In the American Society

Consider a short story written by another second-generation American from a country other than China. What themes are similar in the two short stories? What are some common difficulties the characters face? How does the country of origin affect these difficulties?

Compare and contrast the different ways Mr. and Mrs. Chang approach American culture. Discuss the ways each is both a success and a failure in their new land.

The narrator is Callie, an adolescent girl in America with immigrant parents. How does her experience with her family compare and contrast with yours, either now or when you were a child? If you were an immigrant or a child of immigrants, take that into consideration. If both you and your own parents grew up in America, consider how the similarities and differences between your life and the Changs may have been influenced by American culture.