Week 16: Reading Response to Don Lee's Yellow

Length: About 350 words (one long paragraph in double-space)

Reading Response to Don Lee's Yellow (2001)

What causes Danny Kim's struggle with his identity? Why does Danny try to detach himself from his Korean ethnicity, and where does his sense of insecurity come from? Why does Raymond Rios call Danny a "yellow" and why does Danny hate himself? Why does Danny date Jenny Fallows and why does he break up with her? Does Don Lee mock the group of male Asian students who call Danny a "Banana"? Why does Danny marry a Korean American woman, Rachel Chung? Did Danny marry Rachel because he embraced his Korean ethnicity?Does he try to challenge racial stereotypes of Asian/Asian Americans or does he perpetuate them? Is Danny's identity crisis self-inflicted and/or imposed by others in society? What does Danny's action of saving Kevin signify? What does Don Lee try to convey through the repeated phrase, "Be a man" (215, 247) and the title of his story, Yellow? Please provide at least two textual examples (direct quotes along with the page numbers) to support your analysis and add your detailed analysis after each quotation.

Writing Instructions:

Italicize (not quotation marks) the novella's title, Yellow -- MLA style

Please do not summarize the plot in this reading response.

Please do not use expressions, such as "I think," "you," or "we see" in analysis papers.

Do not cite more than 3 typed lines for each quote and use an MLA in-text citation, referring to the character/narrator. Put the page number after each quote in parentheses. Do not put a page or pg. in parentheses-- (i.e.) Danny had a "perpetual sense of anger" (202), because. . .

Please choose effective quotes to prove your point and make sure to add your detailed analysis after each quotation.