“Facing Poverty with a Rich Girl’s Habits” is a memoir-themed essay written by Suki Kim, in which she details her riches to rags experience highlights by comparing her South Korean experience to that of living in the United States of America. The essay can be found in second edition of The Brief McGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for Life. Many people would be an audience to her work, not only those who read the guide, but the piece was also published in the New York Times. As she explains all that she went through, Suki Kim’s tone remains very matter of fact and emotionally distant from her experiences. The most harsh or critical language Kim uses is arguably her portrayal of her house as cramped and ugly – but compared to the splendor of a Korean garden with peacocks roaming about, that seems like an understandable description. She does not seem angry at her parents for fleeing to the United States and accepts it all.
It seems through the piece that Kim is stressing that individuals cannot be stereotyped; not just because blanket statements are rarely fair to the individual, but also because there are so many sub-groups within a larger group. Even when classified, the individual can feel extremely isolated. Kim heavily emphasizes the isolation she feels. She is isolated by her Korean landlords’ children, as they speak English. Society at large deems her “fresh of the boat” and therefore an ‘Other’. She represents, in culture, manner, beliefs, something ‘other’ than what it the norm or status quo. She seems to understand this and acknowledges that she is in the 1.5 generation of Korean Americans and notes that even among immigrants she is ‘different’. While the wealthy Korean families settled in places like Westchester, Kim’s family is no longer wealthy. Still, she doesn’t fit in with the ‘poor’ either: she is shamed and humiliated by their customs, such as going to the laundromat or picking up the house. She can no longer fit in with the wealthy as there is no governess or hired help around to take care of these things.
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"Summary of “Facing Poverty with a Rich Girl’s Habits”".
It is important to be true to one’s self. In the end, no matter what struggles are faced, individuals who are true to themselves can rely on the knowledge that they are unique and perfect in that existence are able to persevere. They will not face the strain of cubbyholing themselves and being something that, by nature, they are not meant to be. Kim acknowledges that she is not generation 1 or generation 2 of Korean American. She has a unique experience and fosters this.
If one reads carefully, there is also the point that one should rely on themselves. Kim discusses that she loses the life that was created for her by her father’s work. His mining and hotels and other business ventures allowed her a life of luxury, but eventually she would have had to expanded beyond this anyway.
The piece, to me, seemed almost ironic. So many foreigners come to the United States seeing it as the land of opportunity. There are individuals from America who flee to countries with little to no extradition process when they are accused of serious crimes. Within “Facing Poverty with a Rich Girl’s Habits”, a once wealthy family flies Korean Air to the JFK Airport in New York City to escape jail time in South Korea. Their ‘crime’, as it were, was going bankrupt, as if anyone ever plans and aspires to do so. Then, in the end, the great equalizer between her and her Korean American landlords, who were characterized as being successful with their Harlem business and English speaking capabilities, is the tragedy of 9/11. It was a very unique and thought-provoking piece. One might also argue that, while Kim never expresses her own emotions during the 9/11 tragedy, the reader’s most emotional reaction likely occurs at the end, during an experience that personally has nothing to do with Kim. Rather, sympathies and emotions likely lie with Billy and his missing brother Andy. This seemed to be powerful in its own right.
- Kim, S. (2004, November 21). New York/Region. The New York Times. Retrieved April 24, 2013, from http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/nyregion/thecity/21kim.html?_r=0
- Roen, D. H., Glau, G. R., & Maid, B. M. (2010). The Brief McGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for Life (2nd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
