Essay - American Son

American Son

Written by Brian Escalon Roley

New York, NY 2001

The pursuit of the American dream in some cases can turn into an American nightmare. In the novel, American Son, written by Brian Escalon Roley, a Filipino mother brings her two sons to California with high hopes for a bright future. The boys have a white father and therefore considered biracial, this fact serves to offer them greater opportunities for discrimination. Both boys have trouble identifying themselves with a specific culture. They are not Filipino enough to be identified as such and not American enough to be seen as Americans and both suffer because of this. The older son, Tomas has chosen to identify himself as a Mexican gangster; while the younger son, Gabe, struggles with internal issues causing him to despise the Filipino culture and is unable to get a sense of identity. For immigrants, identifying or fitting into the American culture is and has been a challenge thru-out California history; the same holds true for first generation American’s. Without a solid foundation, strong family values and community support the bright future and hopes for the American dream will almost infallibly end with a dim and bleak reality that the perceived dream is not always worth the loss of identity and the loss of a culture.

Historically, Filipinos have suffered discrimination and racism in America. During the 1920’s and 1930’s, it was commonly believed that Filipinos “brought down the standard of living because they worked for low wages" . They were accused of taking the jobs of white workers as their women and an anti-miscegenation law was passed. Filipinos were often called half-civilized, uneducated, worthless, and unscrupulous. During World War II, they “cooked, cleaned, shined, washed, and swabbed the decks”1 on ships and in naval bases. California is currently home to thousands of immigrants and thereby a myriad of cultures, including a large concentration of Filipino immigrants. As of 2006,...