Short Story
Background of Author: Amy Tan
• Born: 19.02.1952
Oakland, California
• Occupation: Writer
• Nationality: American
• Notable Work:
The Joy Luck Club (novel)
Personal Life of Amy Tan
• Tan is the second of three children born to Chinese
immigrants Daisy (née Li) and John Tan, an electrical
engineer and Baptist minister.
• When Tan was 15 years old, her older brother Peter and
father both died of brain tumors.
• Daisy moved Amy and her younger brother John Jr. to
Switzerland, where Amy finished high school. During this
period, Amy learned about her mother's former marriage to
an abusive man in Shanghai, China, and of their four
children, including three daughters and a son who died as a
toddler.
Personal Life of the Amy Tan
• Tan received her bachelor's and
master's degrees in English and
linguistics from San José State
University, and later did
doctoral linguistics studies at
UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley.
• She resides in Sausalito,
California, with her husband,
Louis DeMattei, a tax attorney
whom she met on a blind date
and married in 1974. their
children are Bubba and Lilli.
Quiz
Short Story: Two Kinds
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What city is the setting?
What does the mother think of America?
What does the mother wants her daughter to be?
What did the mother lose in China?
What was the first kind of prodigy the mother wanted the daughter
to be?
6. Does the daughter like this? Why?
7. What kind of job does the mother have?
8. In your opinion, do you think “predicting the daily temperatures in
Los Angeles” is a realistic expectation?
9. What happens when the girl doesn’t meet her mother’s
expectations?
10. Why does the girl start counting the bellows?
Quiz
Short Story: Two Kinds
11. What does the mother see on the Ed Sullivan show that mesmerizes
her?
12. How does the mother pay for the piano lessons?
13. What is the name of the piano teacher?
14. Why did he retire from teaching piano?
15. What kind of piano player does the daughter become? Why?
16. Who is Auntie Lindo?
17. What piece of music does Jing-mei play for her recital?
18. What does Jing-mei say that finally end the piano lessons?
19. What gift does Jing-mei’s parent offer her at the end of the story?
20. What was the two piece of music she plays at the end of the story?
Synopsis
• In this story, the narrator, Jing-mei, a Chinese-American
girl whose mother believes that by living in America
anyone can be anything they want to be, and so is
determined to find hidden talent in her daughter. Jingmei is repeatedly tested to reveal any kind of talent
• However, she resists her overbearing mother’s desire
to make her into a musical prodigy in order to compete
with one of her friend’s daughters. She continually
disappoints not only her mother, but herself as well
and becomes determined not to try to have any talent
at all.
Setting
• San Francisco
• The story is about a young girl’s coming of age
in a family that has recently emigrated from
China to America
Point of View
• First person
• From the point of view of an adult looking
back on her own childhood experiences.
• This gives the story a rich double perspective,
allowing both the hindsight and judgment of a
mature woman and also the freshness and
innocence of a young person trying to
discover her own identity.
Tone
• Humour
– We see the humor in the story right from the first page
when Jing Mei tells us her mother wants her daughter to
become "a Chinese Shirley Temple," (an allusion) as Jingmei says."We'd watch Shirley's old movies on TV as if they
were training films,“
– Her mother's knowledge comes mainly from TV and the
magazines she finds in the homes of people whose house
she cleans. "Reader's Digest", "Ripley's Believe It or Not",
and "Good Housekeeping", though very popular, are not
usually regarded as having any serious content.
Tone
• Humour
– Note how inept each of Jing Mei's teachers are: the
beautician has unsteady hands and can't cut hair
properly and Old Mr. Chong, her supposed music
teacher, is actually deaf.
– The chances that Jing Mei really have of succeeding in
becoming a prodigy with such inept teachers are slim.
This is a bit pathetic, but also funny.
– In the early stages of her attempts to fulfill her
mother's hopes for her, Jing Mei imagines herself as
Peter Pan, a ballerina, Cinderella, and even the Christ
child.
Tone
• Angry
– “It felt like worms and toads and slimy things
crawling out of my chest, but it also felt good, as if
this awful side of me had surfaced, at last.”
– The "worms and toads and slimy things" crawling
out from Jing-mei's chest symbolize the anger and
other dark, negative feelings that have been
penned up deep inside her until this moment.
Tone
• Regret
– Despite Jing Mei and her mother’s differences, her
mother only wanted her to use the capability she
knew she had. Jing-mei’s story tells us that she
regrets not trying to do her best and how she had
taken her mother for granted.
Types of Characters
• Round Character: Jing-mei
(a character who has a complex personality)
– Headstrong (purposefully practices wrong notes) but
wants to be loved (surprised when the recital goes poorly)
• Flat Character: Old Chong
(a character with one kind of personality)
– Deaf and strange, old teacher who does not hear
• Stock Character: Waverly
(a conventional or stereotypical character)
– Jing-mei’s nemesis
Protagonist & Antagonist
• Protagonist: Jing-mei
– She undergoes the main
conflict, she desires to be loved
for herself but she rebels
against her mother
• Antagonist: Jing-mei’s mother
– She is unrealistic and tries to
live vicariously through her
daughter
Indirect Characterisation
• “I began to cry.”
– The action suggests her dissatisfaction with
herself and her mother.
• “You look like Negro Chinese…”
– While the comment is directly characterising Jingmei, the comment itself speaks to the abrasive,
insensitivity of the mother.
Direct Characterisation
• “I looked at my reflection, blinking so that I cold
see more clearly. The girl staring back at me was
angry, powerful.”
– After being pushed by her mother to become a
prodigy, she develops a rebellious attitude toward her
mother. This leads her to stubbornness and hardness.
• “Mr. Chong, whom I secretly nicknamed Old
Chong, was very strange, always tapping his
fingers to the silent music of an invisible
orchestra.
– Mr Chong is a strange man who has a certain
characteristic.
Plot
• Exposition
– The story begins by
explaining that Jing-mei's
family moved to America
when she was a baby, in
1949. Her mother is clear in
her goals: she wants Jing-mei
to be a child prodigy (a
person with exceptional
talent) and famous.
Plot
• Rising action
– Her mother tries to 'discover' her special talents.
She attempts to dominate and control her
daughter's life. It begins with Jing-mei getting a
perm so she could be the next Shirley Temple.
Shirley Temple –
a famous child actress
Plot
• Rising action
– Then, Jing-Mei's mother presents her with many
tests from stories of amazing children. The test
include: knowing the capitals of states, multiplying
numbers in her head, finding the queen of hearts
in a deck of cards, trying to stand on her head
without using her hands, predicting the daily
temperatures in cities, and looking at a page from
the Bible for three minutes to see what she
remembers.
Plot
• Rising action
– Jing-Mei's mother sees a Chinese girl playing the
piano on the Ed Sullivan Show and gets the same
idea for Jing-Mei. Her mother arranges for her to
take lessons with Mr. Chong and this begins to
take over her daughter's free time.
Plot
• Rising action
– Her mother's determination is further sparked by
a couple of scenes involving 'Auntie Lindo". Auntie
Lindo is very proud of her daughter's chess playing
skills, and brags of all of Waverly's trophies.
During one conversation Jing-mei's mother
stretches the truth a little in competition, and
claims Jing-mei is talented with the gift of music.
At this point Jing-mei says: "And right then, I was
determined to put a stop to her foolish pride".
Plot
• Climax : Jing-mei’s humiliation at her own piano
recital.
– Her mother is so proud of Jing-mei's musical talent;
she even invites Auntie Lindo and Waverly to her first
piano recital. Although Jing-mei slacked on her
practicing, she actually feels confident about doing
well at the recital. She is overconfident, in fact, and
her performance was a disaster.
– She disappoints her mother, and makes a fool of her. It
is also clear that she has disappointed herself, and she
regrets not taking lessons more seriously.
Plot
• Climax
– The next day, Jing-mei's stubborn
mother expects her to practice
piano, as if nothing has gone
wrong. This is when she puts her
foot down and refuses. To get her
mother to back off, she tells her
mother that she wished she were
dead.
– After Jing-mei hurts her mother,
her mother finally gives up on her
being a prodigy.
Plot
• Falling action
– Jing-mei never did the best
she could at anything, just to
spite her mother. Deep inside,
she did have some pride in
her piano-when her mother
tells her that the piano is hers,
and she should take it.
Plot
• Resolution
– Jing-mei’s mother has recently passed away. She
has the piano tuned, and sits down to play.
– She plays two songs. The first is entitled "Pleading
Child", and the second one: "Perfectly Contented".
These are songs that she had played when she
was a child. She notices for the first time, after all
of these years, that these two songs are actually
two halves to the same song.
Conflict
• Types of conflict:
– External
• man vs man,
• man vs society,
• man vs supernatural
– Internal
• man vs self
• What type of conflict is
present in “Two Kinds”?
