Summary on the Good Daughter by Caroline Hwang Essay Example

other aspirations of being a writer. Hwang however, did not want to break her parents’ spirits, and ultimately decided that being a writer would be riskier than being a lawyer.

She explains how she is indebted to her parents and that she owed them “the fulfillment of their hopes” for her. Hwang was devastated by suppressing her true dream, and as a result, took up a Ph. D. in English Literature. She had thought that this would have been the perfect compromise, but sadly, she was not able to labor through a major she did not have any interest in. Although her parents were disappointed, they were not completely broke. Hwang on the other hand thought she was staring at the bottom of her life.

As Hwang approaches the culmination of her essay, Hwang explains how she had to make concessions in her love life as well. Her parents expected her to marry somebody Korean and give them Korean grandchildren. This was something that Hwang was willing to do when she was a young teenager, but now, so much in her life had changed and she wasn’t ready to make that sort of commitment. Hwang wonders if her parents’ expectations are responsible for the lack of passion in her life. Hwang concludes by saying that the children of immigrants are the first and last generation of a family that moves away to another country.