Fight the System!

Have you ever felt that the odds are stacked against you? Has society ever failed to value you or your accomplishments? You may be a victim of “the system”.The system is made up of all of our actions and attitudes and actions. Sometimes, it can hurt people's lives. Celeste Ng, in her novel Everything I Never Told You, references the system a lot.
    Centered around a mixed-race family with an Asian-American dad and a white mom, Ng’s book The Lee family’s past and present is talked about throughout the novel, as are the struggles each family member, specifically Marilyn and James, struggle against the system. Marilyn has difficulty establishing herself as a female science major, given the fact that the field is male-dominated. James, as an Asian-American at a boarding school which is majority white, has trouble fitting in with his peers. Additionally, later in their lives, James and Marilyn feel alienated as a mixed race family in small-town Ohio. Celeste Ng, in Everything I Never Told You makes commentaries about the system by describing character Marilyn’s difficulties in becoming a female science major, her husband James’ experience fitting in during his youth at a boarding school, and the couple’s alienation in their small-town home.
    Ng demonstrates the harmful prejudices of the system in Everything I Never Told You is through her description of character Marilyn’s difficulty succeeding in the male-dominated field of science. Marilyn comes to Radcliffe College with the hopes of becoming a physics major, but her dreams are ignored because of her gender. Marilyn's adviser scoffs at the aspiring scientist’s decision to major in the sciences. He treats Marilyn in a way that men would never be treated. Despite Marilyn’s adviser’s blatant sexism, her good grades convince him to place her in a chemistry class. Her adviser condescendingly states, “All right then, why don't you try chemistry, if you can handle it.” (Ng 26) Marilyn continues to face sexism in the class itself, albeit on a more subtle level. The only girl in a class of fifteen men, Marilyn is constantly waited on and spoken to as if she isn't as smart as her peers. It is only through her hard work in the class that she is able to gain the respect of her fellow students and her instructor.
    Through the story of Marilyn’s victory over sexism in college, Ng is able to paint a picture of the system that was in place in 1950s America and its effects on intelligent women. Ng implies that Marilyn represented an exception to a common rule at the time- women were often forced into studying subjects such as history or English due to their perceived inability to process science, which was a man’s topic. As she writes of Marilyn's thoughts, “She held her breath, waiting, afraid he (Marilyn’s advisor) would tell her that science was too hard, that she'd better try something like English or history instead.” (Ng 26) In these ways, Ng describes the sexism Marilyn faces in college as a means to expose just one of the many problems with the system.
    Ng reveals more faults with the system by describing the difficulties that James faces fitting into boarding school.  After his father gets a job working at a prestigious boarding school, James gains the opportunity of becoming Lloyd’s first Asian- American student.  Surrounded by the children of established white American families, James is frequently left feeling out of place as the son of Asian immigrants. James’ different appearance is coupled with his parent’s status as immigrants, which limits his ability to connect with his classmates, who are all from multi-generational American families. As Ng writes, “when they (James’ classmates) did family tree projects in class, he (James) pretended to forget the assignment rather than draw his own complicated diagram.” (Ng 44) James relative poverty compared to his peers is another inhibiting factor to his failure to assimilate. James’ dad earned his son a place at boarding school through his work as the school handyman. Whilst he does recognize his father’s immense sacrifice, James is constantly embarrassed by his father’s role in the school. When his father makes trips into James’ classroom to perform electrical work or clean, James is described as being “scrunched in the back row (of his classroom).” (Ng 43) James’ father’s role in his school further prevents him from forming friendships with wealthy white Americans, who sneer at James and his father from their elitist pedestals.
    Celeste Ng describes James’ troubled childhood as a means to reference classism and racism within the system. James’ story is representative of a larger social commentary that Ng makes regarding the way through which poor members of minority groups faced systemic disadvantages. James, like other poor non-white Americans his age, has a tough time socializing with his peers, and faces regular embarrassment. Ng points to the problematic attitudes and prejudices in the system through her description of James’ failures to fit in at boarding school.
    Ng additionally examines the system is through her narration of the alienation of the Lee family in their home in small-town Ohio. The Lees, as a mixed race family in a small suburban region, are often viewed as being ‘other’, despite their children being American-born and raised. The feeling of
exclusion felt by Marilyn and James in their midlife is shared by their children. Due to their status as the only family of its kind in town, the Lees lack the approachability of their more racially homogenous neighbors, who are majority-white. Ng calls the Lees, “A family with no friends, a family of misfits.” (Ng 112)
    The treatment of the Lees is described by Ng so as to illustrate the inherent racial bias that is associated with the system in place in 1970s America. Ng suggests that, despite the government’s role in enacting racially tolerant laws, the system continues to categorize the existence of a mixed-race family as abnormal. James and Marilyn, as well as their children, are forced to live with the knowledge that many in their community disapprove of their marriage. This brings a constant feeling of anxiety into their lives, putting pressure on their children. Ng denounces the role of the system in harming the security of a well-meaning American family. The constant pressure placed by the system on the Lee family due to their racial makeup represents a critical factor in the family’s gradual collapse. In the previously mentioned ways, Ng describes the alienation felt by the Lee family in their small town home as a means to bring to light the often destructive consequences of the system.
    Celeste Ng, in Everything I Never Told You, reveals the many harmful byproducts of a flawed and oppressive system by describing Marilyn’s struggle to become a science major, her husband James’ difficulties fitting into a prestigious boarding school, and their family’s racially-motivated alienation in their small Ohio town. Sexism in the system during Marilyn’s college career makes it very difficult for her to achieve her ambitions to become a scientist due to her gender. Racism and classism in the system during James’ boarding school education prevented a young and poor Asian American from connecting with his wealthy white peers. Finally, the system in small town America of the 1970s included an inherent racial bias which resulted in the feeling of otherness and alienation in the Lee family. Despite the social progress that has occurred since the time in which Everything I Never Told You is set, a system still remains. In order to prevent the continuation of this system, individuals have to keep fighting for fair treatment. Do your part- fight the system!