make a difference. I think that's really sad because they don't realize that being different is what makes you special.Otherwise, it's like you erased yourself and penciled in a diffrent person.
This story has something to do with being true to yourself. This story may also be a testament to children of mixed ethnicities. Some issues that Lindo shows are knowing who she is mentally and feeling great about herself physically. The Chinese Face in America quote has little to with Chinese and Americans, but has an even wider meaning that that. The spite basically means, "it's hard to be yourself in a different environment". Waverly, even though she is married, is as insecure as a young teenage girl checking her makeup in the beginning of the day. There may be insecurity at the beginning of the day, but soon you will blend into society and be excepted for who you are.
When the narrator expresses her ideas about "Keeping her Chinese Face in America," she is expressing the difficulty of being understood in the US. She begins the story at the beauty parlor, talking about putting on her "American Face," and her "Chinese face":
"I smile. I use my American face. that's the face americans think is chinese because they cannot understand." and then, "I smile, this time, with my Chinese face." Being misunderstood is a large piece of keeping you're "Chinese face."
Another aspect of the idea of "the Chinese face in america," is the discovery of not being able to find a balence of where you are welcome, and how you are seen. In America, the narrator talks about how many circumstances she put's up with. She deals with the harsh job of the cookie factory, and trying to find a husband who is a citizen. However, she tells her daughter that Chinese Americans are seen differently in China. Even if you "put on their clothes, even if you take off your make-up and hide your fancy jewelery, they know." It is not only difficult to have a "Chinese Face", or maintain the ability to still be seen as chinese, but it is also difficult to keep you're "American Face." You cannot find a middle ground in this situation.
This quote can mean a number of things. You can take it literally and say that its hard to keep your chinese face because of the American 'Melting Pot'. That you blend in with a crowd of foreigners. Chinese, African American, Irish, it doesn't matter what race you are just like everyone else.
You can also look at it in the eyes of a writer, thinking of the meaning under the meaning. In this case you can think that the chinese face as innocence to the American culture. The chinese face could also be awareness, keeping in your emotion held in, sticking a happy mask over your upset one.
The American has emotion spilling all over the place. The American face is disrespectful towards elders. The America face is careless. Her daughter has acquired this face.
I agree with Louisa somewhat in thinking the quote is about the hardships of being a Chinese immigrant. Lindo talks about the differences in Chinese and American culture. In China, a woman would not show her emotions and she keeps her views traditional. "I smile. I use my American face... But inside I am becoming ashamed." Lindo complains about how her daughter has been "americanized", and has retained few or any of her mother's views. I think what Lindo is basically trying to say is because of the amount of cultural differences between China and America, it is difficult to maintain the values you grew up with.
when the narrorator states "it's hard to keep your Chinese face in America"not only do I think that she is saying that it is hard to keep your tradition and culture but it is very chaotic in America so you can also become physicaly changed from injuries. She is also saying that it is hard to keep traditional promises.
I think this quote means that once you are in America-and living there, you're just another stranger in the crowd walking to where you need to be.
"At the beginning, before I even arrived , I had to hide my true self." This quote is right after
"It's hard to keep a Chinese face in America."
She had to pretend to be someone else, some one she's not. She was suppose to lie to get into America. However, no one asked her any questions. Even so she still had a different life. Not all of it was a lie, but this was her only way to live in America.
She says things like " I smile. I use my American face." and "I smile, this time with my Chinese face." It goes on. So apperently there are these different faces that Americans call "Chinese" and Chinese call "American." by this you can tell, that when she says "It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America." she is saying that you can't hide. You can't get away from what you already are. They can tell. They can tell that you are different. It's something in a person's mind that they can just tell something is different about that person. So what this quote is saying is that when you are in America, the land of freedom, and they look at someone they can tell, atomatically that you are Chinese. It's your cuture, something you were born with. People will treat you differently just because the way you look.
However it takes time to be treated like everyone else.
Mikah
When the narrator says that "It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America," I believe that she means it is hard to bring one culture into another. It is hard to have traditions and customs from one country, that people in America don't follow and don't believe. This is what causes people to push aside what they have grown up with and observed from other places. When people in America may not believe the same thing as you, you may feel like an outsider which could lead to feeling abnormal or different. When someone comes to a new country they usually want to fit in. For example, in Japan, sterilized masks are commonly worn. Coming to America wearing a mask may be confusing to some Americans, and this may result in this Japanese person feeling self conscious.
"No, this kind of thinking didn't stick to her. She was too busy chewing gum, blowing bubbles bigger than her cheeks. Only that kind of thinking stuck."
