PROMPT 1: THINKING THROUGH THE CHARACTER EFFECT IN LITERATURE
I would say that I “identify” with Bernadette in Small Beauty the most. Growing up in an Asian family, I could certainly relate to how the disapproval of the older family members could have such a big impact on one’s life. Reading the part where Nai Nai disapproves Bernadette’s lover Diane as well as Bernadette’s identity of being a lesbian, I could feel the despair that Bernadette is going through. I would never feel the same, or nearly the same, as Bernadette for her queer experience and the pain she had to go through after Diane left her. However, I could still understand her feeling of being disapproved by someone you love and respect. Growing up, my grandparents have this traditional thought of how doctors are the “better” jobs within the society, and how I should definitely become a doctor just like my parents did. As a little kid, I knew this was not what I am interested in, nor what I want to pursue in the future. I tend to hide my true interest because I was afraid that they are going to judge me and disapprove my choices if I told them I do not want to be a doctor. Fortunately, my family and I did talk everything through. Although I will never understand the hardship Bernadette went through as a lesbian woman nor as a single mother, my experience of being afraid that someone I respect would disapprove my life choices makes me feel connected to what Bernadette experienced with Nai Nai’s judgements.