Comparison of Sources of Douglass & Wang Ping

There are a number of similarities and differences in the primary sources written by Frederick Douglass (The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave) and Wang Ping (American Visa: Short Stories). For instance, both are works that demonstrate the authors' struggles for individuation against a harsh environment. Both works are evidence of the struggles and sacrifices individuals must endure to survive and better themselves in an oppressive environment. So, too, each work demonstrates that through the power of love both Douglass and Ping are able to overcome enormous obstacles, develop and grow, and define their own identity irrespective of environment. While Ping's experiences focus more on family and self than culture and Douglass' experiences focus more on the impact of slavery and racism than family, each works stands as testament to its respective author's efforts to define themselves in the face of environmental challenges.

We see in both Douglass' Narrative and Ping's American Visa that each author had to sacrifice and endure hardship in order to better themselves in the face of a harsh environment. For Douglass, that environment consisted of the racism, prejudice, and abuse of American slavery; while for Ping the pressures of family and culture created similar challenges. In order to educate himself, Douglass was initially schooled by the wife of his master. However, her teaching him the alphabet was meant with disdain b

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titution-sent a thrill of joy through my soul, such as I had never felt before! (p. 114). Seaweed faces similar degrees of joy as she becomes more liberated and delves deeper into an exploration of her identity away from the rigid confines of her family and Chinese culture. Seaweed's experiences span two cultures and include the repressive and sexist environment of Maoist China as well as her experiences as a minority in American culture. We see how women in China are often confined to rigid roles and norms of behavior, including everything from surgical procedures to prevent the natural processes of the body (sweating) and foot binding (to make them more attractive to males). In contrast to Douglass' experiences, we see that the oppressors in Ping's tales of Seaweed include family relations. We also see how Seaweed must emerge as a struggling writer with an identity of her own fashioning, after years of living a life as a Navy brat and struggling to become politically correct enough to gain admission to school. As Chua (p. 595) says in her review of American Visa, like Douglass' Narrative the narratives of Seaweed demonstrate individuation through hope and endurance in the face of daunting circumstances: "The stories have th

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