stereotypes about particular ethnic groups. Good starting points are offered
in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature (2005)
entries “African American Stereotypes,” “Arab American Stereotypes,”
“Chinese American Stereotypes,” “Italian American Stereotypes,” “Jew-
ish American Stereotypes,” “Mexican American Stereotypes,” and “Native
American Stereotypes.” Using a novel, short stories, a play, or poem(s)
mentioned in this essay or in listed critical works and anthologies, students
might consider the following questions: Are these stereotypes reflected or
addressed in the work? Does the writer challenge the stereotype? If so, in
what ways? How does the writer represent his/her cultural or ethnic iden-
tity? One might also compare how stereotypes are challenged or co-opted
in works by two different writers from similar traditions or across different
cultural traditions.
- Coming-of-age novels trace the development of the protagonist from child-
hood or adolescence into adulthood and usually involve disillusionment as he
or she moves from innocence to experience, ignorance to knowledge, or ideal-
ism to realism. The identities of ethnic American adolescents are shaped by the
culture(s) of their families as well as by dominant society. The volatility of ado-
lescence combined with cultural negotiations that ethnic Americans undertake
make the genre particularly powerful and appealing to American writers of
diverse cultural backgrounds. Analyzing coming-of-age novels draws out the
unique challenges that race and ethnicity impose on the development of non-
white protagonists. What happens when characters realize that their skin color,
religion, food, and habits are different from those of their friends? How does
this awareness affect their sense of self and/or their attitudes toward their fam-
ily members and root culture? How is the process of growing up complicated
by the realization of “minority” status in a predominantly white society? Is the
awareness of cultural difference empowering or disabling to the individual?
Why or why not?
- Students might also consider comparing a coming-of-age novel from the 1970s
to one written more recently, paying close attention to attitudes about race and
ethnicity. Do you see a change in attitude on the part of the protagonists? What
social or historical reasons might there be for differences/similarities? Another
way to approach this topic is to consider the way ethnic American writers
use the coming-of-age novel to counteract historical and social marginaliza-
tion. In other words, how does the act of self-definition challenge those who
would define them stereotypically? Some suggested works and comparisons:
Kingston’s The Woman Warrior (1976) or Wong’s Homebase (1979) with Chin’s
Donald Duk (1991) or Gish Jen’s Mona in the Promised Land (1996); Tan’s The
Joy Luck Club (1989) with Keller’s Comfort Woman (1997); Mukherjee’s Jasmine
(1989) with Lahiri’s The Namesake (2003); Houston’s Farewell to Manzanar
(1973) with Julie Otsuka’s When the Emperor Was Divine (2002); Rivera’s... y
no se lo trágo la tierra (1971), Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima (1972), or Mohr’s Nilda
(1973) with Alvarez’s How the García Girls Lost Their Accents (1991), Helena
María Viramontes’s Under the Feet of Jesus (1995), or Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous
Life of Oscar Wao (2007).
Multiculturalism and Globalization 9
