I recently read the essay Double Identity, by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. The essay discussed what the author's life was like while growing up. He discusses how he had to live two separate lives, stick to strict family rules and also the influence society had on a young mind. Houston wrote the essay in narrative form. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The title fits the essay well. It describes how Houston felt when he was growing up. Since she had to practically live two separate lives due to strict family rules, Houston had dual identities. An identity was used when he was with his family. The type of family he lived in was a traditional Japanese family. When she was with them she acted very much like a woman growing up in Japan (similar to her mother). She was shy, not very outspoken and respected the men of the house a lot. The other identity was used with his young Caucasian friends. When she was with them she was outspoken and not so shy. Later in her life she began to have problems with her husband. She also had trouble deciding how to raise her children. I liked the way Houston described her family and identity. I felt that through the description of those characters you could determine a feeling towards them. From what she said about her brother, how they taught her to ride a bicycle and drive a car, and how they even took her to her first dance and how they told her to watch out for Caucasian boys and that all that what they want is sex, you could tell they were very loving towards her and protective of her. When he describes his father and his strict ways you can see that he was a good man who wanted the best for his family. He was also protective of his daughter because she talks about how he never liked the boys she dated and never let her wear the same clothes that the Caucasian girls wore. Houston also discusses the relationship he had with his brothers. She had five older sisters and four older brothers, and she was the youngest. He describes how his older sisters helped his mother and his brothers helped his father with his fishing business. For her, women always had to stay at home to cook and clean, while men worked. Only later in his life did he realize that things didn't have to be this way. It was her other lifestyle, the one she used with her Caucasian friends, that opened her eyes to this. One emotional decision she made in her life was to date. She liked Caucasian men and she liked Japanese men. She wanted a man who looked like her father in the sense that he was unpredictable, dominant and brilliant, but at the same time sensitive and poetic, a blond samurai (Pg 314). She was also worried whether her family would approve. Her other siblings who had married had married fellow Japanese and she didn't know if she would. He was also afraid of his father's reaction. When she met her husband despite her father having died, her mother openly accepted the marriage. When Houston got married she wasn't sure how she should deal with her husband. She was afraid that if she behaved like a Japanese wife (like her mother, dutifully serving her husband and being totally submissive to him) he would take advantage of her. She was also afraid that if she acted too much like a modern American wife, he and she would be dissatisfied with how the marriage had turned out. But she herself says that I didn't want to be..
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