Race and Image of Mixed Americans Michaela Protenic College

Sin Sui Far, an American author from the late nineteenth/ early twentieth centuries, placed a heavy emphasis in her work on the lives of Chinese-Americans and the oppression they felt. Through legislation passed by U.S. Congress such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Chinese Americans faced an obscene amount of cruel treatment based solely on their race, including for a time losing their U.S. citizenship and being forced to leave their homes. Their difference and “otherness” set them apart, making them susceptible to extreme social ridicule, persecution, and the eventual repeal of their status as an American citizen. Through Sin Sui Far’s fictional works such as Its Wavering Image, she as an author gave Chinese Americans a voice to represent themselves and the struggles they face. In her short story Its Wavering Image, Far uses Pan’s Chinese characteristics and juxtaposes them with those of white antagonist Mark Carson’s overtly white qualities to highlight her Asian culture and heritage. However, constantly throughout the tale Carson tries to suppress Pan’s Asian features, signifying how Pan represents the sentiments of many biracial asians who struggle with objectification of their Asian features and others’ attempts to...