Why do people feel embarrassed about their culture?

People who were once very into the culture and heritage can start to feel ashamed about it because of the opinions that others have towards them. In “The Name Jar” a girl who came to North America is becoming more adapt to how we do things here. One thing that people are very unfamiliar with are the names that people have who come from Chinese heritage. Since people now are too ignorant to get used to this new name that this girl has, they make the student pull the name from a jar of which she will be called at school so it’s easier for those kids. It’s hard for someone who has been used to their name their entire lives to be told it’s stupid or too difficult to learn, so for the easier life of the other kids, they make her have the changed name. People who are unfamiliar with a new culture are also quite often not willing to get used to whatever someone may be about. Often they will turn to making fun of the ways of someone foreign who is used to doing what they do because in their culture it is what they are used to. People also have a natural need to fit in, so when their usual routine starts to get made fun of by others because it is different, they will feel bad about their ways and will often stop practicing things that make them who they are so that people will not bug them or tease them about what they do. “All of our friends are laughing at us!… We are not poor, yet her and Sek-Lung poke through those awful things as if they were beggars” pg 37. In this quote from Jade Peony, the oldest brother Kiam is preaching to the father that his youngest brother and grandmother are making the family a laughing stock because of the opinions of all the other kids. With rummaging through garbage being normal in China, it is frowned upon in North America and otherr children are making sure the family knows this. It’s garbage, has no other need so why shouldn’t someone be able to take something useful from it? Well, because other children don’t see anyone other than homeless people doing this, they start to refer to the family as poor so of course the kids go complain about it to the father trying to change things so they don’t get made fun of.

The picture above is of a boy in a residential school who was taken from his home and out there to learn thee ways of god and give up his heritage. Quite often, kids would be bullied at school so often for the color of their skin, that they would go to the showers and try to scrub off their skin color until their layers of skin came off and they started to bleed. This was all a result of people not being willing to allow others to have their culture.