From this quote I realize that a person will be more familiar with something they practice or do as apposed to something that their parents may do or something they did when they were little. In this quote the mother is trying to point out that her daughter is too caught up in the American culture.
As the mother was forced to get her hair done, you could see that the daughter was ashamed of her. She was sucked into these American ways and wanted her mother to be like that too.
"I think about our two faces. I think about my intentions. Which one is american? Which one is chinese? Which one is better? If you show one you must sacrifice the other". This quote talks about the ideas of having an American face Vs. a Chinese face, and the idea of the two cultures. I think when You move to America it's hard to keep your own culture and also adapt to a new one. Chinese and America are very different, and that makes the keeping your culture even harder. Moving to a new country is really hard and you have to learn how to be completely different person in some aspects, but you also have to keep your roots. Being in a new country can also make you feel like a fish out of water. When Amy Tan writes about having a Chinese face and an American face, what comes to mind is the part of the story when the mother talks about having her fortune read. Facial features such as the forehead, nose, and chin are all important in telling one's fortune, and when the mother and daughter go to the hair solon they see how similar they look. The mother sees how her face has changed over the years and connects it with having bad luck. Both mother and daughter realize they will never be able to keep their Chinese roots deep and also stay an American. As the mother said, even when she visited China they could still see the American in her.
This quote means that in spite of Chinese heritage, in America, the culture is adaptable, and the newcomer will adapt and change their ways of living to suit their new way at some point or another. In China, it’s not as important to know your way around and have the same way of living as your peers as it is in America because you have more guidance. After a while, the new style of life will really sink in and it will be hard to readjust. One example of this is the quote at the end;
“It is like what happened when I went back to China last year, after I had not been there for almost forty years. I had taken off my fancy jewelry. I did not wear loud colors. I spoke their language. I used their local money. But still, they knew.”
The change will especially be recognizable after one comes back after so much time blending in. It is almost a metamorphosis.
When Amy Tan says "It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America.", I think she means that it's hard to keep a balance between multiple cultures at once. When you move from one country to another, it's like being a fish out of water; it's awkward. Eventually after living among other people, people that don't look like you or act like you, you slowly start to blend in. You lose your identity and forget about who you really are. Sometimes you forget your old culture after you adopt a new one. You can embrace this new adopted culture, but it's easy to get caught up in it. Before you know it, you've left your old culture behind. Waverly's mother, Lindo almost fell into the trap and forgot who she was, but by the end of the story, you could tell that she knew who she was and cherished her identity.
-Kai M.
I think that when the Narrator speaks of keeping your Chinese face she is talking about how despite her best efforts, her daughter turned out to be completely american. The Narrator still feels like an outsider and is looked upon as one even by her own daughter. When she sees her daughter, she sees a lot herself in her, but as a more american version of her. This would explain the title of the story, “Double Face”, meaning that she was the Chinese immigrant version of herself and her daughter was the American version of her. Her daughter will always be an American and will always continue using her American culture.
I think that she means it is hard to not try to fit in when you are in a new strange place. It is hard to keep your old ways and traditions when you are forced to be in a totally different environment where those ways and traditions do not exist. after a while it can make life easier if you change and fit in with the new culture because when you are put in a new environment you may not be able to keep doing things the way you have always done them. It can help to try and adapt to your new environment so you can more easily prosper. Lindo was having a hard time being an outsider from all the people she was surrounded by so she tried to become more American herself. In the hair salon she explained how it felt to be treated as an outsider and how no one talks to you the same way or looks at you the same way. How it seems people can always tell you are an outsider.
It was a great short story. When Waverly’s mother says, “It’s hard to keep on to your Chinese face in America” She means that it’s hard to hold on to your old identity when you have a new one. Not being recognized as Chinese and not wanting to have an American identity have left Waverly’s mother feeling out of place. She idealizes Chinese culture and looks down on American culture. For example her insight on American and Chinese culture is visible when she sees the two fake- pagodas. “I saw two pagodas, one on each side of the street, as though they were the entrance to a great Buddha temple. But when I looked carefully, I saw the pagoda was really just a building topped with stacks of tile roofs, no walls, nothing else under its head. I was surprised how they tried to make everything look like an old imperial city or an emperor’s tomb. But if you looked on either side of these pretend-pagodas, you could see the streets became narrow and crowded, dark, and dirty. I thought to myself, why did they choose only the worst Chinese parts for the inside? Why didn’t they build gardens and ponds instead? Oh, here and there was the look of a famous ancient cave or a Chinese opera. But inside it was always the same cheap stuff.” This passage in the story is a metaphor for how an American face at first sight looks very welcoming, but like the pretend-pagodas, deep inside the person they are cheap and dirty. Waverly’s mother would have chosen to decorate the inside rather than the outside of the building represents the Chinese Face. The Chinese face looks very modest from the outside, but in the inside is serene and beautiful.
