“Made in China” is a piece by Ellie Mandel about where she was originally from. Throughout the piece, it is quite clear that she is bothered when others inquire into her standing as an American. This is understandable, as most people do not enjoy being doubted on such a grand scale. On face value, there wouldn’t seem to be any problems with what she is saying. However, there are many problems, especially with contradiction.

    Ellie seems to have problems with others asking her completely valid questions. Both her parents are white, and she isn't. It makes sense for people to wonder and question her, as this wouldn’t be possible in most circumstances. She also makes the white people asking her into some predatory creatures, with the line “A White interacts with a Minority.” Ellie is bothered at people asking about her real parents, her responding with "my 'real' parents live in America, and they adopted me as a one-year-old." This is a very childish response, since it is a very obvious question in it's meaning. At the end, though, is the biggest problem. Throughout the piece, she laments on how she isn't a real American and how she wants to be in the culture and pretend to not be Asian. In the ending of the piece, however, Ellie talks about her beautiful slanted eyes and bright, golden skin, incorporating her ethnicity into her individuality, the thing she wanted to avoid. Thus, she completely backtracked on everything she just mentioned, and invalidated it.