Anzac Day (pg.

239)
I. Author
James Chong

II. Summary of Plot

The author played the bagpipes and he led his band as the pipe-major. He
marched every Anzac Day with his school’s band in the Sydney city street
parade. Anzac Day is a day to pay respect to the soldiers that fought in the
war during World War I. Hence, the author was proud to be performing during
Anzac Day because he is honouring the brave men that fought for the peace
of the country where he was born in. However, sometimes he felt that
because he has different colour skin and heritage, he was not allowed to
celebrate Anzac Day because it is only for Australian. He identified this feeling
to be one of his adolescent angst.
In 1992, he accidentally watched a video tape of an episode of the ABC
current affairs program Lateline. The video tape contains a footage of the
Sydney march, and it flashed the author’s face on the screen. He was excited
and thrilled to be on television, however, after the teme of the show appeared
which was “TRUE BLUE?”. He decided not to watch the rest of the show and
left because he felt lonely and excluded by the community.

III. Theme/Focus
The theme of this story is focusing on the confusion that the author felt in high
school, and to find his place in the Australian community. The author is
Australian born, but he has Asian heritage. This heritage made him question
about his identity, he wanted to be part of the Australian community but at the
same time he also questioned himself if he belongs in the community because
he has different features, colour, and descent. He was unsure if the others
were accepting him to be part of the band to march for Anzac Day because he
felt the feeling of discrimination since he doesn’t look like the rest of
Australians. Additionally, after he saw the ABC News Theme which was
“TRUE BLUE?”. True Blue refers to unwavering loyalty, and in this term is
loyalty to Australia. The theme pushed him to the edge to question his identity
truthfully and with many thoughts passing in his mind, he felt a lonely feeling
of exclusion.

IV. Character Analysis

The main character in the story, which is the author of the story, James
Chong. He is an Asian, who was born in Australia. He is a hard-working
teenage boy, he showed perseverance in learning to play the bagpipes and
could become a leader of the band. He felt the joy and pride to play for Anzac
Day because it is a big day that is respected by the whole country where he
was born in. However, at the same time, he seemed to not be able to feel
100% comfortable because he felt at times that he was not allowed to
celebrate Anzac Day because of his heritage.

V. Story Analysis
Anzac Day is the day on which we remember all Australians who served and died in
war and on operational service. The spirit of Anzac, with its qualities of courage,
mateship, and sacrifice, continues to have meaning and relevance for Australians
 national identity. The author respects the day as they are the soldiers that protect
the country where he was born in. However, the feeling of exclusion is probably one
of the most common and typical Asian adolescent experience as they are growing
up in Australia because everyone around them looks different, different beliefs,
different religion, etc. Additionally, the theme of the episode that results in the
feeling of loneliness of the author “TRUE BLUE?” symbolises loyalty to Australia,
and this makes the author question his identity whether he is Australian or not
because he also has his Asian heritage that may be a big part of his life.
There are many aspects about the story and the character that can’t be concluded
as the story is too short and does not give much detailed information about the
background of the author as well.

Five Ways to Disappoint Your Vietnamese Mother (pg. 287)

I. Author
Diana Nyugen is Australian-Vietnamese, and she is now very successful in
her career. Diana Nyugen is an actor, writer, producer, writer, theatre maker,
guest speaker, drama facilitator, MC, and performer. Additionally, she also
works with young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds providing
innovative drama programs in Melbourne.

II. Summary of the Plot

The author highlighted 5 ways on how you can disappoint your Vietnamese
Mother, or in a more general term, mostly for all Asian Mothers. So, the five
ways are as following:

Step One: Become an Actor

This step talks about a typical Asian mother expectations. For example, her
mom bought her piano when she was only three years old, and her mom
wants her to become a doctor. At first, her mom was proud of Diana because
she was a natural performer, and her mom would brag about how much
money that she put in for Diana. However, her mom’s visions started to alter
when she realized Diana is becoming a performer, and excelling in humanities
subject. Her mom started to despise what her daughter has become since she
wanted her to be a doctor, but Diana has no potential to be one. In her eyes,
Diana is a disappointment because she is not good in her academics. On the
other hand, Diana felt the same way because her mom always left her
performance half way during the intervals. However, she never told her mom
how she felt and let it sink into her souls. This destroys her relationship with
her mother, as they don’t talk about her performance and she didn’t invite her
anymore.

Step Two: Work Four Jobs – But What Career?

Three out of four of her job is to support her acting career, and her mom never
see her to be successful because she did not have any stable career.
Moreover, in this step Diana talked about the discrimination she experienced
while working in Coles. For instance, one of the customer said “You Asians
are all the same”, leaving Diana angry and frustrated because of the
discriminatory attitude that the customer gave to her.
 Step Three: Become a Viet-school Drop-out
After Diana’s mother came back from three-month family trip to Vietnam. She
sent Diana to Vietnamese school when she was in Year 7. Diana was bullied
by her classmates as all of them are young kids and she is the lonely
teenager in the Grade One Vietnamese class. Diana’s mom always stress
that Diana is a Vietnamese-Australian, while Diana view herself as Australian.
This results in confusion to Diana in figuring out her identity and what exactly
her role is. At the end, after 3 years, she decided to left Vietnamese school
resulting in a lasting communication career between her and her mother.

