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    Typical American Reading Guide

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    mikelatt12
    The document provides discussion questions about the novel Typical American by Gish Jen. It explores how the author challenges dominant American narratives about the American Dream and self-made success through the story of a Chinese immigrant family. The questions analyze how the characters' views of what it means to be American change throughout the novel and whether they truly become "typical Americans." It also considers what the novel suggests about marriage, family, and the limits of individual and national freedom.

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    Typical American Reading Guide

    Uploaded by

    mikelatt12
    548 views2 pages
    The document provides discussion questions about the novel Typical American by Gish Jen. It explores how the author challenges dominant American narratives about the American Dream and self-made success through the story of a Chinese immigrant family. The questions analyze how the characters' views of what it means to be American change throughout the novel and whether they truly become "typical Americans." It also considers what the novel suggests about marriage, family, and the limits of individual and national freedom.

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    The document provides discussion questions about the novel Typical American by Gish Jen. It explores how the author challenges dominant American narratives about the American Dream and self-made success through the story of a Chinese immigrant family. The questions analyze how the characters' views of what it means to be American change throughout the novel and whether they truly become "typical Americans." It also considers what the novel suggests about marriage, family, and the limits of individual and national freedom.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    548 views2 pages

    Typical American Reading Guide

    Uploaded by

    mikelatt12
    The document provides discussion questions about the novel Typical American by Gish Jen. It explores how the author challenges dominant American narratives about the American Dream and self-made success through the story of a Chinese immigrant family. The questions analyze how the characters' views of what it means to be American change throughout the novel and whether they truly become "typical Americans." It also considers what the novel suggests about marriage, family, and the limits of individual and national freedom.

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    AMS 10: Introduction to American Studies Reading Guide for Typical American by Gish Jen Written by Professor Grace

    Wang Gish Jen once noted in an interview: Ive tried to be someone who really thought about the American project, and what it means, what this nation is. I try to use my vantage point from the margins to kind of illuminate the larger questions. In Typical American, Jen explores questions about the nation and the American project from the perspective of a Chinese American family. In the process, she challenges the validity of many dominant American narratives about the American Dream and the self-made man. As you read the novel, consider how the author challenges and satirizes ideas about the American Dream and the self-made man. What do you think Jen suggests about the American project? Why do you think she titles the novel Typical American? Here are a few more questions you might consider as you read through the novel. 1) Why do you think Jen begins with the novel with Its an American story? What do you think is the significance of setting up the novel as an American story? 2) On the ship over to the United States, Yifeng (renamed Ralph in America) sets about writing a list of goals for himself (p. 6). What is the nature of these goals? Does he keep to them? 3) Throughout the novel, the main characters Ralph, Helen, and Theresa construct and revise their notion of what constitutes America and typical Americans. From where, what, and whom do they get these ideas? How do these ideas change over the course of the novel for the characters? 4) Do you think Ralph, Helen, and Theresa become typical Americans over the course of the novel? Do you think it is even possible for them? Why or why not? 5) How would you describe the marriage between Ralph and Helen? Why do you think Ralph tries to control Helen (from her breathing, p. 72, to throwing her accidentally? out the window, p. 263)? What do you think Jen is suggesting about marriage, the patriarchal family structure, and the picture of the happy household in the suburbs? 6) On p. 88, Ralph receives Norman Vincent Peales the Power of Positive Thinking as a gift. What lessons does Ralph learn from this self-help book? What other self-help (and inspirational) books does Ralph read in the novel? What lessons does he learn from them? 7) What role do you think Grover plays in the novel? Why do you think Ralph is so taken by Grover? What lessons does Grover try to teach Ralph? What lessons does Ralph ultimately learn through his relationship with Grover? 8) What do you think it means to become American in the novel? Is it the act of obtaining

    citizenship? Of engaging in typical American pastimes like going to baseball games? By going to Radio City Music Hall? By buying a house and moving to the suburbs? By getting more money? By getting a dog? 9) Why do you think Ralph gives up his (very prestigious ) job as a professor to open a chicken restaurant? What are his ambitions in opening the chicken restaurant? Why is it significant that the restaurant is built on an unstable foundation and literally falls apart? 10) The novel opens with the feeling of optimism and limitless opportunity and ends with Ralph feeling like he is in a prison in his own home. On the last page: He could not always see, could not always hear. He was not what he made up his mind to be. A man was the sum of his limits; freedom only made him see how much so. America was no America (p. 296). Why do you think the novel ends this way? What statement do you think Jen is making about America and the limits of the individual and the nation? What is the final image of the novel? Why do you think it is significant?

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