American Son by Brian Ascalon Roley is a story about the life of brother Gabe and Thomas. Their mother who had came over to American to escaped the Philippines only to land an abusive husband in the states. This book is very much a coming of age story because it illustrate the growth of the hero through his initial realization of his surrounding and the discontent with his brother that drove him from his family. While the protagonist is contrasted against his darker looking brother Thomas who is a Mexican wanabe gangster, he soon loses his passive good side and becomes like his brother when he leaves for northern California due to conflict with his brother. In many ways the journey gone through by Gabe is similar to Holden in catcher in the rye in that both have no definite identity in society and goes through a serious of event that lead to a loss of innocence. The alienation felt by both character describe their conflict with society at large and with their own identity. Gabe’s escape to northern California is similar to holden’s escape to New York city and both their journey led them to both to self isolation in a long journey to find themselves.

When I ask myself what words have hurt me over the years, few come to mind immediately. After more meditation upon this topic, incidents that I have not thought about for years starts to pop into my mind. It is as if I have been blocking out those hurtful events from my memory to pretend like everything was fine. The most hurtful thing that I have been called is a dog eater. It hurts tremendously to be called that in a society that treasures dogs as man’s best friend. The idea of dog eating is almost cannibalism to most people in our society as the status of a dog is almost human like. When I hear dog eater I am hurt by the actual idea and all that is implied in people’s tone. It is an insult full of disgust that indicates one as foreign to the basic principles of this society.