Leaves from the Mental Portfolio
A child may find it hard to understand why her peers are always teasing her. When she discovers it because of her origin or her ancestry, she has nothing much she can do about it. She cannot change where she is from, and she may have to live her whole life with a group of people who view her to be different. However, when a child is born by parents from different ethnic groups, she may end up being spared some form of pain but not always. The paper will discuss invisible ethnicity and whether when one reveals their ethnic identity, it makes it less difficult.
Edith Eaton is an American with Chinese ancestry. In her work, she explains the pain she has to endure because of having a Chinese ancestry in a time when hatred and fear of the Chinese had spread throughout the nation. In the “Leaves from Mental Portfolio, “Eaton describes her journey as an American with a Chinese ancestry (Eaton). Invisible ethnicity entails belonging to a given ancestry, but because of some features, people cannot easily tale. Unless one decides to speak up about their origin, they can be mistaken for another. Her father is White, and this gives her superiority, but her mother is Chinese, and this makes her mate discriminate against her. As a child, she has to fight with other children to defend what she is. Her agemates mock her, and on some occasions, she has her hair pulled because of her ancestry. However, it is not easy for a person to identify her as Chinese because she has her father’s features and her mother hair and eyes.
As a child Eaton would play with her mates without feeling she was different. It was not until she heard nurses whispering about her being Chinese. They talk about her parents and this makes her feel she is different (Eaton). She would be treated as other children in the neighborhood until someone discovered her mother was Chinese. Having a Chinese origin made her get discriminated at school. Her siblings although they were intelligent, they were still pick upon at school including her younger sister who was very small. On embracing who she was as a Chinese made her get discriminated against.
Invisible ethnicity enables one to escape the pain of being discriminated because of their ethnic group. However, it is much painful because one is force to hide who they are. Easton as an adult she started working as a stenographer and when she is at the table eating with her colleagues, she has to endure hearing them mock Chinese men and women (Eaton). Her boss even says that he does not believe that Chinese were humans. Afterwards after seeing she cannot stand the insult; she identifies herself as having a Chines origin. Although some of her colleague apologize it changes how they look at her. Although before they assumed, she was white and she enjoyed all the privilege this changed with her confession of having Chinese ancestry.
Latter own she has to marry a young white man not because of she loved him but because of society pressure. Although her boyfriend does not mind that she is Chinese his peers cannot come into term with this (Eaton). He even tells her to lie about her origin. having a Japanese origin was deemed better than being of Chinese descent then. Eaton is not however thrilled with telling lies about who she is just to get accepted. She breaks their marriage and becomes a free woman again. Invisible ethnicity allows a person to hide but when they reveal their ethnic identity it does not make it easier. In the restaurant Eaton decides to reveal that she is Chinese and this makes her colleague change their perception about her. Although she escapes the pain of hearing them speak ill of Chinese people in her presences, she knows they are always taking behind her back.
In comparing Eaton text to that of Harriet work it is easy to identify visible identity. Josiah one of the blacks was always discriminated against because of having an African origin. He knew he was different because of his skin color at a young age. He did not have white friend and unlike Eaton who could mingle with other children before they discovered she was Chinese. He says although he worked harder than the rest of her peers, they still looked down upon him. Growing up he could never escape the piercing eyes of whites who always thought less of him (Fiedler). Unlike Easton who could easily mistake for a white, the color of his skin always seemed to betray him. He was treated differently as a child and even after growing up and embracing who he was he was still discriminated against. People associated him with crime even when he earned a living from working hard. It was hard to make white friend because their parents warned them about having a black person for a friend. There visible ethnicity is when can easily tell of an individual ancestry origin by looking at them. One can easily tell that one has an African origin because of the skin color.
Visible ethnicity is significant different from invisible or voluntary ethnicity. When an individual decides to reveal their ethnicity to other people voluntarily it does not mean they have ignored the structural force. Invisible ethnicity allows an individual to escape discrimination. However, when one ethnicity is easily noticeable, they are at a high risk of being treated differently because of their color. A Black person finds it hard to hind their origin because of their skin color. This makes them easily noticeable and discriminated against. Therefore, a significant difference between a visible and invisible ethnicity exist.
In conclusion ethnicity is an inherited status which depend on an individual origin. In the “Leaves from Mental Portfolio” Eaton faces discrimination because of her ethnicity. Although it is not easily identifiable because she inherited her father features who was white. She still feels discriminated against growing up from those who knew her mother had a Chinese origin. Although as an adult she embraces her Chinese origin, that does not make her situation nay easy (Eaton). It is still hard for her since she is around individuals who despise Chinese people. Visible ethnicity has a significant difference from invisible ethnicity. Those whose ethnicity is easily noticeable especially those from an African descent seem to suffer more compared to other. Those from an African descent seem to be easily identified because of their color and therefore they get discriminated gains. Voluntary ethnicity although it an individual choice to exhibit ethnicity it does not make it easier. Therefore, a significant difference exists between visible and invisible ethnicity.
References
Eaton, E. Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian. 1909. Mrs. Spring.
Fiedler, L. Love and Death in Uncle Tom’s Cabin “Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. A Casebook, 57-62.