Korean American Families

Johanna Niemann

• Publisher: GRIN Verlag
• Year: 2003
• eBook ISBN: 9783638220781
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: North American Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1, 3 (A), Humboldt-University of Berlin (Anglistics/American Studies), course: Asian American Literature: Foodways and Cultural Transformation(s), language: English, abstract: "Your life can be different, Young Ju. Study and be strong. In America, womenhave choices."1Korean people tend to define women as wives, mothers, caregivers, orjust simply as girls, always with regard to their sexual behavior rather to theirindividuality as a person. For over five hundred years Confucianism has beenthe mainstream of Korean culture and tradition, setting the social role ofKorean women. Koreans still strongly believe in Confucian values, behave, feel, and think in Confucian ways, despite the fact that Koreans, particularlyKorean Americans and specifically Korean American women, haveexperienced new social realities and such social changes as modernsocialization, westernisation, Christianization, industrialization, and immigrationto the American socio-cultural setting.The major premises for this paper are (1) a view on women in Korea andConfucian values in Korean society. (2) What happens when a traditionalimmigrant couple arrives in America and that a departure from traditionalroles often results in domestic violence. (3) The role of Korean children inKorea and in America. These considerations build the theoretical backgroundfor (4) an examination of a Korean American novel of a family experiencingnew social realities upon arriving in the United States.The paper will show that the Confucian values are still dominating inKorean American families and that a departure of the traditional familysetting is hard or impossible for single family members, especially for the menwho see their patriarchal authority over their wife and children erode. Thewomen begin to question the superior position of their husbands and childrenexperience a time of confusion and frustration for their parents often disagreeabout new ways of raising them. This paper will also show that the problemsand examples given in the novel A Step from heaven by An Na are typical forKorean American immigrants and that children are again the ones that sufferthe most.1 Na, An: A Step from heaven. New York, 2000