Has anybody read or heard anything about Seung-hui's family or people who knew him growing up? The descriptions of his withdrawn behavior and the violent plays he wrote suggest that his family life was far from ideal. I am curious if anybody knew him to be abused or, at the least, emotional neglected by his parents. The one play has a boy, mother and stepfather, with implications of sexual and physical abuse. Was Seung-hui relating his own experiences? I haven't heard anything on the media that addresses his family life.
From my personal experience with people who have moved to the US from a foreign country, who speak a different 'primary language' other than English, whose culture varies greatly from that of natural born Americans, and most especially those of Asian decent, to generalize, these people OFTEN seem to choose to, or felt forced to 'isolate' themselves from 'mainstream' Americans.
Many of the young Asian children in the public elementary school system when I taught, (1978-1994 and for a short time in 2004), were very shy and socially withdrawn. Even those little children who were born in the US, but were being raised in a home in the US by parents and other relatives who still chose to use their native tongue as their primary language within the home, and who chose to highly honor customs and cultures of their ancestors native land, appeared to create the image of 'isolating' these children socially from the mainstream American. I think it is probably very difficult for most Asian children to feel 'accepted' and not as if they are a 'misfit'in mainstream America. Even children who were adopted by American born families, most often, showed major signs of insecurities and feelings of 'not fitting in', witnessed from my own personal experience.
I remember my father telling me stories of his service overseas, and in my eagerness to understand and learn about other cultures, I asked why many of the photographs of the beautiful faces he showed me of people of Asian decent, often lowered their eyes, covered their faces, or completely turned away from the camera all together. All were obviously shying away from the camera and obviously did not want to have their picture taken. Dad explained that in their culture having their picture taken 'captured their soul' and was considered wrong. Yet, my own father, many years ago, continued to try to encourage these beautiful people to alter their 'culture' for the sake of images on paper to bring home and show his own people. Even as a child it made my heart hurt for them.
