This paper is a consideration of issues raised in two works of fiction by female Asian American writers. The first is a short story written by an established Filipino American author, Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn, entitled, "The Blossoming of Bongbong." The second is a first-time novel by a Japanese American writer, Ruth L. Ozeki, titled, My Year of Meats. These two works illustrate important concerns of many Asian Americans: feelings of alienation and isolation that many immigrants and children of immigrants face, the contrast of cultures that characterize the Asian attempts to join the American melting pot, and the ways that such attempts both succeed and clash with what it means to be an American. Both works share some literary devices in dealing with these complex subjects, including the use of letters, memos, and quotes. Both also use food and recipes for food from contrasting cultures to illustrate the struggles that Asian Americans often face as they try to understand and be understood by their adopted culture. One shows clearly the tragedy and isolation that these efforts can produce, while the other offers a more optimistic but ultimately no less profound examination of what it means to be Asian American in modern society.
Robert G. Lee observes, "The history of Asians in the United States has been a continuous struggle against racial exclusion and subordination" (xi). Asian immigration has been regulated and restricted in ways not felt by immigrants from other areas of the world, and much of this discrimination has been racially based. As Sau-Ling Cynthia Wong writes, "From a legal perspective, the peoples previously known as Orientals and now designated as Asian Americans have almost all, at one time or another, been excluded from U.S. citizenship" (5).
Yet, as Lee points out, "Asia is not a biological fact but a geographic designation" (2). The label "Asian" describes peoples who share a very broad geography ...