Journal Entry #2

Amy tan gives a heartwarming speech about her heritage in the white house. As a child, her heritage was loud and clear due to the strict warnings and that would determine what is good and bad for her. For example, her mother would warn her about “wacky things” or superstitions like if she kisses a man, she would make a baby automatically with her and all the troubles that come with it. As a daughter, she had to go through heritage that would go against the values she grew up in as an American citizen. Her heritage is useful for her as a writer because the many people she met and are close to have an extraordinary story to tell, which is shocking and intriguing to hear about. As she also expresses the heritage of her mother she mentions her mother’s past of suffering where she was abused by her husband and had to see her son away.

My heritage is something I was taught with and was ingrained into my body ever since I was a young child. I understood the hardships my mother and her family had to go through to come here to the U.S and having to abounded everything she had in Korea, her home country. My mother worked hard to make money to support me and my family. Since, I am an Asian I feel a strong connection to Amy Tan’s experiences with warnings, as my mother would also warn me not to shake my legs as it brings in bad luck. Since my mother always tell me other Korean traditions and superstitions, I would try to follow them as best as I can by shaking my legs a lot less around them. These experiences of my family’s heritage caused me to feel a powerful sense of duty to become successful so I can finally reward my parents for all the hardships they have gone through to come here and have me and my sister. Every Asian immigrant had an unique story to share just like my mother and just like Amy Tan’s mother