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American Literature

San Jose State University

Journal

2015

Liminality; foodservice; working class; Chinese-American

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

“’Chinese Don’T Drink Coffee!’”: Coffee And Class Liminality In Elaine Mar’S Paper Daughter, Christian Aguiar Aug 2015

“’Chinese Don’T Drink Coffee!’”: Coffee And Class Liminality In Elaine Mar’S Paper Daughter, Christian Aguiar

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

This article offers a reading of the foodservice spaces in Elaine Mar’s memoir Paper Daughter in order to suggest changes in the way we think about class liminality. It argues that by focusing not just on the way the socially-mobile narrator experiences liminality, but also on the ways her working-class parents and co-workers experience it, we can begin to consider some of the complexities and nuances the idea of the liminal offers. In so doing, the article suggests a slightly new approach to thinking about and teaching Paper Daughter.