Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir

Because I watched the ABC sitcom, I had to read Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir by Eddie Huang. I didn’t love it though at times it was enjoyable to read. My problem with Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir is encapsulated in this quote, “There were so many gaps in my American cultural understanding because we just didn’t get it at home. It always hurt me writing or debating because I didn’t share their references, but that summer I was determined that it wouldn’t stop me. I wouldn’t try to talk about things they knew anymore. I would use references that made sense to me and make them catch up. (pg. 124).” Huang uses a lot of slang and rap references that I don’t understand so after he describes his childhood, I got a little lost and had a hard time keeping up.
Even though I adhere to respectability politics in my own life, I don’t impose it on other people so my friends have different moral codes than me EXCEPT when it comes to violence. Huang clearly understood that his father’s wealth wasn’t his, worked hard to make his own way and still could not gain acceptance for who he was as an Asian man in a predominantly white suburban community even if he fit a stereotype as a model Asian. If it wasn’t for his father’s wealth and other factors, i.e. if he looked like the culture he revered, his violent reaction to any sleight-warranted or not- which was a complete turn off for me, would have ended in death. So despite Huang distinguishing economic and racial privilege in his community, he was still able to rely on both when it came to his criminal conduct.
Also Huang recognizes the concept of cultural imperialism, “It’s imperialism at work in a saute pan. You already have everything, do you really really, really need a Burmese hood pass, too? Can we live?” (pg. 148) I think that it is undeniable that Huang’s appreciation of rap, urban wear, basketball, etc. are lifelong loves, but I wonder if he ever questions the limits of that love, and if he occasionally is bordering on a stereotypical cultural imperialism reminiscent of Michael Rappaport in trying to find his own voice distinct from other Chinese Americans as a “rotten banana.” All people adopt other cultures’ voice of resistance and struggle to find words for their own pain, but it is not the same as being a part of that culture. I don’t think Huang is saying that, but Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir by Eddie Huang does not answer whether or not Huang understands that tension in his own life-that others can see him as the imperialist while simultaneously not denying his pain.