Summary

At sixteen, with the new knowledge of his immigration status, Jose feels he has to act like an American in order to pass as a documented citizen. He absorbs American culture through books, television shows, movies, newspapers, magazines, and CDs, many of which he gets from the local libraries. In his cultural exploration, he is introduced to the musical Ragtime which is about America's immigrant history. For the first time, Jose realizes that white Americans are also immigrants. As Jose writes, "in those early years, passing as American meant rejecting anything Filipino, at least outwardly" (56). Jose begins to speak to his grandparents in English only, writing that "passing as an American was my way of exerting control over a life I had no control over" (56). He repeats that "it was not my decision to come here, acquire fake papers, and lie my...