Sample Student Essay The Red Sweater
Essay Prompt: Describe the narrator’s relationship with her family’s culture in Fae Myenne Ng’s “The Red Sweater.” How is the narrator’s attitude toward her culture connected to her relationship with her older sister?
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Jane Doe
English 1B
Dr. Kella Svetich
24 April 2008
An Identity Crisis
In Fae Myenne Ng's "A Red Sweater," the narrator decides on giving her eldest sister, Lisa, a red sweater as a gift when she visits for their private annual New Year's dinner. They come from a first generation Chinese-American family, ultimately providing them a rich, bicultural heritage. However, the narrator is torn between the culture of her Chinese lineage and her Western upbringing, leaving her isolated from her family and lost between these two worlds. In search for her identity, she is convinced that she must choose between both backgrounds and attempts to leave her Chinese culture behind her in the past, while readily embracing her Western American lifestyle as her present and future. Because of her severed relationship with her parents that followed upon her unplanned pregnancy out of wedlock, her older sister serves as the only bridge that connects the narrator to her family. Her emotional struggles and mixed feelings over accepting her Chinese background is revealed through her relationship with Lisa. The resentment she feels toward her Chinese culture is expressed by her sympathy for Lisa's monotonous life with her parents, yet, she tightly holds on to her relationship with her sister, unveiling how she is unable to completely let go of her Chinese identity. While her sister is willing to accept their Chinese heritage, the narrator struggles relentlessly to reject this aspect of her life and, instead, permits Western influences to dominate her lifestyle. In addition to pushing away this part of her history, she also loses connection with her parents and shows sympathy
*******************************************************************************************
Jane Doe
English 1B
Dr. Kella Svetich
24 April 2008
An Identity Crisis
In Fae Myenne Ng's "A Red Sweater," the narrator decides on giving her eldest sister, Lisa, a red sweater as a gift when she visits for their private annual New Year's dinner. They come from a first generation Chinese-American family, ultimately providing them a rich, bicultural heritage. However, the narrator is torn between the culture of her Chinese lineage and her Western upbringing, leaving her isolated from her family and lost between these two worlds. In search for her identity, she is convinced that she must choose between both backgrounds and attempts to leave her Chinese culture behind her in the past, while readily embracing her Western American lifestyle as her present and future. Because of her severed relationship with her parents that followed upon her unplanned pregnancy out of wedlock, her older sister serves as the only bridge that connects the narrator to her family. Her emotional struggles and mixed feelings over accepting her Chinese background is revealed through her relationship with Lisa. The resentment she feels toward her Chinese culture is expressed by her sympathy for Lisa's monotonous life with her parents, yet, she tightly holds on to her relationship with her sister, unveiling how she is unable to completely let go of her Chinese identity. While her sister is willing to accept their Chinese heritage, the narrator struggles relentlessly to reject this aspect of her life and, instead, permits Western influences to dominate her lifestyle. In addition to pushing away this part of her history, she also loses connection with her parents and shows sympathy