Conflict
• External Conflict
– The battle of the daughter to either fulfill or deny the
expectations of her mother, who wants her to be
some kind of child prodigy so she can brag about her
to her friends. (man vs man)
– Jing-mei struggles to find her place in both the
Chinese and American cultures. (man vs society)
• Internal Conflict
– Jing-mei has internal conflicts because she fears she
will never be special, and she worries about how her
mother feels about her. (man vs self)
Title: Two Kinds
• What is the significance of the title?
“Only two kinds of daughters…Those who are
obedient and those who follow their own
mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in
this house. Obedient daughter!”
Title: Two Kinds
The title illustrates NOT the two kinds of daughters
– These words from Jing-mei’s mother show there
are two kinds of people: the one the mother
wants her to be and the one Jing-mei strives to be.
– The story's title, "Two Kinds," refers to the story's
central concern with the mother and daughter as
two different kinds of people, yet members of the
same family, and the same cultural heritage.
Themes
1. Obedience
– Jing Mei did not understand the truth or meaning
behind that declaration until after her mother’s
death. Jing Mei realized that her mother only
meant that she could be an obedient child by
listening to her mother while at the same time
follow her own heart and want her own prodigy in
life.
Themes
2. Miscommunication
– Miscommunication between immigrant parents
and their American-born children.
– Sometimes this takes the form of a parent doing
something, or deciding something out of love for
the child which the child, in turn, regards as
oppressive.
– Sometimes language itself becomes the problem.
The parents generally retain their first language (in
this case, Chinese) and English, for them, is ESL.
Themes
3. Growing Up
– Only after her childish cruelty and after growing
up and growing apart from the family and her
mother does Jing-mei realize how much influence
her mother has really had on her life.
– She recognizes herself to be not so separate from
her mother after all.
– Perhaps she also realizes life for everyone
resembles the life her mother led; one part of loss
and failure, another part of growth and hope.
Themes
4. Making Choices
• Jing-Mei quickly begins to lose interest in her mother's
dream of being a prodigy and becomes stubborn. "I won't
let her change, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not“.
This clearly shows that Jing-Mei is trying to resist her
mother's domination and control. She wants to be herself
and make her own choices.
Themes
5. Mother-daughter Relationship
– "Two Kinds'' is concerned with the complex
relationships between mothers and daughters. In
particular, the distance between mothers who were
born in China before the communist revolution and
thus have been cut off from their native culture for
decades, and their American-born daughters who
must negotiate the twin burdens of their Chinese
ancestry and American expectations for success.
– Jing-mei’s mother was only trying to pursue the
American dream, which was based on hard work and
a little luck in order to reach achievement and
success.
Themes
6. Hopes and Dreams
– Jing-mei’s mother's believes “you could be anything
you wanted to be in America”. Everything sounds too
simple and too easily achieved. Yet the narrator does
not paint a picture of her mother as ignorant or silly.
The story indicates that America is a symbol of hope
and optimism in the life of a woman who has suffered
numerous tragedies in the form of great personal and
financial loss, and yet refuses to give up her dreams.
Themes
6. Hopes and Dreams
– “America was where all my mother's hopes lay. She
had come here in 1949 after losing everything in
China: her mother and father, her family home, her
first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls. But
she never looked back with regret. There were so
many ways for things to get better.” Her mother's
American dreams, then, function as a symbol of hope
for a brighter future for her daughter.
Themes
6. Hopes and Dreams
• Her mother has many ideas for her to succeed. She
imagines Jing-mei as a prodigy. At first, it was to be
a Chinese Shirley Temple. She even has the child's
hair cut to make her look like the star. Then, it was
anything out of Ripley's Believe it or not, or
Reader's Digest. Jing-Mei's mother would also give
her tests but she failed them all. Her attempted
parental guidance was dominated by foolish hopes
and dreams.
Themes
6. Hopes and Dreams
• The mother's ambitions for her child take shape
one night while watching a nine year old Chinese
girl play the piano on the Ed Sullivan show. The
mother quickly arranges for piano lessons.
• Her mother places high expectations on the child
and tries to live her life through that of her child.
Sometimes, some children fall victim to a parent
trying too hard or placing expectations too high.
Simile
1. How does Jing Mei describe Old Lady
Chong? (she uses two similes to do this: one to
describe to her smell and one to describe her skin)
– The piano teacher's mother, Old Lady Chong, is
said to have a smell "like a baby that done
something in his pants", and skin "like an old
peach", two very vivid similes.
Simile
2. How does Jing Mei describe her own piano
playing?
– Her own piano playing Jing Mei tells us "sounded
like a cat running up and down on garbage cans".
Simile
3. How does Jing Mei describe the people
who come to watch her play piano?
– After her dismal piano recital, people come up to
Jing Mei "like gawkers at the scene of an
accident".
Symbol
• Piano which represents Jing-mei's mother’s
hope in her and she lets her know that she still
believes in her
– In the end of the story, the fact that she had it
tuned and actually sat down to play shows us that
she really cared about her mother-and the pianoafter all.
Symbols
• “…I was to play a piece called
“Pleading Child,” from Schumann’s
Scenes from Childhood. It was a
simple, moody piece that sounded
more difficult than it was.
• “It was called “Perfectly Contented.” I
tried to play this one as well. It had a
lighter melody but with the same
flowing rhythm and turned out to be
quite easy. …after I had played them
both a few times, I realised they were
two halves of the same song.”
Symbol
• “Pleading Child”
– As a child, she had failed to
learn this song called
"Pleading Child." This song
title symbolically refers to her
own position as a child,
silently "pleading" with her
mother not to force her into
an identity not of her own
choosing.
Symbol
• “Perfectly Contented”
– When Jing-mei finds another title:
"Perfectly Contented." This title suggests a
sense of stability and happiness.
– Through playing both "Pleading Child" and
"Perfectly Contented" again as an adult,
Jing-mei reaches a sort of epiphany, or
moment of insight and personal revelation.
Symbol
• Then, she finds that she "realized they were
two halves of the same song." The idea of her
negative associations with being a "pleading
child" in youth are reconciled with the positive
associations of being at least closer to a state
of being "perfectly contented," refers to Jingmei's adult perspective that her childhood self
and her grown-up self represent "two halves"
of the same person, and "two halves" of the
same identity--the Chinese and the American.
Writing Task 1
• “For unlike my mother, I did not believe I
could be anything I wanted to be. I could only
be me.”
– What is the foundation of her mother’s belief?
– What does it mean that she could only be her?
Writing Task 2
• “You could open a restaurant. You could
work…You could…You could…”
– Why do you think the author used this technique?
– What is the mother’s dream?
Writing Task 3
1. Why do you think the mother wants her
daughter to be a prodigy? If you had a daughter,
would you want her to be a prodigy? (Consider
what the mother has gone through.) Why?
2. Why do you think the daughter starts to rebel
against her mother? If you had a mother that is
pushy, would you rebel against her? Why?
3. Why does the daughter get mad about the piano
lessons? If you were the daughter, would you
get mad about it too? Why?
Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 19:713–729, 2009
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1091-1359 print/1540-3556 online
DOI: 10.1080/10911350902910898
Psychological Theories of Immigration
MARIA Y. HERNANDEZ
School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California
Psychology provides a theoretical perspective for the analysis of human behavior and the social environment resulting from immigration. Acculturation outcomes have been of primary interest within
the field of psychology as they connect to immigrant well-being.
This review expands the focus from acculturation outcomes to the
frameworks of acculturative stress, cultural learning, attachment
theory, and ethnic identity to further explore the individual and
social factors impacting immigrant psychological well-being. A
review of each framework’s interpretation for the varied immigrant
adaptation responses is included. In addition, the coping strategies
or mediating factors presented by each framework in connection to
immigrant adaptation within a new environment are discussed.
This review concludes with suggestions for psychological frameworks to expand their research in the immigrant experience to
further contribute to the knowledge base of human behavior and
the social environment.
KEYWORDS Acculturation, attachment theory, cultural learning
theory, ethnic identity, immigrants, psychology
INTRODUCTION
The process of immigration calls for an understanding of human behavior
within the context of a social environment when individuals choose to
relocate for both personal and social reasons often leading individuals in
less developed countries to countries with more resources. Dovidio and
Esses (2001) found that the relocation process creates social consequences
resulting from (a) the reactions of the receiving countries, (b) adaptations
taken by the immigrant group, and (c) mutual exchanges between the immigrating and receiving parties. They also suggest that immigration requires
Address correspondence to Maria Y. Hernandez, School of Social Welfare, University of
California, Berkeley, 120 Haviland Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720. E-mail: hernandezm@berkeley.
edu
713
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M. Y. Hernandez
biopsychosocial adjustment to a new country that can impact the mental
health of immigrants. Despite the importance of the issue of immigration
and its global relevance, researchers find that immigration remains an underresearched area within psychology (Berry, 2001; Dovidio & Esses, 2001).
