The Struggle to be an All American Girl

1. Elizabeth Wong is a playwright and television writer who grew up in Chinatown in Los Angeles. She was educated at the University of Southern California (1980) and New York University (1991). Wong also worked as a reporter and taught in the theatre department at Bowdoin College.

2. Similar to Carrie's moves in White Buds on an Apple Tree, Elizabeth Wong also considers her audience and the extent of her audiences' literacy in the topic. In White Buds on an Apple Tree, Carrie is careful to make sure she explains uncommon medical terms and acronyms by putting the definitions in parentheses after each one. In The Struggle to be an All American Girl, Elizabeth also explains the Chinese terms and sayings that her audience might not be familiar with. For example, Elizabeth says that the people in her culture would say, "My, doesn't she move her lips fast." Then she goes on to explain that that saying means that she would be able to keep up with the world outside of Chinatown.

3.The intro of this essay begins with an anecdote as Elizabeth starts off with a mini story that depicts the topic of her essay. Elizabeth ends her essay by highlighting an important aspect of her topic of how she struggled to be engrossed in the American culture yet regretting it as an adult.

4. We know for sure that Wong regrets her assimilation into American culture because at the end of her essay, she states that she is sadly still an "all American girl" and not someone who is part of the Chinese culture. Also, before the actual essay, the paragraph that gives background information about Wong states that this essay recounts her adult regret of her assimilation into American culture.