Stereotypes in Society

I have just begun reading Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee. And immediately, I have been hit with the concept of stereotypes. In the opening lines of the second chapter, our protagonist says, "Bud wants me to marry him,"officially" he says, before the baby comes. People assume we're married.  He's a small-town banker, he's not allowed to do impulsive things.  I'm less than half his age, and very foreign. We're the kind who marry" (Mukherjee 7). Who says? Society? People? For whatever the reason, regardless of who said so, our characters are very aware of the certain expectations that are thrust upon them based on the stereotypes of society. When talking about raising money for foreign countries, Mother says "Think how many people thirty-five dollars will feed out there" (Mukherjee 21). It's true, that the American dollar goes a long way in third world countries, yet the way she says "out there" has an uncivilized, perhaps even barbaric. It alienates wherever "out there" is. Generalizations are based on ignorance. Not necessarily malicious ignorance, just the sheer lack of knowledge. "I was hoping you'd come up with a prettier. Something in Indian"...I want to say to Darrel, "You mean Hindi, not Indian, there is no such thing as Indian" (Mukherjee 10). I have experienced the same thing. I have been asked, "How do you say this in Asian?" Asian, my dear people, is not a language, or nationality. It is a race. People do not mean to be offensive, they are generally curious. The stereotypes that all Asians are the same, that we all speak the same language, teach them to be ignorant.

Stereotypes, whether we like it or not, define us. They are the reason that our society works the way it does. They define our social lives, what schools we go to, what jobs we have...People always try to work against the stereotypes, to step outside of the box that society has constructed of offensive boundaries, yet the reality is that our lives are very much run by them.

I am an Asian American. Vietnamese American to be exact. I am a Christian and I grew up being home-schooled.  And like every other race or background or upbringing, this carries stereotypes. People have said all kinds of crazy, inaccurate comments to me based on complete generalizations, and frankly ignorance. Not truth. Such as:

• "Aren't you like, super good at math?"
• "Oh of course you play violin, you're Asian.
• "I think this is Thai, or Chinese or something Asian. Can you read it?"
• "So you're like, really religious? Do you go to church all the time?"
• "Do you only eat with chopsticks at home?"
• "How is your English so good?"
• "You're Christian. Does that mean you aren't gonna have sex until you're married?"
• "You're a prude."
• "Weren't you scared to live in Vietnam because of the War?"
• "You probably have straight A's, you're Asian."

All of these are clearly, ridiculous. But they have been said to me, many times by multiple people. The thing about stereotypes is that there is sometimes some truth to the generalization. They must have started somewhere. "Baden is what they call a basic German community.  Even the Danes and Swedes are thought to be genetically unpredictable at times. I've heard the word "inscrutable." The inscrutable Swedes. The sneaky Dutch. They aren't Amish, but they're very fond of old ways of doing things. They're conservative people with a worldly outlook" (Mukherjee 11). The first few of the Dutch or Swedish or German people who came into the community must have acted a certain way for others to begin to think this way. But not all, just enough for assumptions to be formed. As it is said, you give an inch, they take a mile. It is the same with stereotypes. People observe the fact that many Asian cultures are dominant in mathematics and science, and they then expect me to go to Harvard or MIT for neuroscience. "Kwang, Liu, Patel, I've met them all. Pole around in a major medical facility, and suddenly you're back in Asia" (Mukherjee 32). The stereotype is so well known it is even in literature. I do not blame them for this. In fact I admit there have been times when I have jeered at myself or jokingly put myself in the box of stereotypes, well, because it is humorous. When I was younger, I used to feel that I had to adhere to the stereotypes to make people like me. It gave them something to laugh at. But no one has ever considered that maybe I do not want the typical Asian-American lifestyle that the stereotypes beckon me to. No one considers the fact that I do not want to become a doctor or a lawyer. I do not want to go to an Ivy League. I would like to become a clinical psychologist, working with teens with eating disorders. My college of choice is a small, liberal arts Christian university that is unknown to most people. 

Jane, the protagonist of Jasmine, is very aware of these stereotypes. She knows that people box her in and assume she is one way. People assume. She is also very blunt about these assumptions and generalizations, yet she is not reprimanding or harsh. She merely acknowledges them, and I appreciate that. It will be interesting to see if as the reading goes on she rises above these or teaches people otherwise, and begin to abolish these stereotypical boundaries.