Jan Wong starts out as a naïve, nineteen year old, Canadian student who is displeased with the capitalistic nature of her surroundings. It was the early seventies and to the author, she was experiencing a cultural revolution all her own. Opposition to the Vietnam War was strongly prevalent, the notion of feminism was beginning to arise, and there was a strong desire against conformity of any nature. The author grew up middle class to second generation Chinese citizens and was fueled by bourgeois guilt, and by a feeling of separation from her roots. “Curiosity about my ancestry made me feel ashamed that I couldn’t speak Chinese and knew so little about China” (14). After devouring every morsel of information that she could, she firmly believed Mao and his “comrades” were the only people who had a legit shot at establishing a utopic society. It was official. Jan Wong was going to Beijing.…
The novel begins with a woman named Ruth Young, a self-sustaining woman who works at home as a Ghost-Writer. One day, she comes across a stack of papers written in Chinese and remembers that her mother, LuLing, had written them for her. As much as she wants to have them translated, Ruth carries a lot on her plate. Having to deal with her unsupportive husband, her job and most importantly her slowly dementing mother, Ruth finally finds time to have them translated.…
In the short story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, with the use of epiphany and turning points the reader is able to see the protagonist’s growth and change in personality throughout the story. The protagonist, Jing-Mei and her mother emigrated from China to the US, thus the family struggled in adapting to the new culture and lifestyle. Heavily influenced by the opportunities and hopes with a new life in US, Jing-Mei’s mother wanted Jing-Mei to become a prodigy like the other girls on television. Jing-Mei was determined and eager to prove to her mother she was a prodigy, and thereby had full confidence in herself. She believed “[her] mother and father would adore [her and she’d be] beyond reproach.” (pg4). As Jing-Mei’s mother quizzed Jing-Mei with countless questions and tests, Jing-Mei started getting frustrated by her mother’s disappointments and “something inside [her] began to die” (pg 5).…
In Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior, Hong Kingston shares a tragic story involving one of her aunts. Originally the story was told to Hong Kingston by her mother, but a lot of the information was withheld so Hong Kingston includes a lot of what she thinks could have happened. Regardless of what is true and what is not, this piece of writing was extremely engaging and interesting. Hong Kingston dives into the norms held in Chinese culture and how they affect different people.…
Each girl eventually recognizes how the older generation played a significant part in shaping their identities causing them to embrace their Chinese heritage. The short stories focus on the first American mothers and their American Chinese daughters.…
As its complex structure suggests, the book tries to organize the the stories of mother and daughter with the intention of reaching the same destination: the daughter's recovery of her cultural and ethnic identity as Chinese by overcoming the generational gap and the cultural differences between herself and her mother. The mother intend to hand over their "good intentions" and "usable past" in China to their daughter in America. Amy Tan, depicts the relationship between Jing-mei, a young Chinese-American girl, and her mother, a Chinese immigrant, her mother. She does not have something special things. However, her normal life has changed a little because of her mother.…
Only one kind of daughter can live in this hous. Obedient daughter” she shouted in chinese. “Then I wish I wasn’t your daughter, I wish you weren’t my mother” (Chunk 6 paragraph 11, 12). As a Chinese immigrant Jing Mei’s mother gets the idea from television shows and magazines and she does not question the validity of these sources. She meanswhile pushes her daughter to be the best but on the other hand Jing Mei cannot see the value of showing dedication to her mother’s goal, practicing a skill, or collaborating with her mother’s plan because they are both separated by a factor; Culture. After her mother’s death she gains insight into her mother’s underlying motives. In addition Rudy Puana learned to be true in spite of his difficulties in life.…
A young Chinese American woman, Jing-Mei “June” Woo, recalls, after her mother's death, her mother's sadness at having left her twin baby girls in China in 1949. June has used her mother's regret as a weapon in a battle of wills focusing on what her mother wants her to be and what she wants. June wins, leaving her mother, Suyuan, stunned when she says she wishes she were dead like the twins. Although this scene characterizes the common struggle for power between mother and daughter, the story also illustrates…
“I keep looking toward the past… tracing our journey in reverse... over the ocean through the war seeking an origin story that will set everything right.” (39-41) “In the decade of the First Indochina War, while my parents were still children learning their place in the world… an estimated 94,000 French soldiers died trying to reclaim France’s colony.” Thi Bui illustrates her parent’s childhood during the war, particularly the contrasting elements of their lives growing up. Knowing their individual experiences not only served the image Bui had developed of her parents but also helped her see them not only as parents but individuals as their own…
