Thipwimon Chaloeikrai

520132007
Ajaan Dr. Chalathip Wasuwat
Submitted on August 29th, 2010

A letter to my sister
An appearance is the only matter of American society; the model racist society

Yesterday I have read some article about the Asians seeking for plastic westernized
beauty, it’s ridiculous when some westerners, who wants to go through the plastic surgery to
get Oriental look, warn those Asians who want surgery are abandoning their exotic and
uniqueness of their ethnicity. Her response to the interviewer seems reasonable and worth
reading as it is a concerning voice from the intelligent. She also added that being unique is
better than trying to fit in. I think as least, she is British. She is one of the most powerful
ethnicity of the world. Even though, she wants to be part of Asian community, she is still
regarded as British. And British is British. She can be the loyal Asian’s fan club, but she will
never be an Asian and get what Asians have been through.

“The letter to my sister” is the tragedy of the Asian who didn’t have a chance to
explain herself how hard to fit in as American Asian. On the other hand, this can be such the
Declaration of independent; the refusal to get involved in the crazy society. The woman who
killed herself because she fails to belong to and don’t want to struggle anymore chose death
as the way out. Her death’s meaning is equivalent to the rude four-letter word could carry
toward the doomed society.

The reason of committing suicide is the plastic surgeons had ruined her face. She
had been through surgery many times even the writer cannot recognize her. When the girl
obsessed with her appearance, it implies that she wants to fit in so badly to the American
community. When the matter of being accepted is deadly imperative, it is what they call a
serious identity crisis. The Sister came to this point as well; the self-hatred of her Korean
appearance drove her to commit suicide at the end.

Is she crazy and stupid? Sister in this story tries to fulfill both her Korean parents’
expectation and American social standards. No matter how hard she tried and sacrificed, she
could not finally success them. And the guilt is unbearable. She tried to kill herself many
times before and was placed in the psychiatric ward. Is suicide really the individual problem?
Isn’t the society the one to be blamed? The author tries to point out that the culture is
composed of the invisibly violence as an essential to the constitution of the society. It
reinforces us to follow its idealistic regime and punishes us with discrimination and
alienation if we don’t succeed. How can Sister survive the American society with its
psychotic ideals? I think I can see how the society has shaped our identity and our goal.

As I have said before, no matter how the westerners adore Asian cultures, they cannot
fully understand why Chinese or Thai seek plastic surgery. It’s because the westerners are
always superior in every way. No one dares discriminate them. The Whites are the luckiest
race of the world I have ever seen. They can colonize (in the past), they can even neo-
Thipwimon Chaloeikrai
520132007
Ajaan Dr. Chalathip Wasuwat
Submitted on August 29th, 2010

Colonize again (for now); intruding within Asian value. They are so powerful that can
implant their thoughts in everywhere of the world. Thus, people around the world still love,
forgive, and follow them blindly.