Who's Irish By Gish Jen Analysis

The Struggle for Communication in Gish Jen’s “Who’s Irish” Gish Jen’s “Who’s Irish?” tells the story of a Chinese immigrant grandmother who has a hard time adjusting to life in America. The story primarily focuses on the difficulties in communication between family relationships. The different lifestyle her daughter’s family lives is quite different from the household she raised in China. Throughout the story, the narrator voices her opinion on different morals and values her daughter’s family practices, which becomes the root of her family’s communication issues. The primary problem in the household is the lack of communication between the narrator and the Shea family. Communication issues arise at the beginning of the story between
The concept Amy had of loving her body is what makes the grandmother think that is the reason Sophie takes off her diaper and clothes continuously. She never considers the fact that she is a little girl wanting to play. She always wants to put the blame on someone especially since a good Chinese girl would never act the way Sophie does even though Sophie is not fully Chinese .The narrator’s opinions about Amy stimulate the miscommunication between her and Sophie. The cultural differences also make the household even more dysfunctional. In the beginning of the story, the narrator’s views on the Irish were not so favorable. In her opinion, the Irish did not work as hard as the Chinese, “I always thought Irish people are like Chinese people, work so hard on the railroad, but now I know why the Chinese beat the Irish” (272). She made it clear when she said that not every Irish family was not like the Shea family (272). When she spoke to John’s mother and as they both confessed they each approved of John and Natalie’s marriage, Bess explained the difficulty of raising four boys alone. The grandmother began to see a new perspective on another way of life. Not everyone is as