Stand Up, Yumi Chung!

Yumi’s aspiration to become a comedian would be difficult for any 11-year-old to achieve, but her task is made especially hard because of the cultural expectations that confront her. Her immigrant parents are overzealous in their determination to achieve the American dream for their children. Specifically, this means that Yumi is expected to get excellent grades, attend a top-ranked school, and pursue a prestigious career. These assumptions aren’t unique to the Chung family. They are common within the Korean American community and the Asian American community as a whole.

The reader is given a sense of the pressure that Yumi faces when her mother trades brags with a restaurant customer. He says, “You are blessed. Two obedient and smart daughters. My son here is so lazy. […] Last week, he told me he needs money to fly to New York to perform with his orchestra. Carnegie Hall or something” (22-23). Yumi adds the bitter observation, “So it begins. For the next good while, they go back and forth one-upping each other with their humblebrags” (22-23).

While these comments might indicate a battle of egos regarding whose child is better, the humblebrags indicate a parental obsession with excellence. This insistence on perfection has some real-world implications.