Kay’s Potrayal in the Novel
However, people around her, especially White Americans, insisted that she is not an American but a Chinese instead. This happened because Kay was born from
Bill and Irene Shen, who were first-generation Chinese immigrants, causing her to have the same physical features as a Chinese. Believing herself as an American,
this stereotype made Kay feel that she was a foreigner in her own country. As Fei noted
When Byron motioned for her to join him in a dim corner of the hotel lobby, she said, “The short answer is, Asian American have always been
treated as foreigner, and I wanted to change that” Fei, 2010:213 This part showed Kay’s answer toward Byron when he asked about her reason to
join Asian-American organizations. Kay’s answer showed that in America, Asian- Americans, including Chinese-Americans, were treated as non-American instead
of American citizens. Like Kay, they were unable to say that they were Americans as people around them would still insist that they are Chinese. This unfair
treatment made Kay experience a difficulty to answer a simple question “Where are you from?” from the people around her. It was a question with a simple
answer for everyone, but not Kay Where are you from? That relentless question, long the bane of her
existence, and every other Asian American’s; the one question that somehow was, to the questioner, of paramount importance. In America, no
matter if you were American-born, spoke only English, knew nothing else, the answer that satisfied people was China, or something equally foreign
Fei, 2010 : 63. This part showed how this stereotype made Kay, and other Asian-Americans,
confused about their origin. Her honest answer to the question was “I’m
American” because she was born and raised in America. However, this answer did not satisfy the questioners, as the most satisfying answer for them is Chinese. As
Fei noted, the questioner thought this question as a “paramount importance,” meant that they needed to satisfy themselves by saying that Kay is not an
American but a Chinese. The reason perhaps, because these people still cling to what Allport called “false-generalizations” about Chinese people and American
citizens. These people still thought that an American must be white so that they would still address Kay as Chinese no matter how many times she convinced
them. In addition, according to Song, the Whites used Chinese people’s “alleged inability to deny them to become real Americans.” It means that the Whites used
the Chinese’s own characteristics the fact that they are Non-White to deny their American citizenship thus refused to call them “Americans.” This act and
stereotype have already existed for a long time but still repeated throughout generations. The stereotypes would exist as long as people still cling to their
perspective about “real” American citizens, which are White people .
As this way of thinking existed, people like Kay will have no chance to call themselves
“Americans.” To counter these stereotypes Kay taught the Chinese people in America, especially those who did not have privilege speak fluent English andor
American born to defend themselves against this question. Kay insisted and kept reminding them that “All Americans except Native Americans were immigrants”
Fei, 2010: 216. Therefore, the Chinese-Americans had an equal position with White Americans, as they were both foreigners. This fact means that the Chinese-
Americans too can reply that they are also Americans if people ask them “Where do they come from?” In conclusion, according to Kay, all races in America have
the right to call themselves “Americans” because all of them are immigrants. Kay’s point is true, although the fact is still the other way around.
This act of seeing Chinese-Americans as strangers was considered as a stereotype. It can be seen from the way of how the Americans treated Kay that
matched Feagin’s definition about stereotypes. The Americans formed an overgeneralization beyond evidence knowledge and identification that Chinese
were not Americans simply because they were not Whites and they were immigrants. The Americans refused to acknowledge the proof that the Chinese-
Americans too had legal documents as American citizens like them. Ironically, the White Americans also failed to remember that they were immigrants too, a fact
that caused them to have no right to call Chinese-Americans immigrants as they both are immigrants. Instead of accepting the truth, the White Americans were
more likely to cling onto their overgeneralization about Chinese-Americans and repeated it from time to time ignoring the evidences, as Feagin had noticed.