Soriya Priscilla Soung 12G
Working with Prompts

“It is hard to be an individual in a family”

In this piece of writing, I will explore the prompt it is hard to be an individual in a family by utilizing a speech format that helps support the above prompt. The preferred audience for this piece is aimed at Lyndale Secondary College, VCE students are the main targets, where I will be playing the persona of an adult guest speaker, aiming to educate the audience on the cognitive behind the how it is indeed hard, to be an individual in a family. I will explicitly referencing both the film; ‘About a Boy’; through the burden of expectation that Marcus holds and Growing up Asian In Australia’ in particular, the short stories which include “Five Ways to Disappoint Your Vietnamese Mother (p287) and ‘Take Me Away, Please’ (p64). ‘Five Ways to disappoint you Asian Mother’ from Diana tells a tale of suffering as her mother continues to look at her in shame, while ‘Take Me Away Please’ touches on Lily Chan and the burden that comes with engrossment in family matters in her case being the family business. . References from the 2002 film ‘Bend it like Beckham’ are also touched on. The overall tone of the piece will be formal and informative as I stand to prove my point across.
Good morning teachers, parents, friends and family. It seems as though more often than not in today’s society, with thanks to the media, there is constant surge in hair raising and often controversial societal issues that leads to the continual division of minds, throughout the general public; however it is also the more simpler of topics like that being presented here today, which many, if not all of us tend to oversee to which bring about the most questioning and genuine split of opinion. I stand before, you as an individual, bringing forth the belief that it is indeed too difficult to be an individual within the constraints of family. On the talk of individuality within a household, it seems as though individuals are hampered by too many expectations. Despite our differences it seems as though, individuals’ alike, share a common dilemma, one where we are at a constant struggle to be true individuals and can be especially difficult, given that many of us are governed by set expectations that come with being within a family. Whether it is being forced into doing something that you refuse, pursuing a career you don’t want, expected to be someone you’re not or denied being able to go somewhere, the list goes on. What I’m trying to get at is the idea that expectations, especially those which demand and carry a heavy burden, set by many parents, do not allow individuals in a household to truly blossom and thus hinder the prospect for allowing one to express their true self. The film ‘About a Boy’ for those whom may not know is centered around Will; a self-confessed free loader whereby his materialistic outlook on life is changed upon meeting Marcus; a rather mature and sentimental boy, whom shows there is more to life than money, all while Marcus’s mother suffers an emotional ordeal as the unlikeliest of duo’s set out to conquer the world, solving each other’s problems one step at a time. About a Boy expands on the idea of it being difficult to be an individual, where Marcus is burdened by his mother’s expectations which have shaped him into a product of his mother, someone whom deep down does not want to be and also evident through the weight of filling the shoes of the parent.
As seen in ‘Growing up Asian In Australia’ a collection of short stories highlighting the trials and tribulations of life in Australia for Asian children specifically through Diana Nguyen’s “Five Ways to Disappoint Your Vietnamese Mother (p287) which also magnifies the weight of expectation as Diana is constantly frowned upon by her mother, whom sees her as nothing more than a disgrace and a disappointment. While being hampered with expectations is difficult for individuals to