This brief literature review includes theoretical perspectives on acculturation and acculturative stress. The major themes include (a) utilizing adaptive acculturation responses when acculturating, (b) managing acculturative
stress, (c) learning and exploring the norms of the new culture, and (d)
reshaping an ethnic identity. The first section of this literature review focuses on Berry’s (2001) theory of acculturation as a basis of comparison
with other theories in this review. The next section identifies how immigrants manage stress resulting from acculturation from an acculturative stress
perspective, attachment theory framework, and culture learning approach.
The final section explores how immigrants shape their ethnic identity. The
conclusion summarizes concepts and identifies implications for promoting
an understanding of immigrant behavior within the social environment.
METHODOLOGY
This literature review included several databases (PsycINFO, Social Sciences
Abstracts, PsycARTICLES, and Google Scholar), and the majority of articles
used were found in the PsycINFO database. Keywords used in the searches
included ‘‘psychology and immigration,’’ ‘‘theories of immigration and psychology,’’ ‘‘attachment and immigration,’’ ‘‘cultural learning,’’ ‘‘acculturation,’’
‘‘acculturative stress and immigration,’’ ‘‘ethnic identity,’’ ‘‘ethnic identity of
immigrants,’’ and truncated terms (e.g., ‘‘theor*’’ and ‘‘immigr*’’). Once several relevant articles were gathered, the articles and books of frequently cited
authors were reviewed. A search of books by the identified authors was
facilitated by using the University of California, Berkeley library systems.
Reference sections in chapters and articles were also reviewed for additional sources including frequently cited journals. Two sources, a special
issue of the Journal of Social Issues and The Cambridge Handbook of Acculturation Psychology, provided considerable information on immigration
adaptation to a new culture and the response of the host culture. Other
authors were identified with the assistance of professors at the University of
California, Berkeley, School of Social Welfare, who specialize in the areas of
immigration and mental health.
This literature review has several limitations. First, there is a limited
amount of research devoted to the psychological dimensions of immigration.
Second, several major frameworks related to psychological aspects of immigration overlap with others disciplines (e.g., the sociocultural perspective in
sociology and the social identity theory of social psychology). Third, this
Psychological Theories of Immigration
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brief literature review does not represent a comprehensive discussion of all
aspects of the psychological theories related to immigration.
MAJOR FINDINGS
Acculturation
The basic principles of acculturation theory explore whether acculturation
is a uni-dimensional, bidimensional, or a multi-dimensional process (Van
Oudenhoven, Ward, & Masgoret, 2006). Under the uni-dimensional approach,
the individual loses the original cultural identity and gains the cultural identity
of the new culture. The new culture is acquired as it is considered to be
‘‘psychologically problematic’’ to accept both cultures (Sam, 2006, p. 17).
Under the bi-dimensional approach, the individual can find a balance in
accepting a new culture without losing his or her identification with the
original culture (Sam, 2006).
The multidimensional process includes attitudes, values, behaviors, language, and cultural identity in which the immigrant does not disregard the
values of the country of origin but rather adjusts values while adapting
to those of the new host society (Van Oudenhoven et al., 2006; Thomas
& Choi, 2006). There is consensus among researchers that acculturation is
multidimensional, and Berry (2006) provides a comprehensive approach to
acculturation is his classification of acculturation strategies.
According to Berry (2006), acculturation strategies consist of daily behaviors and attitudes shaped by dominant and non-dominant cultures. These
strategies take into consideration the array of immigrant psychological responses to the new dominant culture, recognizing that not all immigrants
want to increase contact or cultural resemblance with the dominant cultural
group (Berry, 2006). Berry notes that individual preferences include ‘‘maintaining one’s heritage and identity or having contact with and participating
in the larger society along with other ethnic groups’’ (p. 34).
Van Oudenhoven et al. (2006) effectively capture this decision-making
process with the following questions: ‘‘Is it of value to maintain my cultural heritage?’’ or ‘‘Is it of value to maintain relations with other groups?’’
(p. 641). When faced with these questions, four acculturation strategies
can be utilized: (a) assimilation, which places more emphasis on daily
positive interactions with the host society than maintaining one’s cultural
identity; (b) separation, which involves maintaining one’s original culture
while avoiding interaction with others; (c) integration, which represents a
desire to maintain one’s original culture along with positive interactions with
the host society; and (d) marginalization, which reflects the individual’s
decision to neither maintain the original culture nor adopt the new culture
(Berry, 2006; Van Oudenhoven et al., 2006).
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M. Y. Hernandez
According to Yeh (2003), one strategy may not be more effective than
another as there are differences in acculturation strategies selected by ‘‘native
people, ethnic groups, immigrants, refugees, and sojourners’’ (p. 35). Though
some immigrants welcome the acculturation process, others will experience
less choice in the migration process, especially refugees forced to leave their
country of origin (Hovey, 2000). Strategies vary according to the immigrant’s
desire for contact with the new country, the experience of the relocation
process, and the length of contact (Yeh).
The work of Ying and Lee (1999) found the use of acculturation strategies to vary depending on the stage of adolescent development among
Asian youth. Younger Asian youth reflected a state of separation consistent
with uni-dimensional status whereas older adolescents appeared more integrated reflecting a bi-dimensional approach. Ying and Lee posit that younger
adolescents prefer separation or assimilation as they are less cognitively
demanding whereas older adolescents can cognitively manage integration.
Thus, acculturation levels may also depend on the age or developmental
status of the individual.
Berry (2006) found these strategies to be viable when immigrants can
freely select among them. Unfortunately, this is not always the case when
the dominant group creates restrictions that prevent immigrants from gaining
access to the dominant culture. Immigrants are less likely to welcome acculturation when they experience rejection due to ethnic or physical features
that distinguish them from the larger society. Berry also notes that when
‘‘the immigrant group adopts the basic values of the larger society while
the dominant group adapts its basic institutions (e.g., health or education)
to meet the needs of the immigrant group,’’ a multicultural society can
exist (p. 36). He concludes that a society needs to provide the following psychological conditions for integration to occur: (a) cultural diversity,
(b) low levels of prejudice, and (c) positive regard among ethnocentric
groups.
Acculturative Stress
One of the psychological responses to acculturation is acculturative stress.
Therefore, it is important to identify the factors that create acculturative stress,
the outcomes of acculturative stress, the strategies needed to manage acculturative stress, and the impact of acculturative stress on different immigrant
groups.
The concept of acculturative stress can be used to explain some of the
mental health conditions experienced by immigrants. Wei et al. (2007) define
acculturative stress ‘‘as a stress reaction in response to life events that are
rooted in the experiences of acculturation, the psychological difficulties in
adapting to a new culture, or psychological stressors resulting from unfamiliarity with new customs and social norms’’ (p. 386). The concept of stress is
preferred over culture shock for the potential of developing coping strategies
Psychological Theories of Immigration
717
to combat the stressors (Berry, 2006). During the acculturation process, the
individual can experience changes in behavior, attitudes, and identity based
on different ways in which individuals experience the acculturation process
leading to distinct outcomes (Williams & Berry, 1991).
Williams and Berry found that ‘‘societal disintegration’’ occurs when
previously learned cultural norms are not found in the new culture and the
change creates a personal crisis. They also found the negative outcomes
of acculturative stress to possibly include anxiety, depression, somatic complaints, identity confusion, feelings of marginality, and identity confusion.
Jamil, Nassar-McMillan, and Lambert (2007) found post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, panic, depression, and dysthymia in their study of recent
Iraqi immigrants. Hovey (2000) found a correlation between acculturative
stress, depression, and suicidal ideation among adult Mexican immigrants.
Berry (2006) found anxiety and depression to be the most common negative
psychological responses to acculturative stress.
Williams and Berry (1991) found that the following preexisting factors
can lead to higher or lower levels of acculturative stress: ‘‘ability to speak
the new dominate language, prior knowledge of the culture, motives for
contact, attitudes towards acculturation, level of education, values, and or
self-esteem’’ (p. 635). They further noted that the level and type of contact
can also mediate acculturative stress. For example, positive contacts with
the host society can lead to reduced levels of acculturative stress. However,
the levels of stress can increase when individuals encounter a discrepancy
between what they expected and what they found in the new country
(Williams & Berry).
Several studies have identified multiple factors that can diminish or
improve acculturative stress. Longer stay in the new country is expected to reduce acculturative stress (Wei et al., 2007). A multitude of studies have found
that social support from friends, families, and or institutions can reduce acculturative stress (Hovey, 2000; Thomas & Choi, 2006; Wei et al., 2007; Williams
& Berry, 1991). Hovey and Magana (2002) found that socioeconomic status,
the sense of control in the decision to immigrate, and willingness of the new
country to accept cultural diversity are some of the factors that contribute
to different levels of acculturative stress. Yeh (2003) concluded that immigration at younger ages correlates with less mental health symptoms among
Asian youth. Other studies found a connection between lack of language
proficiency and acculturative stress (Duru & Poyrazli, 2007; Hovey, 2000).
