The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl / Page 43, #2 & #3

After I read this essay, I found that Elizabeth Wong and her brother didn’t want to go to the Chinese school on Yale Street, and “no amount of kicking, screaming, or pleading” could change their mother’s mind. Two of the causes of this result were because that they had to walk the seven long, hilly blocks from their home to school and they could not play with their fourth and fifth grade friends or sneak out to the empty lot to hunt ghosts and animal bones.  

        Their mother wanted them to go to the Chinese school in order to learn the language of their heritage. She wanted them to be proud of their own heritage and where they came from. Unexpectedly, Elizabeth was embarrassed by her grandmother and the language of her culture. To her, the Chinese culture and language was too common and lacked the beauty and refinement of other languages like French and English.