Jalal 1

Zaina Jalal
English 115 Honors
Professor Spitler-Lawson
Rhetorical Analysis
9 December, 2016
Word Count: 846
Acceptance
In Finding My Eye-dentity, written by Olivia Chung, she wrote about the issues she faced
being a second-generation Korean American and having mono eyelids. Mono eyelids are eyelids
that do not have a crease. Her purpose of writing this was to help people understand that they
should accept themselves as they are, no matter what society claims is perfect. She emphasizes
the concept of acceptance because her mother always criticized the way she looks, always
suggests for her to do sang ka pul, (Chung, page 150), which is a type of surgery that a lot of
Koreans do to create a creased eyelid instead of having a mono eyelid. This angered her because
her mother suggested she would be prettier if she did the surgery, however, she thought her eyes
were fine just the way they were. Her intention was to reach out to a lot of the people who
struggle with the acceptance of themselves, especially those with mono eyelids similar to hers.
Chung wanted to prove that your looks, along with stereotypes do not determine your
identity. She wanted people to know that only you can accept yourself, no one else can tell you
whether you are ideal to society, everyone is different so you cannot expect to look exactly like
someone else. An example of this would be when Chung would have tried out different eye
makeup designs from Seventeen magazine, but realized that it did not look good on her because
her eyes were shaped different than the model in the magazine (Chung, page 150). Essentially,

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her main point is that what works for one person may not work for the next person, such as
makeup in her situation, so instead of trying to look like something you are not, you should
accept what you have and create something that works for yourself, just like she accepted her
mono eyelid and worked with what she had. She proves that she accepts herself towards the end
of the essay, when she wrote what her response would be to her mom, saying that she believes
her eyes are beautiful just the way they are, and she understands a broader definition of beauty,
which accepts every different girl and the way they look (Chung, page 151). Chung proves in her
essay that everyone is beautiful in their own way, and should accept themselves that way, no one
should change the way they look.
Chung had a rather persuasive essay, especially towards the end when she wrote what
shed say to her mom, which seemed extremely inspiring while reading. Her claim was
understanding and reached out to a lot of people, especially in a society that currently expects
women to have a specific body type, or to look a certain way to be considered pretty. There also
wasnt a part of the essay that seemed wrong or problematic, it was a well written essay with a
special meaning that speaks out for many people. She never really gave a reason to doubt
anything because she always explained her actions.
The structure of the essay could have been written differently even though it would not
have changed the way her message was perceived; however, it would have been better if she
wrote her events in chronological order. For example, she could have started by talking about
kindergarten, and then all of her struggles with creating a crease in her lid, and then the makeup
issues, all the way up to the surgery being mentioned. Her tone on the other hand had a lot of
pathos. She was extremely emotional, she made you feel her anger and sadness when her mother
continuously claimed she is not beautiful because of her eyes and her under-bite (Chung, page

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150). However, her tone also held acceptance in the end, for herself and the way she looks, and
that made the story have a lot of understanding emotion that the readers might feel. In addition,
her choice of words was average, it was basically broad vocabulary, although her choice of the
word beautiful and the way she defined it had a lot of impact and inspiration.
I believe the topic of acceptance is extremely broad, yet relatable because a lot of people
struggle with acceptance, whether it is because of a body type or facial features, no one ever
seems satisfied with themselves. Similar to Chung, I never really think I am beautiful until
someone tells me I should change something about myself, because that is when I realize that
only I can determine if I am beautiful.
This related to my essay topic of self-identity through acceptance because I truly believe
in body positivity, and this essay has a lot to do with self-acceptance and positivity, so writing
about it will further prove how important it is to love yourself for who you are.

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Work Cited
Chung, Olivia. Finding My Eye-dentity. Pop Perspectives. Ed. Emily Barrosse. New York
City: Lisa Moore, 2008. Pages 149-152. Print.