Synopsis:

Short story in literary journal

Book Excerpt:

Orientation

The youngest of four, I was more at liberty than my siblings to break family rules. By the time I was ten, my two sisters and brother had paved the way for my less-strict childhood with their endured punishments and hard-won little freedoms. It helped that my parents, Korean immigrants, were worn down with my siblings’ teenage hormones raging, albeit silently, in the house. I stayed up reading until eleven on school nights when the rule was nine o’clock. I didn’t get yelled at if I broke a dish, and I ran the faucet while brushing my teeth. I played outside all day without being missed and got out of a host of chores, including sewing hems for my mother’s alterations business. We also weren’t allowed to visit friends’ houses, a rule that remained firm. My mother assumed reciprocity was expected and didn’t want to be obligated to other people. That phrase was like a barrier reef to everything I did—Don’t bother other people. Nor did she want other people to be obligated to us, so we weren’t allowed to have friends over. …

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Topics/Categories:

Asian American, Coming of Age, cultural identity, Food, Identity, Immigrant Experience, korean, korean american, Mothers and Daughters

Genre:

Asian-American Literature, Asian-American Studies - Interest, Korean - Korean-American Literature

Type of Work:

Short Stories

Publishers:

Asian American Writers' Workshop

Awards:

F. Scott Fitzgerald Short Story Contest (2003) first runner up

Original Publish Date:

2003-12-31

Formats:

Paperback (literary journal)