On the basis of work by Lazarus and Folkman (1984), Berry (2006) identifies two distinct coping strategies related to managing acculturative stress:
problem-focused coping (to solve or change the problem) and emotionfocused coping (gaining a sense of control over the emotions connected to
the problem; p. 47). Berry found that when coping strategies are adequately
used in response to high levels of stress, the overall level of stress remains
low. Yet, when unresolved stressors are overwhelming, stress levels can lead
to personal crises and to the development of depression and or anxiety.
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M. Y. Hernandez
Researchers of acculturative stress find that a sense of cognitive control
and use of positive coping skills produce better mental health outcomes as
the individual acculturates. Those immigrants who connect the acculturation
process with positive outcomes can also experience better mental health
outcomes (Berry, 2006; Williams & Berry, 1991). However, cognitive control
may not always be enough for positive results during the acculturation
process. For example, Wei et al. (2007) suggest that internal regulation may
not reduce acculturative stress when the cause is an external factor such as
discrimination.
Not all immigrants will be negatively affected by acculturative stress.
For some, the acculturation process can lead to increased opportunities in
the new country and produce less acculturative stress (Hovey, 2000; Hovey
& Magana; 2003; Williams & Berry, 1991). Integration has been found to
be connected to minimal stress levels while assimilation is connected to
intermediate levels of stress (Williams & Berry). In contrast, those who feel
marginalized and separate from their ethnic culture and the dominant culture
experience higher levels of stress (Thomas & Choi, 2006; Williams & Berry).
To summarize, the levels of acculturative stress depend on the mode of
acculturation, acculturation attitudes, phase of acculturation, multiculturalism
in the host society, and characteristics of the individual (Thomas & Choi;
Williams & Berry).
Culture Learning Theory
An examination of psychological theories related to immigration also needs
to include the process of sociocultural adaptation that relates to cultural
learning theory. In making a distinction between psychological and sociocultural adjustment, Ward and Kennedy (1992) define psychological adjustment
as ‘‘psychological and emotional well-being’’ and sociocultural adaptation
as ‘‘the ability to fit in or negotiate interactive aspects of the host culture’’
(p. 178). They explain that though the terms are distinct from each other,
both forms of adjustment are connected, just as a mood disturbance is
connected to social difficulties. For example, when immigrants lack the
knowledge and social skills needed to navigate within a new culture, they
can experience negative psychological outcomes. Ward and Kennedy (1993)
found the connection between psychological and sociocultural adjustment
to vary depending on the distinctiveness of the immigrating individual and
the relocation process. They note that ‘‘the relationship between the two adjustment domains strengthens as the sojourner’s world becomes increasingly
defined by the host culture environment’’ (p. 243).
The management of the acculturation process not only includes acculturative stress but incorporates cultural learning. Culture learning theory focuses
on the social psychology of ‘‘intercultural’’ encounters with a focus on com-
Psychological Theories of Immigration
719
munication competence, knowledge of norms and values, and sociocultural
adaptation (Masgoret & Ward, 2006).
In the area of language proficiency and communication competence,
researchers found that the ability to speak the language of the dominant
culture is connected with an increase in positive sociocultural adjustment
or adaptation to the new community (Clement, Noels, & Deneault, 2001;
Masgoret & Ward, 2006). In essence, the ability to speak the language of
the host country leads to (a) increased participation with the host community, (b) improved cultural learning, (c) increased social support, and (d)
ultimately increased adaptive sociocultural adjustment (Masgoret & Ward,
2006). Masgoret and Ward further find that the simple motivation to speak
a new language also has a positive impact on the improvement of language
competence and on the improvement of contact with the members of the
dominant group. In addition, higher levels of language confidence contribute
to an increase in the identification with other minority groups (Clement et al.,
2001). Searle and Ward (1990) note that friendships with members of the host
culture not only provide an opportunity to learn the norms of the new society
but reduce the difficulties that newcomers experience through positive encounters. Hannigan’s (1990) review of the literature related to cross-cultural
training found that though increased ‘‘intercultural communication can lead
to effective interactions, it may not guarantee adjustment to the host culture’’
(p. 94).
The ability to speak the dominant language is one ingredient of language
competence. Such competence includes an understanding of (a) non-verbal
communications, (b) differences in rules and conventions, (c) differences in
norms and values found in the new country, and (d) different communication
styles (Hannigan, 1990; Masgoret & Ward, 2006). Culture learning theory
emphasizes the importance of rules and conventions used during face-toface interactions (Masgoret & Ward).
Cultural learning theory also emphasizes the importance of ‘‘social axioms’’ defined by Kurman and Ronen-Eilon (2004) as ‘‘beliefs that can guide
behavior in specific situations’’ within a culture (p. 192). Culture learning
theory finds that sociocultural adaptation results from learning the new cultural skills needed to successfully interact with others in a new environment
(Kurman & Ronen-Eilon). Immigrants are expected to lack knowledge of
social axioms, and this deficit can lead to more sociocultural adaptation
problems than the lack of knowledge in cultural values (Kurman & RonenEilon; Masgoret & Ward, 2006). In their review of values and social axioms,
Masgoret and Ward found that knowledge of values is helpful in the acculturation process but does not directly relate to the concrete behaviors
that must be displayed during communication and other interactions. They
further conclude that best outcomes in sociocultural adaptation are not found
in accepting new values and axioms but rather in a clear comprehension of
the differences in values and axioms found in the new culture.
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Many authors find that the greater the cultural distance between the
individual immigrant and the host culture, the greater the difficulty the individual will experience in negotiating daily interactions and learning the
norms of the new culture (Hannigan, 1990; Masgoret & Ward, 2006; Searle &
Ward, 1990). Yet, previous experience (e.g., knowledge of the new country,
previous visits, or familiarity with the culture) can facilitate an increased
ability to learn the skills necessary to adapt to the environment (Masgoret
& Ward; Searle & Ward). Finally, the increase in length of stay in the new
country can increase likelihood of greater sociocultural adjustment (Ward &
Kennedy, 1992).
Ying’s (1995) work with Chinese Americans determines whether psychological well-being is affected by language proficiency, cultural activity, and
social relationships. She concludes that individuals engaged in both Chinese
and American cultural activities reflected better psychological well-being and
found a better ‘‘person-environment fit’’. Of the three activities, social interaction was a better predictor of psychological well-being. Although initiating
friendships with other ethnic groups created some discomfort due to the
awareness of ethnic differences, the sustained friendships with other ethnic
groups led to better adjustment levels. Her work emphases the importance
of measuring acculturation levels across specific life domains (e.g., language
proficiency, cultural activity, and social relationships) to truly determine
which cultural activities lead to better psychological outcomes for ethnic
groups, which truly impact acculturation levels, and which reflect a faster
rate of acculturation (Ying, 1995).
Attachment Theory
Attachment theory provides another means of explaining the experiences of
immigrants, particularly the concepts of separation and loss. Bowlby (1969,
cited by Van Oudenhoven, 2006) developed attachment theory based on
observations of mother-child bonding. Researchers have applied attachment
theory to the psychology of immigration, especially acculturation strategies
and acculturative stress. On the basis of principles of attachment theory,
secure attachment occurs when a child perceives his or her caregivers as
available and responsive. Children with ambivalent or avoidant attachment
styles view their caregivers as inconsistently responsive or unavailable (Hofstra, Van Oudenhoven, & Buunk, 2005). Consequently, the child’s experiences
with caregivers create mental schemas of the self-worth and dependence
on others (Van Oudenhoven, 2006). These attachment styles are expected
to influence adult relationships, school achievement, and behaviors toward
strangers (Hofstra et al., 2005; Van Oudenhoven, 2006).
Bartholomew and Horowitz (1991, cited by Hosfstra et al., 2005 and
Van Oudenhoven, 2006) created an adult model of attachment styles that
includes the categories of (a) securely attached (positive self-image and able
Psychological Theories of Immigration
721
to trust others); (b) fearfully attached (avoids contact with others); (c) dismissively attached (positive self-image but distrusts others); and (d) preoccupied
attached (negative self-image but can trust others).
When exploring the attachment styles of those who wish to immigrate,
Van Ecke (2005) noted that those who immigrate are motivated by the
potential for higher achievement in the host country. They appear to be less
preoccupied on the importance of family than those who do not immigrate
and could reflect dismissive attachment. In contrast, Van Ecke found that
Caribbean women did not immigrate owing to a higher value on family
relationships and their close proximity, possibly reflecting secure or fearful
attachment.
Van Oudenhoven and Hofstra (2006) found that acculturation strategies
of immigrants are connected to types of attachment whereas securely attached immigrants have a positive self-image, trust others, and seek contact
with members of the host society in search of integration. Immigrants with
attachment styles classified as dismissing and fearful tend to avoid members
of the host society, thus selecting separation as an acculturation strategy
in the host society. Immigrants with preoccupied attachment may prefer to
assimilate. Van Oudenhoven and Hofstra further found that immigrants with
secure attachment were more likely to integrate and have less stress during
the acculturation process.
