Identity And Race In D.H. Taylor’s “Pretty Like A White Boy” And W. Choy’s “I’m A Banana And Proud Of It”
People often have certain exceptions about how an individual should look according to their race/culture. In Drew Hayden Taylor’s “Pretty Like a White Boy: The Adventures of a Blue Eyed Ojibway” and Wayson Choy’s “I’m a Banana and Proud of It” both authors use innovative terms “special occasion and “Banana” to express their identity. They both face discrimination of growing up as people with appearances, due to to their different experiences and outlook on life the term “Special Occasion” is more effective compared to “banana” for the following reasons. Both terms express stereotyping, Taylor turns a situation people may consider negative to positive. Whereas, Choy decides to accept a negative term created by society. In addition, both terms suggest a need of belonging, Taylor takes a physical approach such as changing the way he looks while, Choy decides to look into his family history. Based on the information provided by both terms, “Special Occasion” rejects categories made by society such as the stereotypical “white” and “black”. While, the term “banana” may be interpreted as racism but Choy accepts and learns to become proud of it. Stereotyping should handled in a more mature and positive approach, which Choy lacked in his essay.
He begins by using food analogies such as oreo and apples as a way to illustrate to the audience that cultures like Indian American, African American have two sides to them, one being their cultural background inherited by their parents and the other side being “anglo - white”. Choy states, “After all, in Canada and the United States, native Indians are “‘apples’”(red outside, white inside); blacks are “‘Oreo cookies’” (black and white);and Chinese are “‘bananas’.
This implies, that Choy believes that if you are any type of immigrant you adapt to the white culture which for some cases is not true, some individuals stick by their family heritage. Also Choy has made a joke out of some cultures and associating them with specific colors which many people will take offensive. Furthermore, Choy accepts a term created by society and suggests that Chinese immigrants: “. . . eventually become bananas”. Therefore Choy is making a statement regarding Chinese citizens without having any evidence to back up his claim resulting in the audience not wanting to believe his statement.
In addition, Choy begins to question which culture he belongs more close to so he decides to do extensive research into his family background to provide a new perception. Choy writes, “he spent his college holidays researching the past …the early citizens came back to life for him. Their long toil and blood sacrifices, the proud record of their patient, legal challenges, gave us all our present rights as citizens”. Choy realizes the importance of his history and learns to appreciate how much his heritage had sacrificed and Choy never once considered his background. In closing, Choy accepts a term created by society which is based upon appearances but still remains confused with the term “banana” and is not fully sure where he stands yet he does not take any action to prove his identity. As evidence to determine he is confused is when: “. . . he accepts the paradox of being both Chinese and not Chinese”. This proves his uncertainty Choy has regarding the term “banana” and also shows he is not fully able to develop a clear mind about which culture he connects more to. Keram 3 On the other hand, Taylor specifically makes it clear that he does not associate himself with any race resulting in him making a strong statement : “he officially secede from both races”.
This shows, that Taylor was not hesitate to state where he stands and with no doubt decides to disconnect from both cultures. Whereas, Choy lacked that confidence while making his decision of which race he associated with. Furthermore, Taylor faced a taxi driver who was being racist towards natives without realizing Taylor was a native himself. The taxi driver stated, “If you’re not careful, all you’ll get is drunk Indians”. The taxi driver is oblivious to the fact he was actually giving a ride to a native but Taylor tries to make a humor out of the situation: “I’m convinced I’d make a great undercover agent for one of the Native political organizations”.
Taylor joking around shows the nature of his personality how he is making a positive out of a negative situation. Which Choy lacked this in his essay he stuck by a racist term and did not defend any rude statements made about the chinese. In addition, Taylor faced a point in which he had enough of being judged by his looks so he decided to: “die his hair black”. This implies, the dramatic action he took to fit in. He also “. . . debated having his status card tattooed on my forehead”. Which shows the amount of times he probably had to prove his identity. While, Choy did not take any physical action to resolve the racism instead he just did some research on his background.
Lastly, Taylor creates the term “special occasion” which rejects the categories made by society and is associated with joy and happiness. Taylor states, “Because I am half Ojibway, and half Caucasian, we will be called Occasions. . . , since he found the new nation, will be a Special Occasion”. Whereas, Choy accepted a racist term created by society.
In conclusion, Taylor has created a neutral term “special occasion” which has no ethnicity or race associated with it making it an inclusive term. Whereas, Choy sticks to the term “banana” created by society which is focused on a certain race and appearance and makes it an exclusive term.
