Representations of Asian Americans in dominant culture tend to reinforce a stereotype of the model, silent minority. This silence usually results from either a language barrier or the perception that silence equates to respect and horror of conflict. Media depictions often give audiences an outside view of Asian American characters, but fail to offer the characters' internal perspective. American Son by Brian Ascalon Roley contradicts these portrayals by centering its story on two Filipino American brothers living in Los Angeles and specifically telling the novel from the perspective of one of the brothers, Gabe. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayA recurring theme in the novel is Gabe's excruciating silence during moments of conflict. Since the story is told from Gabe's point of view, we have access to his thoughts during these moments, unlike typical depictions of Asian Americans. Roley forces readers to sit down and endure these long, awkward moments, providing an opportunity to observe the internal effects of navigating everyday micro- and macro-aggressions. Roley's novel warns that if minority groups, particularly Filipino Americans, cannot translate silence into a productive voice in moments of conflict, then violence constitutes an alternative form of expression. As the story progresses, we see how these moments of silence in the face of conflict build up and create tensions that eventually erupt in violence. This violence is presented as empowering in the short term, but ultimately leads the reader to see it as a dead end. Roley does not present a fully fleshed out functional alternative response to silence, but leaves a few passages that hint at some of the solutions being considered. Before delving into the novel's main warning device, it is helpful to consider why Roley chose to write about biracial Filipino Americans. the boys. There is an obvious reason why Roley himself is a multiracial Filipino who grew up in the Los Angeles area and so this work likely has autobiographical underpinnings. But furthermore, biracial Filipinos are an ideal group to address issues of racial identity and manhood because they generally lack a specific stereotype, as is often the case for other minority groups. This means that for Filipino-Americans, there is still a cultural voice to be found, making the question of through which outlet to direct the tension of silence become entirely relevant. The main event that Roley uses to warn us of the consequences of unresolved silence is the ordeal. between Gabe's family and the Feinsteins. Gabe's mother, Ika, rams Mrs. Feinstein's Land Rover into the line of cars at Gabe's school, which catalyzes a series of events that ultimately culminate in Gabe and Tomas going to the Feinstein house and attacking Ben, the son. Roley highlights the moments when Gabe chooses to remain silent and shows how these moments aggregate in Gabe, leading to the violent bullying of Ben Feinstein. Gabe's inability to turn his silence into a meaningful voice illustrates how individuals resort to violence as a means of expressing themselves when other means fail. There are several specific instances in this context in which Gabe chooses silence rather than expressing his thoughts. These thoughts are tinged with violence and Roleyuses as an example of how pent-up frustrations can turn into real manifestations. The first instance occurs during the car incident, when he watches the yoga mother, Mrs. Feinstein, verbally bully his mother. During the entire scene, Gabe never addresses his mother or the yoga mom. He recognizes that Ika is the mother of Jordan, another student – ​​“She's my mother, I said…I just wanted to make sure you knew” (176); but he never once speaks on behalf of his mother while she is being scolded by the yoga mother. Instead, he stands there, silently observing: “And I can't do anything but stay there, near the yoga mom. His son, Ben, looks at me, shifts on his feet, and even though he seems embarrassed, fiddling with his stupid red vest, I want to run my ice pick through his cheek. My fingers are trembling. I don’t know what to do with it” (177). There are two main things to take away from this quote. First, we are in Gabe's mind and, as such, we view events with his bias. To himself, he thinks, “And there’s nothing I can do,” implying that he thinks he has no choice in the matter. As readers, we understand that there are actually other ways than remaining silent, like speaking up on Ika's behalf and calling out the yoga mom's aggressive remarks, like "I mean, really, some people” or especially “The idiots they Send their kids to school here…people who can’t afford insurance should take the bus” (177-178). But Gabe only hears these remarks and feels like he has no choice but to stand there, which shows us that he is not even able to see that he can act his own leader. The second thing we can take away from this quote is the violent thought of stabbing Ben in the cheek with his ice pick. Note that Gabe's anger isn't directed at the yoga mom - he doesn't say he'd like