On the basis of adult attachment styles of members of the dominant
society, Hofstra et al. (2005) found the following attitudes in members of the
host society towards the adaptation strategies of immigrants: (a) Securely
attached adults engage in social interactions with confidence and respond
positively to immigrant acculturation strategies that lead to integration; (b)
fearfully attached individuals distrust ‘‘others,’’ including immigrants, but do
value assimilation among immigrants; (c) dismissively attached adults will
support avoiding social contact with immigrants; and (d) preoccupied adults
will accept the assimilation of immigrants but reject their efforts to separate.
These authors concluded that secure attachment is correlated with positive
attitudes towards efforts to integrate by immigrants.
When linking mental health outcomes with different attachment styles
after immigration, positive connections were found among those who were
securely attached and psychologically adjusted (Van Oudenhoven, 2006).
The securely attached immigrants do not deny their feelings of pain related
to separation from their country of origin but focus less on the needs of
others than the preoccupied attached immigrant (Van Ecke, 2005). Preoccupied attachment styles are related to negative psychological adjustment,
and can lead to more post-immigration distress (Van Oudenhoven, 2006;
Van Enke, 2005). Immigrants with a dismissive attachment style demonstrate less distress as they are accustomed to autonomy and distant relationships while denying feelings of discomfort. The use of defense strategies
to deny emotions makes it difficult to connect the dismissive attachment style
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with a specific psychological outcome (Van Oudenhoven, 2006; Van Ecke,
2005).
Based on attachment theory, acculturative stress can be viewed as separation that can lead to protest and despair. When the separation from a
country of origin is combined with the feelings of separation experienced in
a new host society, an attachment trauma can result along with the likelihood
of mental disorders (Van Ecke, 2005). Van Ecke also notes that immigrants
who experience years of multiple losses and separations are subject to
‘‘attachment-related risk factors’’ that remain despite the greater opportunities
found in the new country (p. 473). She further finds that immigrants with preimmigration traumas may bring with them poor attachment styles; therefore,
the immigration experience can lead to significant mental distress.
Ethnic Identity
Phinney (1990) provides a multi-dimensional theory of identity development
applicable to the ethnic identity of immigrant groups. Phinney’s work acknowledges that multiple factors can influence ethnic identity. Her work
provides a frequently cited model that is applicable to various ethnic minority
groups (Pahl & Way, 2006; Holcomb-McCoy, 2005; French, Seidman, Allen,
& Aber, 2006). Like Berry, Phinney’s model includes the process whereby
the immigrant questions whether or not to retain his or her ‘‘ethnic label’’ or
select the label of the host country (Liebkind, 2006).
Phinney’s theory is composed of the following three stages for shaping
ethnic identity in a host country: (a) unexamined ethnic identity (unexplored
positive or negative view of their ethnic group), (b) ethnic identity search or
exploration (to search for what it means to be a member of an ethnic group),
and (c) achieved ethnic identity (possessing a clear meaning of ethnicity
within one’s life; French et al., 2006, p. 2).
Researchers found that ethnic identity does not change much in firstgeneration immigrants, but subsequent generations often choose to be bicultural (Liebkind, 2006; Phinney, 2003). As ethnic identity is a continuous
process, the third stage does not always lead to achieved ethnic identity.
Individuals can continuously repeat stages as they re-think and explore
their ethnic identity (Holcomb-McCoy, 2005; Jasinskaja-Lahti & Liebkind;
1999, Umana-Taylor, Yazedjian, & Bamaca-Gomez, 2004). The strength of
Phinney’s model is the assumption that immigrants will not automatically
want to conform to the identity of the dominant group (Jasinskaja-Lahti &
Liebkind, 1999).
Phinney, Horenczyk, Liebkind, & Vedder (2001) use Berry’s theory of
acculturation and acculturation strategies to describe variations in ethnic
identity. Immigrants are perceived as having either developed or underdeveloped identities (Phinney, 1990; Phinney et al., 2001; Jasinskaja-Lahti &
Liebkind, 1999). An integrated ethnic identity occurs when immigrants who
Psychological Theories of Immigration
723
maintain a strong ethnic identity with their country of origin are still capable
of identifying with the host culture. A separate identity emerges when the
immigrant maintains a strong identity with the country of origin but does
not identify with the host culture. Those who give up the original ethnic
identity and identify only with the host culture have assimilated their identity.
These forms of acculturation can occur only if the host society creates an
environment allowing for the healthy exploration of ethnic identity (Phinney
et al., 2001).
Phinney et al. also address the psychological well-being that can result
from the explorations of ethnic identities. They found that if a positive ethnic
identity is clearly connected to how the minority and majority groups are
viewed, it can then be assumed that ethnic identities are also connected
to self-esteem. Phinney (1990) found a correlation between high self-esteem
and positive ethnic identity among adolescents and adults. Therefore, if one’s
ethnic identity is perceived as unsatisfactory or connected to low self-esteem,
one has the choice of seeking another ethnic identity that is more positively
regarded.
Studies that use Phinney’s ethnic identity theory to assess diverse adolescents provide the following contributions. The immigration status of adolescents can lead to (a) a weak ethnic identification with the dominant group
due to a strong connection with the culture of origin; (b) a weak connection
with the dominant ethnicity due to immigration status, which may promote
ethnic identity exploration; or (c) a desire to reconnect with the culture of
origin by later generation adolescents (Pahl & Way, 2006). Another study
conducted by French et al. (2006) found that ethnic identity is more salient
among ethnic minorities than among European Americans who comprise
the majority group. The study by Jasinskaja-Lahti and Liebkind (1999) with
Russian-speaking immigrant adolescents found the study participants to replicate and follow the stages in Phinney’s ethnic identity theory. The studies
completed by Pahl and Way (2006) and French et al. (2006) confirm that
early adolescence creates greater exploration of ethnic group memberships,
which subsides in later adolescence when ethnic identity is more secure.
Ying and Lee’s (1999) study found Asian female adolescents to have an
achieved ethnic identity leading them toward integration faster then Asian
adolescent males. They link their results to the adolescent females’ higher
level of maturity and their embrace of a dominant culture that supports more
gender equality than traditional Asian cultures.
Social Identity Theory
Social identity theory, developed by Tajfel (1978) and Tajfel and Turner
(1979), grows out of the discipline of social psychology that features the relationships between immigrant groups and the dominant group in the receiving
country (Van Oudenhoven et al., 2006). Social identity theory includes three
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psychological processes through which an immigrant person can develop
social ethnic identity. The first, social categorization, is based on social
categories such as language, skin color, or other ethnic or physical characteristics that lead to the creation of a social identity. The second process,
social comparison, involves the inevitable comparison with others based on
various statuses such as financial stability. The third phase, psychological
work, the need for a ‘‘positive sense of distinctiveness’’ involving positive
feelings toward the group to which an individual has been categorized under
by the larger society (Hurtado, Gurin, & Peng, 1994).
This framework also involves an individual’s ability to maintain a positive self-image despite group categorization and comparisons between immigrant and dominant groups (Van Oudenhoven et al., 2006). Positive comparisons between immigrant and dominant groups lead to a positive identity and
positive self-esteem, but when connected with devalued groups, immigrants
can respond with a variety of positions (Phinney et al., 2001). According to
French et al. (2006) and Liebkind (2006), Tajfel and Turner (1986) developed
the following strategies to manage being a member of a devalued group
and are applicable to immigrants: (a) The individual can change group
membership or psychologically leave the group, (b) social creativity, group
members can redefine the meaning of the group by comparing themselves
to the dominate group as superior or changing the negative values associated with their group, or (c) social competition, causing the superiority of
the dominant group to be confronted through social change. For example,
a study of social identities and intergroup bias in immigrant and nonimmigrant children found that immigrant children use social creativity when
comparing themselves as being superior to African American children (Pfeifer
et al., 2007).
In her work on ethnic identity and acculturation, Liebkind (2006) found
that being a member of an ethnic group does not necessarily lead to negative
self-concept. Some ethnic minority groups are more committed to their group
than to the members of the majority group. Such a preference can occur
among immigrants when the dominant group imposes negative or racist
stereotypes or status differences. Liebkind also suggests that the grouping of
ethnic groups under a minority status can result in a false impression that all
minorities share the same psychological response to such status. According to
her, not all ethnic groups consider themselves to be devalued despite being
devalued by the dominant group. Instead, only ‘‘self-recognized ingroup
devaluation can result in an internalized negative ethnic identity’’ (p. 89).
CONCLUSION
This literature review highlights the relevance of psychological aspects of
acculturation theories for increasing understanding of immigrant well-being.
Psychological Theories of Immigration
725
Berry’s (2006) theoretical concepts of acculturation include the elements of
assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization that focus on the
individual differences among immigrants as they explore whether to maintain
their cultural heritage in a new country.
The psychological management of the acculturation process is examined
primarily in terms of the concept of acculturative stress wherein changes
in the elements of identity, attitudes, and behaviors may lead to various
psychological disturbances, the most prominent being anxiety and depression. Factors that mediate or exacerbate acculturation stress include (a) the
mode of acculturation, (b) acculturation attitudes, (c) phase of acculturation,
(d) cultural pluralism in the host society, and (e) characteristics of the individual. Social support also seems to provide a buffer against acculturative stress.