Throughout this whole short story, there is this notion that she feels like an outsider. From the time where she went to the hairdresser with her daughter to when she's talking about what papers she has to fill out to go to the U.S. I think the narrator is basically saying it's hard to stay in America for a while without getting accustomed to they're way's of life. In other words, you loose some of your Chinese culture; Soon, they might forget where they're from and start becoming something they aren't from originally.
The intention of the quote, "It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America" is to have the reader really visualize the two cultures (American, Chinese) and think of all the ways they contrast. To go from a place that is very greatful to a place with people that tell you, "we are in American now. Even a beggar can starve on this dollar." I assume the character is shocked by the old woman's complaint since everyone in China takes things for granted.
The main character talks about how in China, each and every body part symbolizes a negative or positive result. A positive result is if you were blessed with a wide forehead which symbolizes cleverness. A negative result would be a crooked nose which is "bound" for misfortune. The main character feels as if her body parts on her face have all turned into a negative. It's almost as if she feels like her beloved culture is fading from her.
I feel if you move from one enviorment to another, you'll just become more accustomed to your newer one, which will make you feel as if you've changed.
i think that she thinks it is hard for one to keep their chinese traditions and customs if one communicated a lot with Americans, and will change to be like them because one would think it is natural to act American; he/she is around americans. I believe that Lindo dislikes some habits of americans-very open, their face does not conceal anything and chew gum. She does not want to have these habits, but it really is hard to not act "normal", like others(not saying that the american description would fit for everyone, it only is what Lindo thinks). But no matter how much effort one puts in to acting chinese, people would know you are american in the inside, and the knowledge of that would make you feel embarrased. Embarrased that people are thinking, "stop being Chinese, we know you are american" towards you.
Just like for Waverly, she would try to keep her chinese face in china, but its really hard as she is already "americanalized", so people would know that she is american on the inside and make her feel embarrased.
I Notice when my mom is in the nail salon that people have a more severe face when they are speaking their dialect versus the seeming more mellow English. This could be part of what Amy means. But she may also mean presentation and how a more Americanized Chinese person may carry themselves differently or even use different facial expression that are not common in their native language. An exaple could be the face people make when they are trying to say ummmmmmm. its very confused. It is a facial expression that not many other cultures use. So I think Amy is talking about he little things that only a trained ear can hear and when different you look different making you lose your Chinese face.
Since she is not from America and is Chinese, she thinks that she doesn't really fit in America. it also seems hard to stay with her culture when she is far from her country and their ways of life. Moving is tough to get used to. So Lindo was kind of inundated with all this american stuff when she is used to having chinese traditions and cultures around her.
“Double Face” means even though she has a Chinese face, she also has an American face. Like living two worlds, Chinese and American.
When at the hair salon, Lindo’s daughter was ashamed of her because she was Chinese and got very upset when her husband to be said that they looked alike. Her daughter thought that looking the same makes her Chinese, and she just wants to be American. She doesn’t want to be like her mother.
-Brianna♥
When the girl says "its hard to keep your chinese face American" i think she means that when you live some where a while you start to get use to the customs in that place. While when you were in the place you were from you know how to act and nothing changes but when you go to a new place things start to change. Also that because you a certain race, it does not mean you will stick out of the crowd. Every one is different in their own way. I think the author really put depth in the story, it kind of catches the reader's eye and pulls him or her in. -Isaiah
I think she means that living with American customs and people can give you an American face no matter where you are born. She knows she is chinese, but she may look into the mirror and see an American. Americans have all different faces, but an American can tell who is an American and who is not, same as anywhere else. When Lindo says, "They knew my face was not one hundred percent Chinise. The still charged me high foreign prices," she means that she couldn't help that her face had become American. That even though she still has her Chinese face in her heart, her American face is dominant. She is "double faced."
-Camrin
hey tom
i think the quote means that she is an outsider because she is different. "When you go to China, you don't even need to open your mouth. They already know you are an outsider"(p1) It means that they are different and it is hard to keep your culture. For example say you are american and you go to Mexico but you don"t speak Spanish at all, they will know you are an outsider
just remember crazybob is brad
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