The excerpt we are analyzing here belongs to the short story "The All-American Slurp", by Lensey Namioka. The narrator is a girl from the Lin family, from China. The Lins have moved to the U.S. and are struggling to adjust themselves to the completely different culture they now find themselves immersed in. They are invited to dine at the Gleasons', but their Chinese eating etiquette is perceived as rude by the American characters. The narrator is embarrassed at this moment as well as others, seeing her family as inadequate.

However, once the Gleasons become the guests and the Lins become the hosts, we are presented with a resolution to that conflict. The narrator realizes her family is not inadequate. Now, the Gleasons are the ones struggling to eat the Chinese meal. That does not make them inferior, the same way the Lins are also not inferior in any manner. They simply come from different backgrounds, having distinct habits and behaviors.

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3 years ago