The management of acculturative stress includes problem-focused coping
and emotion-focused coping.
Cultural learning theory provides an overlap between a psychological
and sociocultural approach whereby immigrant adaptation can be assessed
in terms of the adequate use and knowledge of communication skills, motivation to learn a new language, and capacity to acquire the social skills
needed to integrate into a new environment.
Attachment theory can be applied to the immigrant experience of separation and loss, especially the ways in which attachment styles influence
the immigrant’s selection of acculturation strategies. In essence, securely attached immigrants have the potential for a healthier psychological outcome.
Similarly, immigrants who select an integrative acculturation strategy are able
to maintain aspects of both the dominant and original ethnic identity.
Finally, social identity theory includes the process of selecting a social
identity and strategies to cope with an ethnic identity that is devalued by
the larger society. Self-esteem is connected to ethnic identity and can lead
to negative or positive interactions with the dominant group. It features the
connection between the potential internalization of negative feedback and
factors in the environment that affect the mental health of the individual
immigrant and immigrant groups.
In conclusion, the psychological perspective is important to the study
of human behavior and the social environment. The major human behavior
concepts include acculturation styles, coping styles, motivation for group
contact, motivation to learn the norms of the new culture, and reasons
for transformation of ethnic identity. These concepts include the right to
select whatever acculturation strategy best fits the needs of immigrants, the
constantly evolving and fluid nature of ethnic identity, and the maintenance
of cultural integrity regardless of the choice of ethnic identity. The social
environment concepts include the mutual changes found in the newcomer
and the host society and the social factors that affect the psychological
outcomes of immigrants. Understanding the causes of psychological disturbances resulting from immigration can lead to better psychological treatment
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M. Y. Hernandez
of the individual, identification of psychological services needed by the
immigrant community, and areas for further research related to changes in
human behavior within new social environments.
NEED FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
Given the limitations of the current literature, it is clear that more research is
needed to increase our understanding of how theories of psychology can be
applied to the changes of human behavior in the social environment of the
immigration experience. For example, how do attachment and acculturation
styles vary among different immigrant groups and to what extent are they
pathologized? Do women and men in different ethnic groups acculturate in
FIGURE 1 Conceptual map of psychological theories of immigration.
Psychological Theories of Immigration
727
different ways? (as concluded by Ying and Lee, 1999, with an Asian adolescent sample). What role does legal status play in alleviating or increasing
immigrant stress and acculturation outcomes? In addition to integration, are
there other healthy methods utilized by various ethnic groups that have yet to
be identified? Given the continuous flow of immigrants into the United States,
more attention is needed in the field of psychology to assess the nature of immigrant experiences and the psychological impact of host country members.
Many of these research questions can be framed by the concepts highlighted in Figure 1. This conceptual map builds upon Berry’s acculturation
theory by adding the concepts of acculturative stress, culture learning, attachment, and ethnic identity. It also focuses on the role of the social environment
and its impact on immigrant well-being. This conceptual map is based on
the assumption that the acculturation strategy of integration produces the
best mental health outcome for immigrants.
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Two Kinds
by Amy Tan
My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. You could open a restaurant. You
could work for the government and get good retirement. You could buy a house with almost no money
down. You could become rich. You could become instantly famous.
"Of course, you can be a prodigy, too," my mother told me when I was nine. "You can be best anything.
What does Auntie Lindo know? Her daughter, she is only best tricky."
America was where all my mother's hopes lay. She had come to San Francisco in 1949 after losing
everything in China: her mother and father, her home, her first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls.
But she never looked back with regret. Things could get better in so many ways.
We didn't immediately pick the right kind of prodigy. At first my mother thought I could be a Chinese
Shirley Temple. We'd watch Shirley's old movies on TV as though they were training films. My mother
would poke my arm and say, "Ni kan.You watch." And I would see Shirley tapping her feet, or singing a
sailor song, or pursing her lips into a very round O while saying "Oh, my goodness."
Ni kan," my mother said, as Shirley's eyes flooded with tears. "You already know how. Don't need talent
for crying!"
Soon after my mother got this idea about Shirley Temple, she took me to the beauty training school in the
Mission District and put me in the hands of a student who could barely hold the scissors without shaking.
Instead of getting big fat curls, I emerged with an uneven mass of crinkly black fuzz. My mother dragged
me off to the bathroom and tried to wet down my hair.
"You look like a Negro Chinese," she lamented, as if I had done this on purpose.
The instructor of the beauty training school had to lop off these soggy clumps to make my hair even again.
"Peter Pan is very popular these days" the instructor assured my mother. I now had bad hair the length of a
boy’s; with curly bangs that hung at a slant two inches above my eyebrows. I liked the haircut, and it made
me actually look forward to my future fame.
In fact, in the beginning I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so. I pictured this prodigy
part of me as many different images, and I tried each one on for size. I was a dainty ballerina girl standing
by the curtain, waiting to hear the music that would send me floating on my tiptoes. I was like the Christ
child lifted out of the straw manger, crying with holy indignity. I was Cinderella stepping from her
pumpkin carriage with sparkly cartoon music filling the air.
In all of my imaginings I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect: My mother and father
would adore me. I would be beyond reproach. I would never feel the need to sulk, or to clamor for
anything. But sometimes the prodigy in me became impatient. "If you don't hurry up and get me out of
here, I'm disappearing for good," it warned. “And then you'll always be nothing."
Every night after dinner my mother and I would sit at the Formica topped kitchen table. She would present
new tests, taking her examples from stories of amazing children that she read in Ripley's Believe It or Not
or Good Housekeeping, Reader's digest, or any of a dozen other magazines she kept in a pile in our
bathroom. My mother got these magazines from people whose houses she cleaned. And since she cleaned
many houses each week, we had a great assortment. She would look through them all, searching for stories
about remarkable children.
The first night she brought out a story about a three-year-old boy who knew the capitals of all the states and
even the most of the European countries. A teacher was quoted as saying that the little boy could also
pronounce the names of the foreign cities correctly. "What's the capital of Finland? My mother asked me,
looking at the story.
All I knew was the capital of California, because Sacramento was the name of the street we lived on in
Chinatown. "Nairobi!" I guessed, saying the most foreign word I could think of. She checked to see if that
might be one way to pronounce Helsinki before showing me the answer.
The tests got harder - multiplying numbers in my head, finding the queen of hearts in a deck of cards,
trying to stand on my head without using my hands, predicting the daily temperatures in Los Angeles, New
York, and London. One night I had to look at a page from the Bible for three minutes and then report
everything I could remember. "Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance and...that's all I
remember, Ma," I said.
And after seeing, once again, my mother's disappointed face, something inside me began to die. I hated the
tests, the raised hopes and failed expectations. Before going to bed that night I looked in the mirror above
the bathroom sink, and I saw only my face staring back - and understood that it would always be this
ordinary face - I began to cry. Such a sad, ugly girl! I made high - pitched noises like a crazed animal,
trying to scratch out the face in the mirror.
And then I saw what seemed to be the prodigy side of me - a face I had never seen before. I looked at my
reflection, blinking so that I could see more clearly. The girl staring back at me was angry, powerful. She
and I were the same. I had new thoughts, willful thoughts - or rather, thoughts filled with lots of won'ts. I
won't let her change me, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not.
So now when my mother presented her tests, I performed listlessly, my head propped on one arm. I
pretended to be bored. And I was. I got so bored that I started counting the bellows of the foghorns out on
the bay while my mother drilled me in other areas. The sound was comforting and reminded me of the cow
jumping over the moon. And the next day I played a game with myself, seeing if my mother would give up
on me before eight bellows. After a while I usually counted only one bellow, maybe two at most. At last
she was beginning to give up hope.
Two or three months went by without any mention of my being a prodigy. And then one day my mother
was watching the Ed Sullivan Show on TV. The TV was old and the sound kept shorting out. Every time
my mother got halfway up from the sofa to adjust the set, the sound would come back on and Sullivan
would be talking. As soon as she sat down, Sullivan would go silent again. She got up - the TV broke into
loud piano music. She sat down - silence. Up and down, back and forth, quiet and loud. It was like a stiff,
embraceless dance between her and the TV set. Finally, she stood by the set with her hand on the sound
dial.
She seemed entranced by the music, a frenzied little piano piece with a mesmerizing quality, which
alternated between quick, playful passages and teasing, lilting ones.
"Ni kan," my mother said, calling me over with hurried hand gestures. "Look here."
I could see why my mother was fascinated by the music. It was being pounded out by a little Chinese girl,
about nine years old, with a Peter Pan haircut. The girl had the sauciness of a Shirley Temple. She was
proudly modest, like a proper Chinese Child. And she also did a fancy sweep of a curtsy, so that the fluffy
skirt of her white dress cascaded to the floor like petals of a large carnation.
