In Gish Jens book, Mona in the promised land is the story of a Chinese-American family that lives and

an upper-class suburb of New York. The story follows Mona an eighth-grade second-generation Chinese
American who is struggling to find herself in a new community where shes only seen as Asian. As I read
this novel Mona appeared to me to be just the typical teenager someone is trying to find themselves in fit
into their peer group. I think we see Mona struggle in crystal-clear detail from the exchanges between her
and her mom when Mona misbehaves or doesnt mind her manners her mother is quick to snap at her
you be a good Chinese girl, to which Mona quickly replies Im not Chinese, Im an American. To me,
this is Mona standing up for herself and saying unlike in China Im free to make my own decisions here
in America. To me, Monas trying to shake that Chinese girl stereotype that is placed upon her simply by
her looks, much in the way that every time Barbara Gugelstein is brought up in the book the fact that she
is Jewish is always mentioned. One of the first stereotypes that we see Barbara dealing with is the Jewish
nose. Barber asked her parents what a Jewish nose was she was told that its a large nose and classifies
her as a Jew according to her parents and that Jewish noses are unattractive, Barbaras reaction to this
stereotyping is to have her nose fixed which shows that even Barbara is trying to assimilate into American
society.
In utopian and dystopian citizenships explores Jens first novel that dealt mainly with Ralph his wife
Helen and his sister treatises struggle with fitting into the new culture of the United States as well as
learning its political processes. In her second novel, Mona in the promised land Jens protagonist is
dramatically different from her mother and father as far as filial piety goes, as far as a family obligation
and Chinese tradition are concerned. The character Mona is less focused on the country of original and
more focused on simply being an American teen all the while trying to find herself and erase the
stereotype that she is just a Chinese girl (Schulund-Vials P 106).
I enjoyed the humor in the book Mona in the promised land, to me, it seemed more of a coming-of-age
book rather than simply the story of an immigrant family struggles to fit in in a new country. I think Mona
struggle with religion, her peer group, and trying to be seen as an American and not a Chinese-American
is something that is a fourth-generation American Ill never be able to truly relate to, I can have sympathy
towards the plight of those that enrich our country and feel so lost are out of touch with our cultural norms
I will never truly understand the struggle.

Jen, Gish. Mona in the Promised Land. London, Granta Books, 1998.

Schlund-Vials, Cathy J. Modeling Citizenship: Jewish and Asian American Writing.