English A(2)SL Essay – Face by Keith Chan 1 Essay Topic: Compare the ways in which some of the authors you have studied make social criticisms M00H ‘What looked clear on the surface, is not so below.’ Veronica Needa, a Eurasian in Hong Kong, feels that the society has many misconception and false perception of what they are and should act like. She, therefore, strongly believes that Eurasians should be proud of their mixed-background and share with others their experience as Eurasians. In Face, Veronica has express her views upon the life she has experienced as a British-Chinese-mixed Eurasian in Hong Kong. They could be classified mainly into nationality, racism, language and female status. Nationality Common perception that westerners are foreigners actually existed long in Hong Kong and maybe other parts of the world. During the times when Hong Kong was attacked by the Japanese, for example, Eurasians joined up to fight against the enemies and protect their homeland. But there heroic defence was soon being forgotten. Hong Kong is their home and they stood up to fight to protect their home, but locals have never treated them as a part of their community. About this kind of misconception, Veronica ‘feel(s) a belonging that isn’t accepted, and (she is) seen as a stranger in (her) land of birth.’ (line 10, page 13). Many people aren’t aware that interracial marriage in fact happens all over the world. Even in Hong Kong, every Eurasian comes from very diverse background and circumstances. They might have appearance different from locals, but many of them grew up and was educated in Hong Kong, a place submerged with traditional Chinese cultures. And in fact, many Eurasians are fanatics towards these cultures just like Veronica likes Chinese opera and Tai Chi. Veronica points out in Face that she was “behaving ‘differently’” (line 19, P.11) during her school age as her enthusiasm in studies unnerved her classmates. She was being isolated because of that, as people have a common perception that English girls should be hard working. Now that she realizes she was acting in a perfectly Hong Kong way at that time. Veronica points out that Eurasians, like any other children, will automatically behave according to the culture they were brought up. There is, therefore, no reason why they should be labeled or classified as ‘different’ merely because of their mixed background. Given all these negative attitudes towards Eurasians, ‘many Eurasians have dream of England as the motherland – we’ve inherited this way of thinking from our colonial fathers.’ (line 21, P.10) Veronica, however, thinks that Eurasians rather than averting English A(2)SL Essay – Face by Keith Chan 2 themselves from the fact that they were born and grew up in Hong Kong, should remember where they came from and what they have with them. Rather than blinding aiming at fitting in and finding a place in the society , they should celebrate their difference and feel pride of their multi-cultural background. Veronica, same as other Eurasians in Hong Kong, has been struggling to find her own identity as she grew up and she finds herself different from other Chinese people born overseas. She used this as an examples to reminds other Eurasians to meticulously distinguish their origin and identity without considering their face because most often, they face overwhelms they identity. Towards the end of the play, Veronica once again highlights the aim of the play which is to encourage Eurasians to stand up and share their unique ‘mixed-up’ stories with others. Many Eurasians, no matter where they lived, might feel confused over their own identities, most of them feel isolated from the rest of the community because some of them have faces different from locals, some behave differently as influenced by the culture they grew up, but once they identify their belongings, they shall be able to find themselves and no longer feel lost. Racism Apart from the misunderstanding of Eurasians, Veronica also made mention to the discrimination existing between races. Owing to some pre-defined social status, people could be treated very differently just because they are not of the same race. Veronica’s father, for example, was a half-Japanese-half-Arabic who married his first wife from a wealthy European shipping family. Yet, he was being looked down by the rest of the family and were forced to divorce at last as the shipping family would not like to have any relationship with him. Language Veronica was being starred at with ‘great big eyes’ wondering why an English woman can speak fluent Chinese. Though most of them do not mean to be unkind, Veronica felt that ‘one moment (she is) feeling at home, part of the community, another moment (she) feel(s) pushed out, alien, from another world. As if (she doesn’t) belong(s) to this place as much as they do.’ (line 1, P.13) Once again, her face overwhelms her identity. Though Veronica was born and educated in Hong Kong, and being a local, she was being aliened from the community merely because her face looked western. She questions what an appearance of a person actually represents. In her view, a face cannot show a person’s cultural background or parentage or where a person belongs to, basically, it shows nothing deep inside. After all, it is just a face. Moreover, in different languages, there is always some way which shows superiority over their own culture and look down on others. For example, in Cantonese, a mixed parentage family is called ‘Boon Tong Faan’ meaning a half-Chinese, half-foreign English A(2)SL Essay – Face by Keith Chan 3 devil family. Female Status When mentioning her grandma, Veronica pointed out that ‘(her) Grandma was never given the rights that an Englishmen’s wife would have been entitled to, because she was a Chinese.’ (line 23, P.3) Chinese (and many other colored people) at that time was often being looked down and are classified as low-class people, not say Chinese women. Though the situation has improved a lot over the recent years, are people still keeping their common perception about the colored? Are the white still superior than the others? As part of the aim of Face, Veronica has demonstrated a role model for other Eurasians in Hong Kong by voicing out her feelings towards the way Eurasian are being cut off and not being able to get into the community because of her face/appearance as well as the language she speaks. She also raised awareness over the how Chinese especially women who married a Europeans have been looked down on in the old days. Though many claims that the above-mentioned have been improved a lot over the years, is it true? Are you still using wield looks gazing at westerner who speaks Cantonese? Word Count: 1060