Silence Yields Violence: Forms of Expression in American Son Jonathan Davies College

Depictions of Asian Americans in mainstream culture tend to reinforce a stereotype of the silent, model minority. Said silence typically results from either a language barrier or the perception that silence equates to respectfulness and abhorrence of conflict. Media representations often give audiences an outside view of Asian American characters but fail to offer characters’ internal point of view. Brian Ascalon Roley’s American Son counters these representations by centering his story around two Filipino American brothers living in Los Angeles and specifically narrating the novel from one of the brothers', Gabe’s, point of view.

A reoccurring theme in the novel is Gabe’s excruciating silence during moments of conflict. Since the story is told through Gabe’s perspective, we gain access to his thoughts during these moments, in contrast to typical representations of Asian Americans. Roley forces readers to sit and endure these long, awkward moments, providing opportunity to observe the internal effects of navigating daily micro- and macro-aggressions. Roley’s novel warns that if minority groups, specifically Filipino Americans, cannot translate silence into a productive voice in moments of conflict, then violence serves as an...