Narrative Visual Perspective in English

In English this year, we learned of a new style of writing, called the listener lyric essay. This wouldn’t be the typical expository essay, or research paper, but more of a unique way to write and express a story. The paper would be written in second person, with a lot of “you’s.” I told a story of my mother, and her challenges growing up.

You’re going to a new school. Every year you are lost, time after time. Every school has its own different rules, its own different schedules, and its own different culture. You feel different, isolated, every moment you’re in this new school. People stare at you, knowing that you’re different than the rest of them, and you’ll never fit in. 

But this time, this school isn’t just a school. It’s a school, but in a new place. An entirely new place. An entirely new country. 

And at the same time, these different rules are whole different laws. Different schedules turn into different routines.

Different cultures turn against you as you try to fit into this new country. 

There are people everywhere, they’re different. They make fun of you for your small eyes, even though you’ve never thought anything of them. I mean they’re just eyes, right? They can’t possibly mean anything to these people, but they pull their eyes back and talk like they have a stick up their nose. But why? You haven’t done anything wrong to them. You just want to fit in, and be like everybody else.

So special. You are so special. Everyone makes you feel like a precious gem, treated gently and carefully by some. You are put in special classes so you can learn a new language, to be able to talk with all those people you want to fit in with. You are so special. People try to treat you the same. Those compliments you receive, they label you as just another person they have to deal with. Or is it something special that you should cherish? Nevermind that. You’re so smart they say, all asians are! What did they say? It might be good, but you never know. It all sounds the same to you, a mixed world of words and emotions you can’t understand.

Mysteries turn into thoughts as you start to understand the new world around you. You begin to understand who you are, and how you fit into this new world. It’s as if you put on glasses after years of blurry vision. You are not a small egg, nor a small child, but a strong human being. You begin to emerge from this shell of your life, to begin to live who you really are. 


In order to create this listener lyric essay, I had to interview my mother for the information on her past. Below is the interview transcript.

Well, I learned to have to adapt to each new place, and each new country with different customs, schooling, you have to learn to grow and adjust yourself so that you can fit into the new environment. 

When I moved to canada, I didn’t know the language, the country, it was freezing cold coming from Taiwan, it was really hard on me and my family. You come into a country where there is already a language barrier, you have a cultural barrier, environmental. It really makes you feel isolated 

Because I came from Taiwan about 45-47 years ago, back at that time, there was very little immigration, especially to central Canada. Very few asians, very few immigrants at all. When I was at school, I was teased and made fun of for being different such as calling me Chink and doing the eye thing, where they pull back their eyes, and make that offensive remarks in your face.

Well in Canada and then in Augusta Georgia, I felt different there was almost no other asian families in the school environment or on the street so it made you feel different in a very bad way. When you’re a student in Elementary and Junior high school, you just want so badly to be like everyone else, you want to fit in.

I was very lucky to have a supportive family. My mother, an amazing person, always made sure that I felt loved and that I always had comfort and safety in my home.

When I first went to canada, we had to go to special classes with special tutors it took about 2 years to learn enough english to be in mainstream. Definitely in that regard, where you couldn’t even be with your peers, it made it difficult to adapt.

Well there’s very outward things, where they make the eyes, make comments about you, but there’s also positive ones, where its suppositive to be positive “oh asians are so smart. Oh you should know this” its not a good or bad to stereotype, they stereotype you based on one factor, which is your race. 

I would describe myself bursting out of a question mark, seeing the sun and the horizon because there was a lot of uncertainty in my early years and then once I got past high school I felt a lot more confident, I made a lot of friends and I could fully embrace myself. So it was that uncertainty with myself, that insecurity that has blossomed into found my place.

It has to do a lot of where you live. In a place such as small town Georgia, it’s still conservitite, backwards in terms of political and racism. When you live in a bigger country, things are more progressive, you can fully be yourself, find your strengths, and contribute to the society and that’s what I found in Houston and in the Bay Area

In Georgia, to Winnipeg, Canada, central Canada to Auguston Martinez Georgia, which is a very small town, I think the right word is backwards,in terms of their thinking and their social outlook. And at that time it was very difficult to fit in society. You’re either white, or black, and there’s little room for anything else. There’s still strong racial overtones.

I would like for everyone to be a little more open about dealing with people that are a little different than themselves. In the Bay Area, we have very liberal views about immigration or gender identification or sexual orientation, it’s very progresive and very liberal. I think the rest of the country should try to be more open. It will help others. There will be times when you don’t always go into a large city that is very progressive, but you can be embraced and still show your potential to contribute to society in small town America.