Half and Half

“The Funeral Banquet” by Lisa See

Each family has their own cultures and traditions that they continue to keep alive and passing down to their children. Lisa’s grandmother was no exception. She passed down the strong Chinese traditions and, even though she was Caucasian, she was Chinese. It is impressive to see someone immerse themselves completely into a new culture. They are faced with many struggles from both racial sides.

Stella Copeland faced border patrolling when she decided to become Chinese. The Chinese community would have a hard time accepting a white women into their family because of the racisms that is still present. The white community would be angry that she would rather be Chinese than be white.

In a society in which being “Americanized” provides greater opportunities, Stella challenged it because she decided to become unamericanized. And by becoming “more “Chinese” than most Chinese” (Lisa Lee, 126) she got the respect from her family.

It was interesting to see that at the funeral they were having problems deciding what to do because Stella was not a traditional Chinese woman. Multiracial families go through all these decisions and doubts on how to do things because they do belong to two worlds. It is difficult to go against traditional norms when there is more than one culture to go by.

All families have members who are open to multiracial marriages, but then there are also those who are more conservative and do not want interracial mixes in their family. Lisa even says that in her family there were people who did not approve of interracial marriages and would even joke about the prejudice that was present. Such as when Gilbert died and his daughter and her Caucasian fiance joked that he chose to die rather than go to their wedding. (Lisa See, 129)

Biracial/multiracial families have to stand up for themselves and fight oppression. They should not be controlled by border patrollers and should be praised for crossing the border line. Lisa Lee and her grandmother did not let racism separate their family and Lisa continues to hold her cultural identities with strength


“A Middle Passage“ by Philippe Wamba

Philippe was born in America and lives in Tanzania and it is very interesting to see the order patrolling that occurs when he goes to visit his family. In America he is treated differently because he comes from Africa. African Americans easily fall into stereotypes and start treating him like a child. The cultural difference is so great that even if they look alike, they are different. With his family in Congo, he is the American brother and was connected to America than to Tanzania. Philippe was not entirely American, yet he was given that title because he was born there.

Being form a multiracial family, Philippe has trouble defining his identity when people label him different things.

Philippe was happy that he was called Phil and even said that he would be mortified if his friends found out his African name. It is sad to say but fitting in in cost of your culture happens a lot. People do not want to be labeled as outsiders will hide, rather than take pride in their cultural identities.

I think that it is very important that they parents encourage both cultures to be used with the children. I like that Philippe’s parents cooked meals that represented their culutre and kept trading off.

It was funny when his dad and uncle went to buy a goat to serve at a party and the Americans thought they were selling it as a pet. Different cultures have different traditions, being Mexican-my family does eat goat and Philippe’s story reminds me of hope each culture has different ideas.

Philippe had to choose between his American and African culture once he moved to Tanzania and in order to fit in he had to become more African. Philippe does not belong to just one or cultures, but he is more. He does not feel he has to state his identity, he does not want to be labeled and want to show that he is made up of many places. He does not have to choose one over the other but he can be all, he chose to be free. Being multiracial is something to be proud of, not something that needs to be hidden.


“From Here to Poland” by Nina Mehta

Nina Mehta started talking about how her parents defied the color line, her mother being American and her father Indian. As it is usual with interracial couples, the parents were not please with the marriage and would even disown their children if the interracial relationship continued.

Nina is American and Indian, but she only speaks English. She can barely communicate with her grandmother and I think that it would have been better for Nina if she had been taught the Indian languages. Nina would have been able to identify more with her other culture rather than feeling like she only had “half and understanding.” (Nina Mehta, 219)

It was interesting to see that even if she did not communicate with the grandmother, she still liked having approval from her, like sitting on the jute mats and didn’t use utensils to eat.

When she moved to New Jersey, she was faced with discrimination because she was biracial. At ten years old she faced prejudice from a young boys because of her biracialism. The community had border patrolling and did not accepts people of color because few African American families that lived there never stayed long.

Nina wondered why she was so different, the confusion and anger she felt was only worsened because of the racism she was confronted with. She even wanted to change her name to claim a different ethnicity.

Having her grandmother present, Nina was able to get the side of the culture that she was not completely a part of and that she even did not want to be a part of. Nina was able to get more attached to both her cultures and learn from them. Her grandmother was the connection to the culture that her parents did not immerse her in, which is the problem with being multiracial--with what culture does one identify with the most and is it ones decision or is it influenced by the greater society?