ARTIFACT:
Our group decided that our artifact would be a surgical knife. Every knife has two sides, Similarly, Dr. Namumanu's personality has two sides.
Though we were not able to find a direct quote of Dr. Namumanu that exhibited racism, we could tell that she held racist ideas by looking at the thoughts and words of other characters. In chapter 30, Boy Genius and Rosalyn are married. Boy Genius describes that because Dr. Namumanu performs the wedding ceremony and his parents are dead, the couple does not have to "make the rounds and bow to a hundred haggard immigrants as [they] tried [their] best not to cringe at their cheap Sunday suits and garish dresses. All the while, the hall would have been filled with a never-ending stream of gossip about whose children had made it and whose had not, whose sons were filial and whose were not" (Park, 147). The fact that Dr. Namumanu hosted an all-American wedding ceremony for a couple that by gene-definition are Asians proves that she holds no respect for the Asian culture.
In addition, the easiest way to put Dr. Namumanu's job is that she is a facial surgeon. (hint: surgical knife!) One of her patients makes a comment saying that "Dr. Namumanu's reputation's just stellar. [He] personally know[s] two-dozen people who've been to see her, and the results are just spectacular" (Parker, 133). Her job description includes changing the physical appearance of her patients, or more specifically, changing a person from being yellow to being white. From her choice of profession, we can see that she clearly disregards a person's cultural background and supports the decision of totally changing a person's cultural identity.
However, there is another side to her story. Even though she has performed many facial surgeries, she has done nothing to her own appearance. When Boy Genius first sees Dr. Namumanu, he describes her as a "short Asian woman with shiny silver hooks for arms" (Park, 134). From this, we can see that there are two sides to Dr. Namumanu. On one hand, she works to help others change their looks, but on the other hand, she keeps her oriental roots.
Group 8 (I think!)
-Jessie Wu
ps-I so sorry I forgot the names of my other group members! Please add your names underneath so we all get credit! :)
Though we were not able to find a direct quote of Dr. Namumanu that exhibited racism, we could tell that she held racist ideas by looking at the thoughts and words of other characters. In chapter 30, Boy Genius and Rosalyn are married. Boy Genius describes that because Dr. Namumanu performs the wedding ceremony and his parents are dead, the couple does not have to "make the rounds and bow to a hundred haggard immigrants as [they] tried [their] best not to cringe at their cheap Sunday suits and garish dresses. All the while, the hall would have been filled with a never-ending stream of gossip about whose children had made it and whose had not, whose sons were filial and whose were not" (Park, 147). The fact that Dr. Namumanu hosted an all-American wedding ceremony for a couple that by gene-definition are Asians proves that she holds no respect for the Asian culture.
In addition, the easiest way to put Dr. Namumanu's job is that she is a facial surgeon. (hint: surgical knife!) One of her patients makes a comment saying that "Dr. Namumanu's reputation's just stellar. [He] personally know[s] two-dozen people who've been to see her, and the results are just spectacular" (Parker, 133). Her job description includes changing the physical appearance of her patients, or more specifically, changing a person from being yellow to being white. From her choice of profession, we can see that she clearly disregards a person's cultural background and supports the decision of totally changing a person's cultural identity.
However, there is another side to her story. Even though she has performed many facial surgeries, she has done nothing to her own appearance. When Boy Genius first sees Dr. Namumanu, he describes her as a "short Asian woman with shiny silver hooks for arms" (Park, 134). From this, we can see that there are two sides to Dr. Namumanu. On one hand, she works to help others change their looks, but on the other hand, she keeps her oriental roots.
Group 8 (I think!)
-Jessie Wu
ps-I so sorry I forgot the names of my other group members! Please add your names underneath so we all get credit! :)
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