In spite of these warning signs, I wasn't worried. Our family had no piano and we couldn't afford to buy
one, let alone reams of sheet music and piano lessons. So I could be generous in my comments when my
mother badmouthed the little girl on TV.
"Play note right, but doesn't sound good!" my mother complained "No singing sound."
"What are you picking on her for?" I said carelessly. “She’s pretty good. Maybe she's not the best, but she's
trying hard." I knew almost immediately that I would be sorry I had said that.
"Just like you," she said. "Not the best. Because you not trying." She gave a little huff as she let go of the
sound dial and sat down on the sofa.
The little Chinese girl sat down also, to play an encore of "Anitra's Tanz," by Grieg. I remember the song,
because later on I had to learn how to play it.
Three days after watching the Ed Sullivan Show my mother told me what my schedule would be for piano
lessons and piano practice. She had talked to Mr. Chong, who lived on the first floor of our apartment
building. Mr. Chong was a retired piano teacher, and my mother had traded housecleaning services for
weekly lessons and a piano for me to practice on every day, two hours a day, from four until six.
When my mother told me this, I felt as though I had been sent to hell. I whined, and then kicked my foot a
little when I couldn't stand it anymore.
"Why don't you like me the way I am?" I cried. "I'm not a genius! I can't play the piano. And even if I
could, I wouldn't go on TV if you paid me a million dollars!"
My mother slapped me. "Who ask you to be genius?" she shouted. "Only ask you be your best. For you
sake. You think I want you to be genius? Hnnh! What for! Who ask you!”?
"So ungrateful," I heard her mutter in Chinese, "If she had as much talent as she has temper, she'd be
famous now."
Mr. Chong, whom I secretly nicknamed Old Chong, was very strange, always tapping his fingers to the
silent music of an invisible orchestra. He looked ancient in my eyes. He had lost most of the h air on the top
of his head, and he wore thick glasses and had eyes that always looked tired. But he must have been
younger that I though, since he lived with his mother and was not yet married.
I met Old Lady Chong once, and that was enough. She had a peculiar smell, like a baby that had done
something in its pants, and her fingers felt like a dead person's, like an old peach I once found in the back
of the refrigerator: its skin just slid off the flesh when I picked it up.
I soon found out why Old Chong had retired from teaching piano. He was deaf. "Like Beethoven!" he
shouted to me: We're both listening only in our head!" And he would start to conduct his frantic silent
sonatas.
Our lessons went like this. He would open the book and point to different things, explaining, their purpose:
"Key! Treble! Bass! No sharps or flats! So this is C major! Listen now and play after me!"
And then he would play the C scale a few times, a simple cord, and then, as if inspired by an old
unreachable itch, he would gradually add more notes and running trills and a pounding bass until the music
was really something quite grand.
I would play after him, the simple scale, the simple chord, and then just play some nonsense that sounded
like a cat running up and down on top of garbage cans. Old Chong would smile and applaud and say Very
good! Bt now you must learn to keep time!"
So that's how I discovered that Old Chong's eyes were too slow to keep up with the wrong notes I was
playing. He went through the motions in half time. To help me keep rhythm, he stood behind me and
pushed down on my right shoulder for every beat. He balanced pennies on top of my wrists so that I would
keep them still as I slowly played scales and arpeggios. He had me curve my hand around an apple and
keep that shame when playing chords. He marched stiffly to show me how to make each finger dance up
and down, staccato, like an obedient little soldier.
He taught me all these things and that was how I also learned I could be lazy and get away with mistakes,
lots of mistakes. If I hit the wrong notes because I hadn't practiced enough, I never corrected myself; I just
kept playing in rhythm. And Old Chong kept conducting his own private reverie.
So maybe I never really gave myself a fair chance. I did pick up the basics pretty quickly, and I might have
become a good pianist at the young age. But I was so determined not to try, not to be anybody different,
and I learned to play only the most ear-splitting preludes, the most discordant hymns.
Over the next year I practiced like this, dutifully in my own way. And then one day I heard my mother and
her friend Lindo Jong both after church, and I was leaning against a brick wall, wearing a dress with stiff
white petticoats. Auntie Lindo’s daughter, Waverly, who was my age, was standing farther down the wall,
about five feet away. We had grown up together and shared all the closeness of two sisters, squabbling over
crayons and dolls. In other words, for the most part, we hated each other. I thought she was snotty. Waverly
Jong had gained a certain amount of fame as "Chinatown's Littlest Chinese Chess Champion."
"She bring home too many trophy." Auntie Lindo lamented that Sunday. "All day she play chess. All day I
have no time do nothing but dust off her winnings." She threw a scolding look at Waverly, who pretended
not to see her.
"You lucky you don't have this problem," Auntie Lindo said with a sigh to my mother.
And my mother squared her shoulders and bragged: "our problem worser than yours. If we ask Jing-mei
wash dish, she hear nothing but music. It's like you can't stop this natural talent." And right then I was
determined to put a stop to her foolish pride.
A few weeks later Old Chong and my mother conspired to have me play in a talent show that was to be
held in the church hall. But then my parents had saved up enough to buy me a secondhand piano, a black
Wurlitzer spinet with a scarred bench. It was the showpiece of our living room.
For the talent show I was to play a piece called "Pleading Child," from Schumann's Scenes from Childhood.
It was a simple, moody piece that sounded more difficult than it was. I was supposed to memorize the
whole thing. But i dawdled over it, playing a few bars and then cheating, looking up to see what notes
followed. I never really listed to what I was playing. I daydreamed about being somewhere else, about
being someone else.
The part I liked to practice best was the fancy curtsy: right foot out, touch the rose on the carpet with a
pointed foot, sweep to the side, bend left leg, look up, and smile.
My parents invited all the couples from their social club to witness my debut. Auntie Lindo and Uncle Tin
were there. Waverly and her two older brothers had also come. The first two rows were filled with children
either younger or older than I was. The littlest ones got to go first. They recited simple nursery rhymes,
squawked out tunes on miniature violins, and twirled hula hoops in pink ballet tutus, and when they bowed
or curtsied, the audience would sigh in unison, "Awww, and then clap enthusiastically.
When my turn came, I was very confident. I remember my childish excitement. It was as if I knew, without
a doubt, that the prodigy side of me really did exist. I had no fear whatsoever, no nervousness. I remember
thinking, This is it! This is it! I looked out over the audience, at my mother's blank face, my father's yawn,
Auntie Lindo's stiff-lipped smile, Waverly's sulky expression. I had on a white dress, layered with sheets of
lace, and a pink bow in my Peter Pan haircut. As I sat down, I envisioned people jumping to their feet and
Ed Sullivan rushing up to introduce me to everyone on TV.
And I started to play. Everything was so beautiful. I was so caught up in how lovely I looked that I wasn't
worried about how I would sound. So I was surprised when I hit the first wrong note. And then I hit another
and another. A chill started at the top of my head and began to trickle down. Yet I couldn't stop playing, as
though my hands were bewitched. I kept thinking my fingers would adjust themselves back, like a train
switching to the right track. I played this strange jumble through to the end, the sour notes staying with me
all the way.
When I stood up, I discovered my legs were shaking. Maybe I had just been nervous, and the audience, like
Old Chong had seen me go through the right motions and had not heard anything wrong at all. I swept my
right foot out, went down on my knee, looked up, and smiled. The room was quiet, except for Old Chong,
who was beaming and shouting "Bravo! Bravo! Well done!" By then I saw my mother's face, her stricken
face. The audience clapped weakly, and I walked back to my chair, with my whole face quivering as I tried
not to cry, I heard a little boy whisper loudly to his mother. "That was awful," and mother whispered "Well,
she certainly tried."
And now I realized how many people were in the audience - the whole world, it seemed. I was aware of
eyes burning into my back. I felt the shame of my mother and father as they sat stiffly through the rest of
the show.
We could have escaped during intermission. Pride and some strange sense of honor must have anchored my
parents to their chairs. And so we watched it all. The eighteen-year-old boy with a fake moustache who did
a magic show and juggled flaming hoops while riding a unicycle. The breasted girl with white make up
who sang an aria from Madame Butterfly and got an honorable mention. And the eleven-year-old boy who
was first prize playing a tricky violin song that sounded like a busy bee.
After the show the Hsus, the Jongs, and the St. Clairs, from the Joy Luck Club, came up to my mother and
father.
"Lots of talented kids," Auntie Lindo said vaguely, smiling broadly. "That was somethin' else," my father
said, and I wondered if he was referring to me in a humorous way, or whether he even remembered what I
had done.
Waverly looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. "You aren't a genius like me," she said matter-of-factly.
And if I hadn't felt so bad, I would have pulled her braids and punched her stomach.
But my mother's expression was what devastated me: a quiet, blank look that said she had lost everything. I
felt the same way, and everybody seemed now to be coming up, like gawkers at the scene of an accident to
see what parts were actually missing.
When we got on the bus to go home, my father was humming the busy-bee tune and my mother kept silent.
