Yellow by Don Lee narrates the story of Danny Kim, a Korean American boy who struggles to fit into his new society. Danny tries to find a position in his environment by attempting to be the all American person. He rejects everything that has to do with his Korean culture and any association with a new American man’s culture. Seemingly, this leads to an internal struggle that makes him feel insecure about his body and personality. Thus he feels such voids with more potent American identifications that will make him rank beyond the Asian American stereotypes. Others inflict danny’s insecurity about himself and his Korean ethnicity in society. The society embraces the ‘all American’ identity as being superior to the rest that has made him aspire to be included and part of the majority because they are appreciated more and regain unspoken respect from everyone else.
Society has made borderlines upon which everybody is supposed to thrive, bringing upon the conflict of identity and personality. Danny was born in America and, therefore, an American by birth. He knows and expects more from the society that he was born in because that is his home, and when he finds that being Korean is not as acceptable as it is to be all American, he opts for that. The choice therefore, to be all American is mostly due to society’s pressures. Lee says, “He refused to learn Korean and when it was used in the house, he would sometimes burst out, speak English! Speak English!”(Lee, 203-205); the bursting out and anger implies that he was undergoing inner struggles of wanting to be what the society mostly embraced, which was a man eloquent in English, good physical stature and so much more. But he finds himself stuck in the opposites because he is Korean, and this makes him angry. Additionally, the society’s acceptance of certain lifestyle features makes him change his personality. Lee says, “If people saw him as arrogant with a too cool for you façade, and they admired him for it, then that was what he would give them.” (Lee, 221-223) Danny, therefore, being a reticent was not his personality but one he was willing to maintain to be more acceptable to the people. This implies that it was what the society willed that Danny commanded to.
It is also through the society that Danny has developed self-doubt and psychological distress that have affected many aspects of his life. Danny dates Jenny Fallows and gets into a relationship with her because he loves her, and Jenny loves Danny too. But then the irrational thoughts come through, and he thinks that she will break his heart. The rants from fellow Asians when he’s seen with jenny such as ‘banana’ meaning yellow on the outside and white on the inside get into his head and psychologically consume him. When they go for a party in the Brentwood mansion, a man says, “Did you know its national hate Chinese week?” (Lee, 235-237); these comments are directed to Jenny and Danny. Later on, Danny is hit on the chest with a wedge implying that he should not be hanging around with the crowd because he does not belong. All these actions get into his head and bring about psychological distress, emotional abuse, and anger. People have inflicted self-doubt. He says to Jenny, “I can’t forget it. It’s what I have to live with every day.” (Lee, 237-239) This implies that he has to face constant rejection from people and the daily shaming of who he is. At one point, this is bound to create self-doubt of who really one is why they are not like the whites and how they can be more like them.
With Danny, he has lived for the society and transformed himself into what the society. This is the all American man. His training to become a boxer is not a professional path but a self-indulging activity to boost his body and develop more muscle since he regained the height but not the girth. This is to imply that the most popular person with the girls was the one who had good heights and muscle and could be acceptable in famous circles. Lee says, “He did not have a chance with the fresh faced, blondes.”(Lee, 205-207) This suggests that having a blonde girl was the ultimate win. This evidence is also supported by Danny’s attraction towards a blonde girl in a bar with his friend Paul. He admits that these girls “reaffirm his attractiveness,” meaning that they make him feel accepted in the crowds of whites and among the majority (Lee, 231-233). It could also mean that Danny dated Jenny to reaffirm his status among the majority white since she was white. After some time, he begins to doubt whether Jenny loved him, and he becomes cynical about their relationship. These actions could be illuminating what he is doing intrinsically, which is carrying on a relationship with Jenny so that it can give him some status.
Danny is not to blame for inflicting self-doubt or struggling with his identity. He is also not blamed for the social tensions in his social life. The Korean ethnicity and culture are not to blame either for who he is because that is his identity. But he lives on these struggles because society has made him to. He is being forced to live under the stereotypes of what Asians are thought to be and how they need to behave, but the society forgets that he is also American. He has every right to date outside his race and not be shamed by the people because of it. He should talk and socialize with other people and not be referred to as sardonic because that is his personality. He should also be able to talk Korean and eat Korean dishes without hiding because that is his identity, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. The society is the one that has selected a superior kind who are the whites and dictated that everyone else should aim to be more of them. But it is not valid. If time was not the same, and America accepted its multicultural diversity, then Danny would have been a better Korean who accepts his culture and does not see it as a burden. So many aspects of his life would have changed, and more so, he would have been himself rather than the angry, self-loathing boy that he was. Evidently, the society plays a key role when it comes to diversity and acceptance.
REFERENCE
Lee Don. Yellow. 2001.