Growing Up Asian In Australia Poem Analysis

The search to discover who we are is one of life’s greatest challenges.

William James has stated, there are three types of selves exist in order to form one’s identity. The material self, which is simply the physical appearance of that person. The social self, how the person looks like in other’s view. The spiritual self, which only the person himself can know. These variety parts of our identities, some we know well, others we’re yet to uncover. Therefore people begin searching. Here come the challenges that we must undertake in order to gain a sense of self. The sacrifices of identity in order to join into a group, disappointment to other’s misunderstand and loneliness. Stories from Alice Pung’s ‘Growing Up Asian in Australia’ and poems …show more content…
The protagonist in the poem ‘The Family Man’ by Bruce Dawe. The family man seems like a person surrounds by happiness, but the real spirit inside his heart is full of loneliness. He ‘kept his own counsel’ by not sharing with anyone, and locked himself with loneliness and depression. The overdose of isolation lastly becomes the greatest challenge in his life, ends with a lonely way ‘lay dead in his own wood-shed’. Ironically he finds out his identity through the death which is a ‘proper end’ for him, a lonely man. The oppression of a person’s life becomes the activator of a person’s journey to find out her new self. Aditi, the main character of the story ‘Wei-Li and Me’. From the start of oppressing the anger till eventually the explored of her irritation, Aditi faces this transformation by herself and overcomes the challenge of bullying from her classmate Barry. By undertaken these challenges Aditi successfully develops herself with a brave part in her identity. The difficulties in our lives are many, by overcomes them we are able to find out our new perspective of …show more content…
There are many targets we set in our lives. By going through many different processes and overcomes many difficulties, people are able to win their own achievements. When people success, the satisfaction will cover the rest of the four needs in a person’s life as Maslow’s hierarchy has mentioned. One of the targets in our lives is to find out who we really are. To belong, people are willing to discover their identities through the common with others in the group. But more often, it is impossible to know another completely. In the story ‘Homo Suburbiens’ the man seems lonely by standing in his back garden alone. In fact, he is surrounding by peace, enjoying and belonged in his backyard. He is not lonely although he is alone. The misunderstanding of a person exists because we always judge people by how we think in our views. Sometime we are blind to see the truth. In the story ‘Up the wall ’ and ‘The family man’, both of the characters are surrounding by their children, they supposed to be happy as ‘kids make a home’. Paradoxically, kids do not. The housewife is not satisfy by her children, she supposed to be belonged, but the identity she carries and where she belongs doesn’t match, the frustration occurred. The housewife explores her isolation to her husband who should be the one understand her. But by showing his none-sympathetic behaviour, it proves that people are blind to see the authentic feeling of another’s. A