Asian Culture’s Influence on Youth
By Kaitlyn
“From the time she was a little girl, her job was to play her assigned role and satisfy the people around her. She worked hard to be a perfect little Snow White.” (After Dark, by Haruki Murakami) Asian cultures are especially known for influencing younger generations decisions due to their ideals such as harmony, which is a prevalent theme throughout their lifestyle. Harmony influences people’s actions and decisions in Asian cultures by affecting their independence as a child, pressuring them to live with certain expectations that they might not be willing to achieve, and making them feel obligated to grant their parents wishes so that they can maintain balance within the group.
Harmony is an integral part throughout Asian culture, and literature. The desire for harmony suggests you put aside your thoughts, opinions, and questions in order to maintain order and balance within the group. After reading an article by Mimi Chang, as well as After Dark, by Haruki Murakami, it is clear there is a significant correlation between what individuals or characters are feeling they are expected to do, and how it affects their lives.
According to Mimi Chang’s article concerning the cause and effect of cultural differences in parenting styles, “In order to preserve harmony within the family unit, children are expected to develop self-restraint and attunement to others.” This prevents some kids from being independent, having an opinion, or enjoying childhood because they are expected to cooperate with everything they are ever told. In contrast, in American culture, many kids are given the opportunity to speak up for themselves and have many independent views. I myself experienced that ability as a young child growing up and immensely value how it is constantly impacting my life in a positive way, to this day. The ability to have independent views has allowed me to form opinions on important topics as well as gain a greater understanding of why I believe in certain things. Also, being independent is a part of my personality and it makes me who I am.
“From the time I was little, though, my parents always told me I'd better study hard, because I'm too ugly for anything else.” This quote from the novel After Dark, by Haruki Murakami, is an instance where an Asian child feels obligated to live up to their parents expectations in order to make them happy and maintain harmony within the group. The parents chose to belittle their child in hopes of making her achieve success, instead of supporting her dreams and aspirations. This lead to the character living with implications that she wasn’t good enough and would have to “study hard” if she was to be successful in their eyes. However, though this type of “encouragement” may seem harsh to some American views, it did influence the character to work hard and achieve her goals in hopes of making her parents proud.
Another example of harmony from the novel would be, “They had our roles picked out for us: the elder sister, Snow White; the younger sister, a little genius.” This illuminating quote shows that in Asian Culture, the parents mainly make the decisions and the children must abide by them completely, no matter how it affects their lives or their personal views of themselves. In the novel, this leads to the younger sister not feeling as confident in her appearance or social ability. It affects her life and many major decisions she makes, because she was maintaining harmony within her family, no matter the consequences it had for her. This also goes to show that the younger sister strives for acceptance from her parents, like her sister has, because she doesn’t speak up for herself, but rather attempts to conform to their idea of what she should achieve.
Harmony is a constantly occurring theme in Asian culture that greatly impacts people’s actions and decisions. It affects their independence as a child, compels them to live with certain expectations that they might not desire, and makes them feel obligated to grant their parents wishes so that they can maintain peacefulness within the group.
Sources:
Harmony is an integral part throughout Asian culture, and literature. The desire for harmony suggests you put aside your thoughts, opinions, and questions in order to maintain order and balance within the group. After reading an article by Mimi Chang, as well as After Dark, by Haruki Murakami, it is clear there is a significant correlation between what individuals or characters are feeling they are expected to do, and how it affects their lives.
According to Mimi Chang’s article concerning the cause and effect of cultural differences in parenting styles, “In order to preserve harmony within the family unit, children are expected to develop self-restraint and attunement to others.” This prevents some kids from being independent, having an opinion, or enjoying childhood because they are expected to cooperate with everything they are ever told. In contrast, in American culture, many kids are given the opportunity to speak up for themselves and have many independent views. I myself experienced that ability as a young child growing up and immensely value how it is constantly impacting my life in a positive way, to this day. The ability to have independent views has allowed me to form opinions on important topics as well as gain a greater understanding of why I believe in certain things. Also, being independent is a part of my personality and it makes me who I am.
“From the time I was little, though, my parents always told me I'd better study hard, because I'm too ugly for anything else.” This quote from the novel After Dark, by Haruki Murakami, is an instance where an Asian child feels obligated to live up to their parents expectations in order to make them happy and maintain harmony within the group. The parents chose to belittle their child in hopes of making her achieve success, instead of supporting her dreams and aspirations. This lead to the character living with implications that she wasn’t good enough and would have to “study hard” if she was to be successful in their eyes. However, though this type of “encouragement” may seem harsh to some American views, it did influence the character to work hard and achieve her goals in hopes of making her parents proud.
Another example of harmony from the novel would be, “They had our roles picked out for us: the elder sister, Snow White; the younger sister, a little genius.” This illuminating quote shows that in Asian Culture, the parents mainly make the decisions and the children must abide by them completely, no matter how it affects their lives or their personal views of themselves. In the novel, this leads to the younger sister not feeling as confident in her appearance or social ability. It affects her life and many major decisions she makes, because she was maintaining harmony within her family, no matter the consequences it had for her. This also goes to show that the younger sister strives for acceptance from her parents, like her sister has, because she doesn’t speak up for herself, but rather attempts to conform to their idea of what she should achieve.
Harmony is a constantly occurring theme in Asian culture that greatly impacts people’s actions and decisions. It affects their independence as a child, compels them to live with certain expectations that they might not desire, and makes them feel obligated to grant their parents wishes so that they can maintain peacefulness within the group.
Sources:
- Murakami, Haruki, and Jay Rubin. After Dark. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. Print.
- Chang, Mimi. "Cultural Differences in Parenting Styles and Their Effects on Teens' Self-esteem, Perceived Parental Relationship Satisfaction, and Self-satisfaction." N.p., 2007. Web. 21 Nov. 2016. <http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1084&context=hsshonors