to stick his ice pick in her cheek - even though she's the one verbally abusing Ika. Instead, he directs his violent thinking towards Ben, which seems confusing. Additionally, Gabe's fingers are trembling and he doesn't know what to do with them, which is a physical manifestation of the tension her silence is creating within him. The next time he silences his thoughts is during repeated phone calls from the yoga mom. demanding payment. Gabe notes, “I could have given our mother some advice or said some things to the woman, but I'm sitting in the corner, very still, with my arms crossed” (198-199). It is unclear why Gabe does not speak up to help his mother and instead chooses to remain silent. However, this line hints at what was missing from Gabe in the previous moment, which is that Gabe chooses to remain silent. Here, Roley addresses some of the reasons why Asian Americans remain silent and frames this passage in a way that criticizes Gabe for his choice of inaction. Perhaps Roley is asking the introspective question for the Asian American community: Are there times when we choose silence that end up causing us other problems? There is also a moment at school where Gabe meets Ben in the school hallway. “Once in the crowded hallway between periods, he even says hello to me and I decide that he can't know anything, but I still want to hurt him and I have to take long walks to calm down” (200). Here again we see these violent thoughts rising to the top of his mind, but he does not express them in a productive expression of his anger. Instead, we can feel them bubbling within him. By detailing all of these tense moments, Roley highlights the many opportunities Gabe has to express hisfrustrations when speaking on behalf of his mother or having a conversation with Ben. But when Gabe doesn't speak his thoughts, we can glimpse what motivates his silence or, in other words, what are the obstacles to him speaking out? There are times when he chooses not to speak, but in others there seems to be a nameless barrier. For example, he says to himself, “I really want to say something to this woman, but for some reason I don’t” (200). As readers, we're probably frustrated that Gabe won't break his silence. Roley plays on this frustration by asking us to understand why we don't speak up in conflict situations, especially when we are given examples of what can happen when these emotions are repressed. Roley presents this sequence of events to show how emotional tension, when unresolved, can lead to and motivate violent actions. Chances are that when Gabe lets violent thoughts simmer, they are more likely to be acted upon. In the last pages of the novel, we witness the action of violence. In the Moments Before the Brothers' Trip to the Feinstein House, Roley delivers a haunting phrase, foreshadowing what is to come. Gabe, speaking of Tomas, says: “His face stands out against the blue sky. Behind him, an author from the sky has left a trail of white clouds, ghostly engravings of blurred words that I no longer understand” (202-203). What more visible expression of words is there than literal writing in the sky? But Gabe can't understand the words, because they're blurry like ghosts. The blurred words may represent Gabe's attempts at communication, which failed because they were not maintained and therefore were blown away by the wind. This also symbolizes Gabe's later decision to forgo using words to express his thoughts and resort to violence. We see the exact moment his violent thoughts boil over and take action. Tomas catalyzes this by pushing Gabe: "That's the truck that bitch humiliated mom with in front of school, isn't it?" The sun burns my temples. That pissed you off, didn't it? I nod… Are you up for it? he said. Yeah” (210). Here, there is no inner dialogue in Gabe's mind about action versus inaction; it's almost an automatic snap. The moments of silence that led to humiliation (even though the silence was usually self-inflicted) pushed and prodded Gabe until the opportunity to act out presented itself, at which point he readily committed violence he probably could not have committed before. To reinforce the role of suppressed voices in inciting violence, Roley inserts a final moment during the assault: "Several times in the past I have been with a small group of people when someone said some clever things about me and Ben. I laughed even though I was older. But now he is respectful, with his head bowed” (214). Roley also uses this phrase to show how violence can empower Gabe. Formerly the subject of teasing, it now commands respect or rather fear. The next line also gives us a sense of how violence empowers Gabe: “And even though my stomach tightens, I feel not a surge of anxiety but a surge of confidence. In a scary way, I realize I like it. Oddly, it only makes my stomach feel worse” (215). Even though violence gives him confidence, Gabe knows he should be bothered by his actions. This leads us, as readers, to question the validity of violence as empowerment. The novel ends shortly after, so Roley doesn't give us the.