“American Ruined My Name For Me” by Beth Nguyen is a powerful reading. The trauma she endured because her name was unusual here in America is heartbreaking. Her relationship with America has only ever been negative because of how unaccepting individuals were, causing her to change her name from “Bich” to “Beth.” Beth “took on the shame of not being strong enough to handle the shame of the American graze” because it was that terrible.
What specifically stood out to me in this reading is how Beth said “if you refuse to accept someone’s chosen name, aren’t you refusing to accept who they are or what they have decided for themselves? I am not Beth to make life easier for everyone else; I am Beth to make life easier for me.” If you are not accepting of somebody’s name, you are not accepting them. Earlier in the text Beth mentions how the name given to you is everything here in America. It is what makes you, you, yet she was bullied and wanted nothing to do with her name. A name is something you have with you your whole life, how people get your attention, how you label your paperwork, how the world knows who you are, and American was unaccepting of who Beth was to the point that she changed her name so she could live. Nguyen is not trying to make life easier for America, she is choosing to get rid of the burden that she has had to carry because of her given name so that she could live life in a much more simple perspective, not the complicated one she has been put through since coming to America.
This reading I personally find valuable where the topics discussed by Nguyen are not brought to attention often yet is a big issue in our society. I believe that names are beautiful, including hers, and I find it upsetting that she was not accepted for who she was. Names are powerful, they are what represent you, an example being when she published her first book; names have value. Nguyen’s name was gorgeous, including the definition, yet the individuals that surrounded Beth Nguyen made such a special name worthless in her perspective. If one really digests the words she has put down, you will also see how deep and meaningful the reading really is.
