Reading Response 6

Is it truly successful to try and erase the past in hopes of a better future?

The text explains what a yanggongju is and what they have to go through. A yanggongju, also known as Yankee whore, is the name given to Asian women who are military prostitutes (for US soldiers). These women are mistreated by Americans - and sometimes even killed. Others have children and are able to get married and move to the United States bot achieve “The American Dream”. The women who are able to do the latter option are often ashamed of what they have done in the past, and in their home countries as prostitutes. They do not tell their children about their past, and if they do, it is often with shame and regret that they insist their children do the opposite of what they have done. Tormented by their pasts, these women want to have a clean slate for themselves in America, or at least for the children they raise in America. But I wonder if such a thing can really happen. With a troubled past, which is also the way to which they got the life they currently have, it is really hard to believe that something so traumatizing can be forgotten, or that it can be ignored as to not making their children aware of it. I feel like it is something that eventually comes to see the light of day some way or the other (this is if it is being kept a secret). On the other hand, if it is spoken about, known, and addressed, I think it eventually has an influence on the children or the mother or the whole family. I don’t really think that it is easy to ignore such a troubled past, and I honestly do not think it is worth it. Children do not have the fault for what their parents do before having them, and I do not think it is beneficial to keep things like this (like their mom being a prostitute) from them in the long run. It is all about the timing of when they are told such things, and how the situation is handled. I think that assimilation is a dangerous thing, and although it can certainly lead to a less tragic, ‘easier’ future, it deprives those who assimilate of the greatness of being unique and different.