A Different Mirror

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. A taxi driver in Norfolk, Virginia (Chapter 1)

2. Newfoundland (Part 1)

3. 1611 (Chapter 2)

4. Ireland (Chapter 2)

5. White, civilized European society (Chapter 2)

6. Caliban’s mother is a witch from Africa (Chapter 3)

7. 1619 (Chapter 3)

8. Thomas Jefferson (Chapter 3)

Short Answer

1. It is offensive because it makes Takaki out to be an outsider because he is not white. Just because Takaki is Japanese American does not make him any less American; it also shows that the asker does not take immigrants to be part of the fabric of America since its inception. It shows that the asker likely believes that Takaki just arrived in America and, as such, is not “fully” an American. (Chapter 1)

2. The “Master Narrative of American History” is the dominant story told in most Americans’ popular imagination about how the country was settled and by whom. In the “Master Narrative of American History,” America is a country that was settled by European immigrants and, in present-day, is primarily white.