Step Four: The Boyfriend

Diana was an obedient daughter that looked after her two little sisters and to
teach them piano. However, one day she discovered a chatroom full of Asian
teenagers, and she met her Chinese boyfriend. This created a lot of fear in
her mother, because by her mom perspective no boyfriend until university,
and that this would disturb her studies, relationship with her family, and her
virginity.

Step Five: Get Kicked Out of the Cuckoo Nest

Diana was kicked out of her house when she was eighteen because she had
a boyfriend before finishing university and her mother found him in her closet.
As a result, her mom threw all of her belongings in the backyard and Diana
moved in with her first ever boyfriend. In her mom’s eyes, Diana is a “slut
daughter”, and Diana presume this will be her title for the rest of her life.

III. Theme/Focus
The theme of the story was focused on the stereotype of an Asian mom.
Diana is a child that goes the opposite way of what her mother expect of her.
This story is centered on the conflict between a strict mom and a teenage girl
that needs to follow the rules. Like any other Asian mom, when a child does
not follow the rule that they have set, that child is a failure. The mutual feeling
of hatred and disappointment are the real cause of the obstruction of the
mother-daughter relationship.

IV. Character Analysis

Diana – Diana is the author and main character of the story. She identifies
herself as Australian, but her mom would always stress that she is
Vietnamese Australian. This results in her questioning her identity, and she
has identity issue within herself. Diana tries to be an obedient daughter for her
mother, as she went to Vietnamese school for three years, learned the piano,
took care of her little sister everyday. She followed her mother’s order and
instruction as much as she could possibly do. However, at the same time, she
is also rebellious because she went against her mom. For instance, she
became a performer instead of a doctor, she dropped out of Vietnamese
school, and she got a boyfriend. Diana identifies that she always had a barrier
with her mom because she did not communicate about her feelings, like when
her mom always left her performance during the intervals. Diana had wish for
freedom from her mother, and to live her life as her own because she always
needed to follow a certain order and rules whenever she wanted to do
 something. She highlighted that she felt a freedom that she never felt before
when her mom kicked her out of the house even though she was scared at
first, in the end she was able to live independently. This showed that Diana
had always been independent even she lived with her mother because she
did not have a harmonious relationship with her and she already had four jobs
to support her acting career. Diana never gives up on her dream, and she
always wants to prove to her mom that she had the potential to become a
successful, and healthy person that her mother wished her to be one day.

Diana’s Mother – Diana’s Mother is like any other Asian mom out there, that
wants her children to become a doctor, to play piano, don’t have a boyfriend
until university, and to keep daughter’s virginity intact. Diana’s Mother treated
Diana to be a tool for her to be proud of to her friends, and to compete with
her friend’s children. However, she felt utterly disappointed when Diana did
not turn out like how she wanted her to be. She could be identified as
stubborn as she did not have any communication with Diana about what
Diana wanted personally, and maybe even if they communicate she did not
want to listen to Diana’s point of view because she was so focused on only
one aspect. Diana’s Mother is a conservative person, as she still followed the
tradition where daughter’s can’t have a boyfriend until they finished university
because it would disturb their studies. Moreover, she desperately wishes to
still keep intact their Vietnamese heritage as she would always stress that
Diana is Vietnamese Australian and by sending her to Vietnamese school. On
the other, “No Vietnamese, he will cheat on you and gamble all your money”
from this phrase that her mother said, this showed that Diana’s father had
cheated on her and gamble all of her money, therefore, this could be the sole
reason why she desperately wishes for Diana to become a doctor as this is a
well-respected job that she could use to proof to her ex-husband that she
could succeeded in making her children successful on her own without his
help.

V. Story Analysis
The story highlighted about the struggle that the author had to went through
as teenager because her mom’s sky rocket expectations, and this is what
most of Asian children experienced since they are young because of our
conservative and traditional parents. There always been a lack of
communication between parents and children when it comes to what the
children wants because in the eyes of the parents that we are all still too
young to even know what is bad and good for our own personal being.
Moreover, even when there are communication between the parent and the
children, everything that the children has to say will be rejected because of
the stubbornness and pride that every parents had.
The story showed has how significantly it effected mother-daughter
relationship because of miscommunication, lack of understanding, and mutual
disrespect between each other. Diana was kicked out of the house and this
creates a huge barrier between them, Diana’s mother surely regret about her
decision but Diana has now live independently with her first ever boyfriend.
In conclusion, there needs to be mutual understanding and well-communicate
thoughts between the parents and the children to have a harmonious
household.