One tragic event in China, which was the Tiananmen square massacre sparked the curiosity of Grace specially for the safety of Chun-mei during that event. For the first time in her life she asked a question to Kevin her adoptive dad about Chun-mei. An example is a scene that happened in the book, ”What about Chun-mei?” I asked. “I’m sure she’s alright,too.” our eyes met briefly. I look away. It was the first time I had said the name Chun-mei without anger. Because of this tragic event, it was the very first time Grace thought about the safety of her mother Chun-mei. It also sparked her interest on what is happening in China even though she hated her cultural heritage when she was a child. A few years have passed, Grace started to learn how to speak and write Mandarin with the help of Mr. Frank. After years of learning she started to appreciate the idea of being able to speak in another language Grace quoted that “Many times, I basked in the sense of superiority it gave me.” (Ting Xing Ye 121). Grace starts to appreciate the beauty and benefit of speaking Mandarin even though she abominated her culture when she was a child. She starts to feel superior of being able to speak Chinese since she is the only person in Milford that can speak it. Grace hated the idea of stereotyping other Asians saying they're all the same and she classifies all of them are different,…
“No Name Woman” is a work of literature that tells about Kingston’s upcoming in the Chinese-American culture. The core of the story is about a story that Kingston’s mother is telling her about her aunt. “In China, your father had a sister who killed herself… We say that your father has all brothers because it is as if she had never been born.”(1507) Kingston continued to listen to her mother explain that her aunt was pregnant and accused of adultery because her husband had been away for some time. Kingston’s mother tells her this story solely to teach her a lesson about the responsibilities of becoming a woman. “Don’t let your father know that I told you. He denies her. Now that you have started to menstruate, what happened to her could happen to you.” Kingston’s family wants her to participate in the punishment of her aunt; however, she interprets the story as a different lesson. She relates to her aunt because, like Kingston, her aunt did not want to conform to norms of society. Kingston relates to the spiteful acts of her aunt. She feels that in order for her to understand the moral of the story, then her aunts life must branch into her own. Kingston interprets her own judgement of her aunt. Instead of conforming to her family’s beliefs, she forms her own purpose of the story. Kingston shows great cultural growth by honoring her aunt using…
Furthermore, as she comes to the realization of her connection to Chinese culture. The use of irony “but today I realize what it means to be Chinese. I am 36 years old. My mother is dead and I am on a train… I am going to China” exhibits her attempts to rekindle her ties with her culture. There is a sense of isolation evident as her mother was her last correlation to her heritage and in order…
The story takes place in china. The setting of this story is very important as it all revolts around the Chinese culture. One as a reader can be able to place oneself in the same situation and experience the feelings that are being presented in this story. The story is being told from a first person point of view. The narrator is Jing-Mei “June May” Woo. She is the 36-year old American born daughter of Suyuan a women who made the big decision which was to abandoned her twins, however she did it for love because at the time she thought she was going to die. June May is the one telling the story. We only know what the narrator thinks. We can only make inferences about the rest of the characters in the story by the way they behave. The narrator embarks an adventurous journey. Along the way she learns many things about her real roots she discovers things that she never knew before.…
The reader is able to take a view into these restraints on females in the Chinese society because girls and women are not allowed to speak, and when they do they are usually scolded or made fun of. Whenever Kingston tries to speak or express her feelings around her mother, she proceeds to silence her. As time goes on, Kingston begins to realize most Chinese children are silent. The contradictions and unfairness of Chinese society and culture are exemplified through the stories and treatment of Kingston’s own mother. She plays a large role in her silence since when the author is a child she talks about how she cut her tongue to prevent her from becoming tongue-tied, allowing her to talk more. This is ironic because her mother is part of the reason she feels she has to be quiet, even though she does not want her to be tongue-tied. She is unable to express herself or acclimate to a life in American due to the rigidity of Chinese expectations surrounding silence as a female. As a young child, her mother always tells her talk stories, and as the novel comes to a close Kingston is able to find a voice through telling talk stories herself. She finds a way through the talk stories to break away from the stringent rules her mother enforces and experience new…
Suyuan had to make the hard decision to leave her twin babies on the side of the road in hopes some kind stranger would take them in, that way she would not have to see them die. Suyuan searches for her babies all through her life in America, sending multitudes of letters; they finally get in touch with her two months after she has died. Because her mother is not alive to meet her children, Jing Mei takes her place and the trip enables her to finally recognize her Chinese ancestry. The minute she enters China she "feels different" and can realize that she is "becoming Chinese" (306). At fifteen Jing Mei believed she was only as Chinese as her "Caucasian friends" (306). Yet her mother counters thoughts, telling her: "Once you are born Chinese, you cannot help but feel and think Chinese" (306). Once in China Jing Mei decides her mother was right and she "has never really known what it meant to be Chinese" (307). She has never understood her mother or her heritage. This trip is the connecting link to understanding her life. She begins to feel natural in China, thinking to herself on the train: "I am in China It feels right" (312). Jing Mei sees the landscape, the people, the histories, and the families in China and sees where her mother was speaking from all of those years. She knows a "little percent" of her mother know (15). It becomes "obvious" to Jing Mei to see what "part of [her] is Chinese"; it is "in her family, in her blood"…