In the short story “Bongbong's Bloom,” the main character, Bongbong, moves to America with high hopes of reshaping his life and achieving success. This vague notion of the American Dream leads to Bongbong's desire for the quintessential, yet seemingly paradoxical, of American life: a movie star career and a simple, non-contradictory lifestyle—everything he cannot get in the Philippines. Yet, for some reason, he seems unable to secure them and gets lost in the process. Through the analysis of Bongbong's weak attitude towards defining a cultural identity, together with his pursuit of diverse recreational activities and, more generally, his dabbling in the arts, the degeneration of Bongbong's personal identity can be traced and the way he transforms into the exact person he doesn't want to be. His distorted and idealized image of the American dream makes him passive, filling his free time with cooking, books, music and astrology, waiting for success to finally strike him. Combined with his lack of commitment to a single cultural identity and withdrawal from his interpersonal relationships, Bongbong becomes an isolated, self-righteous, and delusional hermit. At the end of the story, Bongbong can no longer relate to the world because he can no longer relate to himself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Bongbong's conflicting loyalties to the Philippines and America manifest through his perception of others versus himself and result in the surrender of his American Dream. Although Bongbong initially states that he "[would] like to be a movie star", - a fundamentally American dream - he tells Frisquito that "[his] sister is the biggest [liar] of them all" for enrolling in a beauty class Elizabeth Arden. and maintain a modern apartment to assimilate into American culture. The contradiction between what Bongbong wants for himself and how he judges others is evident. Shortly thereafter, Bongbong writes to Frisquito: “If I returned to Manila I could become a movie star” (86). It seems that Bongbong is confused about where he can achieve success and has given up on his bright hope of becoming a glamorous public figure in America. Perhaps he believes that in the Philippines, where he is considered the “best dressed young VIP,” he has a better chance of success because his natural mastery of Philippine culture gives him the advantage of confidence (85). In America, however, "without skills and without a degree", he is unable to realize his dream (86). Bongbong presents another contradiction in his cultural loyalty when he simultaneously longs for the Philippines but is reluctant to reveal his country of origin. to Charmaine, a beautiful and exotic woman who soon becomes Bongbong's friend. When Charmaine assumes he is a "Chicano"; he wants to tell her that he is “Ethiopian, or Moroccan, or Nepalese…” – that his country of origin has no importance for who he is today (88). He tries to get rid of his past to create a new identity, but fails because he cannot establish a concrete direction. To fill his days, he reads: “everything from best-sellers to plays, from political science to poetry. He doesn't understand many things, but names and events [fascinate] him." (87). Bongbong hides in the books, but cannot understand their contents. The books he chooses are “random” and chosen based on the “titles or color of the book covers”.(87). If he can't commit to being American from the inside, this superficial immersion in literature doesn't allow American culture to penetrate deeply enough..