In the memoir “The Girl Who Wouldn’t Sing”, Kit Yuen Quan describes her life experiences growing up as a Chinese girl in America. In her attempt to try and find her place in society, Quan intermingles with several groups of people. Her interactions with a feminist group,two young Cambodian girls, and finally her own father allow her toexplore her Chinese background and how that affects her interactionswith people. In order to find her own “voice” in a society that is notreally hers, Kit Yuen Quan explored relationships with people ofdifferent lifestyles. She does so in order to be able to recognize howshe wants to express herself, and through which culture, American orChinese, if not both, she wants to do so.When she ran away from home, Quan “sought refuge in the women’scommunity working part-time at a feminist bookstore”(Quan 214). Yet,because of her Chinese background and difficulty in understandinglanguage, Kit found she wasn’t as accepted as she had hoped she wouldbe. The fact that she could not understand many of the issues discussedby the feminists she was surrounded by was very frustrating for Kit.This frustration acted as a vehicle for her to gain a desire to be moreproficient in the “feminist rhetoric”(Quan 214). Although her desire tobe part of the community was strong, she continuously encounteredproblems because of her age, nationality, and lack of a “formal Americaneducation”. The frustration that Kit encountered made her feel even moremisunderstood, and she sought her voice through other communities andexperiences. Kit’s first failed attempt to become a part of a community wasbecause of her inability to “properly” express herself and her ideas. Inher quest for acceptance, Quan decided to immerse herself in abeneficial situation in which language would not be a problem, and soshe decided to tutor two Cambodian girls. The two g...
