The United States has been described as a melting pot of many different ethnicities and cultures. Yet becoming part of this mixture is a degrading and difficult process for many immigrants. The theme of Maxine Hong Kingston's novel China Men consists of stories depicting the pain and struggle her family suffered in order to become American citizens. As the Chinese were manipulated to fit into the westernized environment, they would attempt to minimize their cultural connections to China. This minimization created a yearning for the suppressed Chinese to identify back to their roots. Opium was used as a method to touch base with these roots and take away the physical and emotional pain manipulation had placed upon the Chinese. Kingston uses opium imagery in her work not as a prop for her characters to simply utilize, but to reveal how maintaining one's heritage and cultural background...