This week in class we began talking about the novel “What We All Long For”. The experiences of Tyuen and her friends were very interesting to me, as my mothers immigration story is quite different from theirs. The characters in the book feel resentful towards their parents culture, however they also reject “Canadian culture”, Tyuen in particular makes an effort to reject her culture by refusing to incorporate aspects of Vietnam into her art, as well as refusing to speak Vietnamese. This angered me slightly as when my grandparents immigrated they made the choice not to teach my mother and her siblings Dutch or anything about their culture, so that it would be easier for them to assimilate into “Canadian culture” while I understand why my grandparents made this decision its always made me and my mother a little sad that we know nothing about my grandparents culture or our own. This refusal to teach my mother and her siblings about their culture lead to both of my mothers siblings anglicizing their names in order to avoid             being on the outside like Tyuen, Carla and Jackie were. I think this is a major problem in Canada that despite the fact we pride ourselves on being a multicultural nation, you still have to fit into a certain mold in order to be considered a real Canadian. This idea of being a real Canadian even extended to my fathers family who have been in Canada for around 100 years, however my grandfather always felt like he was disrespected in their town because he was of Irish descent not English. This shows that you can look like a stereotypical Canadian but still not feel like one.

But going back to my main point while I understand why Tyuen and her friends are so hesitant about accepting their culture I couldn’t help but feel resentment towards them because they have no idea how lucky they are to be able to learn about their culture. This is one of the drawbacks of the novel because it only speaks to the stories of a certain type of immigrant, Brand seems to ignore that even if you look “Canadian” immigration still isn’t easy.