I kept thinking she wanted to wait until we got home before shouting at me. But when my father unlocked
the door to our apartment, my mother walked in and went straight to the back, into the bedroom. No
accusations, No blame. And in a way, I felt disappointed. I had been waiting for her to start shouting, so
that I could shout back and cry and blame her for all my misery.
I had assumed that my talent-show fiasco meant that I would never have to play the piano again. But two
days later, after school, my mother came out of the kitchen and saw me watching TV.
"Four clock," she reminded me, as if it were any other day. I was stunned, as though she were asking me to
go through the talent-show torture again. I planted myself more squarely in front of the TV.
"Turn off TV," she called from the kitchen five minutes later. I didn't budge. And then I decided, I didn't
have to do what mother said anymore. I wasn't her slave. This wasn't China. I had listened to her before,
and look what happened she was the stupid one.
She came out of the kitchen and stood in the arched entryway of the living room. "Four clock," she said
once again, louder.
"I'm not going to play anymore," I said nonchalantly. "Why should I? I'm not a genius."
She stood in front of the TV. I saw that her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way.
"No!" I said, and I now felt stronger, as if my true self had finally emerged. So this was what had been
inside me all along.
"No! I won't!" I screamed. She snapped off the TV, yanked me by the arm and pulled me off the floor. She
was frighteningly strong, half pulling, half carrying me towards the piano as I kicked the throw rugs under
my feet. She lifted me up onto the hard bench. I was sobbing by now, looking at her bitterly. Her chest was
heaving even more and her mouth was open, smiling crazily as if she were pleased that I was crying.
"You want me to be something that I'm not!" I sobbed. " I'll never be the kind of daughter you want me to
be!"
"Only two kinds of daughters," she shouted in Chinese. "Those who are obedient and those who follow
their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!"
"Then I wish I weren't your daughter, I wish you weren't my mother," I shouted. As I said these things I got
scared. It felt like worms and toads and slimy things crawling out of my chest, but it also felt good, that this
awful side of me had surfaced, at last.
"Too late to change this," my mother said shrilly.
And I could sense her anger rising to its breaking point. I wanted see it spill over. And that's when I
remembered the babies she had lost in China, the ones we never talked about. "Then I wish I'd never been
born!" I shouted. “I wish I were dead! Like them."
It was as if I had said magic words. Alakazam!-her face went blank, her mouth closed, her arms went slack,
and she backed out of the room, stunned, as if she were blowing away like a small brown leaf, thin, brittle,
lifeless.
It was not the only disappointment my mother felt in me. In the years that followed, I failed her many
times, each time asserting my will, my right to fall short of expectations. I didn't get straight As. I didn't
become class president. I didn't get into Stanford. I dropped out of college.
Unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me.
And for all those years we never talked about the disaster at the recital or my terrible declarations afterward
at the piano bench. Neither of us talked about it again, as if it were a betrayal that was now unspeakable. So
I never found a way to ask her why she had hoped for something so large that failure was inevitable.
And even worse, I never asked her about what frightened me the most: Why had she given up hope? For
after our struggle at the piano, she never mentioned my playing again. The lessons stopped. The lid to the
piano was closed shutting out the dust, my misery, and her dreams.
So she surprised me. A few years ago she offered to give me the piano, for my thirtieth birthday. I had not
played in all those years. I saw the offer as a sign of forgiveness, a tremendous burden removed. "Are you
sure?" I asked shyly. "I mean, won't you and Dad miss it?" "No, this your piano," she said firmly. "Always
your piano. You only one can play."
"Well, I probably can't play anymore," I said. "It's been years." "You pick up fast," my mother said, as if
she knew this was certain. “You have natural talent. You could be a genius if you want to." "No, I
couldn't." "You just not trying," my mother said. And she was neither angry nor sad. She said it as if
announcing a fact that could never be disproved. "Take it," she said.
But I didn't at first. It was enough that she had offered it to me. And after that, every time I saw it in my
parents' living room, standing in front of the bay window, it made me feel proud, as if it were a shiny
trophy that I had won back.
Last week I sent a tuner over to my parent's apartment and had the piano reconditioned, for purely
sentimental reasons. My mother had died a few months before and I had been bgetting things in order for
my father a little bit at a time. I put the jewelry in special silk pouches. The sweaters I put in mothproof
boxes. I found some old Chinese silk dresses, the kind with little slits up the sides. I rubbed the old silk
against my skin, and then wrapped them in tissue and decided to take them hoe with me.
After I had the piano tuned, I opened the lid and touched the keys. It sounded even richer that I
remembered. Really, it was a very good piano. Inside the bench were the same exercise notes with
handwritten scales, the same secondhand music books with their covers held together with yellow tape.
I opened up the Schumann book to the dark little piece I had played at the recital. It was on the left-hand
page, "Pleading Child." It looked more difficult than I remembered. I played a few bars, surprised at how
easily the notes came back to me.
And for the first time, or so it seemed, I noticed the piece on the right-hand side. It was called "Perfectly
Contented." I tried to play this one as well. It had a lighter melody but with the same flowing rhythm and
turned out to be quite easy. "Pleading Child" was shorter but slower; "Perfectly Contented" was longer but
faster. And after I had played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song.
[1989]
Psychological Perspectives, 51: 367–368, 2008
c C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles
Copyright ⃝
ISSN: 0033-2925 print / 1556-3030 online
DOI: 10.1080/00332920802458396
Film Review
city, a symbol for the Self, is the
setting for Walter’s foray out into
the world. An unexpected spiritual
awakening is prompted by the various manifestations of the archetype
of the visitor.
Making a rare visit to his Manhattan apartment, Walter is puzzled
to see a vase of flowers perched
upon his coffee table, then shocked
out of his torpor when he finds a
woman in the bathtub. The apartment has been illegally sublet to a
Syrian drummer named Tarek (Haaz
Sleiman) and his Senegalese girlfriend Sainab (Denai Gurira), who
sells handcrafted jewelry. Walter, out
of compassion for the couple’s homeless situation, allows them to stay,
and because the Eros between them
is infectious, he is slowly inducted
into the stream of life.
Walter and Tarek gradually forge
an unlikely friendship connected
through unspoken mutual compassion. The nature of the bond between the two men begs the question of who is visiting whom. Despite
Tarek’s lack of a physical home, it
is he who is most at home in the
world and Walter who is the transient visitor.
In a strikingly poignant scene,
Walter finds himself drawn to Tarek’s
drums. Alone in his apartment,
dressed primly in his tweeds, he begins tentatively tapping, reflecting
a nascent heartbeat of unfamiliar
THE VISITOR. 2008. WRITTEN AND
DIRECTED BY TOM MCCARTHY
Reviewed by Joyce King Heyraud
A
n emotionally intriguing and
beautifully crafted indie film,
The Visitor opens with 60-year-old
Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) attempting to orient himself in the
emptiness of his suburban Connecticut home. His wife, who was a classical concert pianist, has died, leaving Walter bereft of his soul. He
hammers mercilessly on her piano,
unable to capture the music that
has sunk into darkness. His ordered
life as a professor of economics is
tedious, and his home an airless
shrine to the past. Although his demeanor is listless, his bumbling attempt to establish contact with the
anima through the piano is touching and foreshadows the possibility of a new connection. Unable to
find his bearings at home, Walter
reluctantly agrees to deliver an uninspired paper on Third World development at New York University. The
367
368
PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
!
energy. There is a beautiful enantiodromia; Walter, the professor, becomes Tarek’s student. He learns
that the African drumbeat is different from the classical rhythm that is
so ingrained; its rhythm that quickens his pulse and inspires renewed
curiosity.
Post 9/11 realities shatter the
sense of growing intimacy between
the three people when Tarek, discovered as an undocumented immigrant, is arrested and thrown into a
detention center. The archetype of
the visitor shifts shapes, as Walter
becomes Tarek’s lifeline through his
faithful visits while becoming host
to yet another visitor, Mouna (Hiam
Abbas), Tarek’s widowed mother. A
restrained and tender relationship
between Walter and Mouna is captured through a sensitively rendered
embrace imbued with the quality of
a coniunctio. Walter has integrated
deeper, more related feminine energies with a stronger, more focused
aspect of the masculine. Projecting
enduring grace, Walter is dignified,
VOLUME 51, ISSUE 2 / 2008
shy, and deeply selfless, and to Jenkins’ credit, portrayed without a trace
of sentimentality.
Because of the sociopolitical
shadow of the illegal immigrant conundrum, Walter’s surrogate multicultural family is torn apart as relationships that melded so beautifully
on a personal level are impossible to
sustain. Tarek is deported, torn from
his girlfriend; and Mouna makes the
decision to return to Senegal to
join him. The separation is haunting, the emotional atmosphere saturated with unanswered questions
and mysterious possibilities.
The audience is left with the image of Walter in a subway, a subterranean sphere, seated with his drum,
a solitary figure listening intently to
the beat of his own drummer.
Joyce King Heyraud, Ph.D., is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Pacific Palisades, CA and film editor of
Psychological Perspectives.
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