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The importance of setting in a story
The importance of setting in a story
Importance of setting in short stories
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There are many aspects to building a good story and one of the most important of all those aspects is the setting. A setting in the story is defined as the context and environment in which a situation is established, or the background of the story. It is the time, place, and circumstances in which a tale, play, or movie takes place. Amy Tan’s “A Pair of Tickets”, this short story is about her journey to China to explore her identity and self-awareness. As the narrator, Amy Tan presents a story about a young Chinese-American student, June May, the protagonist. June began her journey with her father to China with the purpose of meeting her half-sisters for the first time.
“A Pair of Tickets” has two main settings: San Francisco, USA and Guangzhou, China. In this story, the setting plays an important role to highlight the essence of the story, which is about journey. June May’s change in setting, from USA to China, assists the readers to feel the transition in lifestyle that the protagonist experiences through the story. The author portrays June’s character as an American-Chinese who h...
In the stories told by Jing-Mei, Tan weaves in flashbacks and memories of Jing-Mei's own childhood experiences, including stories she has heard of her mother Suyuan's early life in China. These stories help to explain why she teaches her daughter the v alues of optimism and determination. As the reader encounters these flashbacks, Suyuan's tragic history is revealed. When the war reaches her town, Suyuan loses everything she owns, and in an attempt to save her own life by fleeing from China she is force d to leave her two twin babies behind on the side of the road in hopes they might have a chance at a good life. Jing-Mei recalls that her mother "had come here in 1949 after losing everything in China... but she never looked back with regret. There w ere so many ways for things to get better"(Tan 132). As Suyuan's past is revealed, the reader can not help but realize her determination, optimism, and strong will as she perseveres against the odds to establish a better life in America. Suyuan tries to pass on her virtues of determination, optimism, and perseverance to her American born daughter Jing-Mei. Jing-Mei's mother sees American movie stars performing on the television set and believes that with hard work and practice her daughter can aspire to the same stardom. Despite the constant protests of her daughter, Suyuan forces her to practice t...
The Joy Luck Club, a novel by Amy Tan, is structured in an unusual way. It is divided into four different sections. Each section has four stories told by four different women. In the first section all the mothers, in the Joy Luck Club, talk about their childhood. In the next two sections the daughters talk about their childhood and their experiences through life. In the last section the four mothers speak about the stories of when they were younger, around their daughters' age. This novel explores countless topics. Not only does it deal with gender identity and the relationships between Chinese-American cultures, but it also deals with mother daughter relationships. Amy Tan shows us how mothers and daughters mirror each other. Every daughter in this novel hears about their mother's life and sees some comparisons to her own life. "All women are daughters and must resolve the conflicts inherent in the mother/daughter relationship if they are to understand themselves an ultimately to establish their own identity". (Internet 1)
In her adolescent years, Tan was around many influences from Chinese and American cultures. She wrote many pieces about “trying to assimilate into the mainstream, American world as a child, often at the expense of her Chinese heritage” (University of Minnesota). When Tan was entering young adulthood, her father and brother became ill, and eventually both died of brain tumors. It was during this difficult time that she learned of her mother’s secretive marriage to a different man in China and that she had three half-sisters from that marriage. “a situation not unlike June’s in The Joy Luck Club, her first novel” (University Of Minnesota). Tan’s mother then made the decision to relocate her living children to Switzerland, it was there that Amy finished her schooling and received her high school diploma, “but by this time mother and daughter were in constant conflict. Mother and daughter did not speak for six months after Amy Tan left the Baptist colleg...
The use of conflict in the story assists readers in understanding the theme of the overall story. The author used “talk-stories” that her mother had told her to show the conflicts women had to endure in China. The first talk-story that was told to the narrator is that of her aunt, No-Name Woman. Her mother stressed on the fact that the story must be kept a secret because her aunt is suppose to be unmentioned, “as if she had never been born” (3). Her aunt committed adultery while her husband was in America and the villagers reacted to this in a cruel manner. “The villagers punished her for acting as if she could have a private life, secret and apart from them” (13). The aunt was simply trying to step out of the pigeonhole that the Chinese society has placed women in. The ...
The title “A Pair of Tickets,” is the story of a father and daughter on a journey from one place, America, to another, China. The action from moving from America to China, also symbolizes the movement of Jing-mei’s recognition of her identity as she shifts from her American culture to her new Chinese Culture that was already in her blood. Not only is this journey a physical action, but also a spiritual journey. Through this spiritual journey, Jing-mei, clarifies her identity, the struggles of trying to accept her Chinese roots, and the misunderstandings she had of her mother. She gains respect towards her mother as she learns the battle her mother has fought to get to America. In the course of this journey, Jing-mei has learned to understand and respect her family. “After all these years, it can finally be let go.”
A journey can be defined as going from one place to another. Michael, in Andre Alexi’s “Kuala Lumpur”, goes on a journey though his father’s wake to find understanding and acceptance of the death. Sarosh, in Rohinton Mistry’s “Squatter”, goes on a journey to assimilate into Canadian society by trying to overcome the need for squatting on the toilet. Both experience a progressive sense of exile which manifests in a physical manner amongst peers and in a mental manner in the form of personal conflict. The exile felt by both of the characters can be defined by the ways in which ethnic isolation, confusion of identity, and the use of the carnivalesque are implemented in the formation of the journeys they take.
"A Pair of Tickets" and "Everything That Rises Must Converge" are good examples of how setting explores place, heritage, and ethnic identity to give us a better understanding of the characters. In "A Pair of Tickets" Jing-Mei Woo discovers for herself what makes her Chinese and the setting played an important role in helping us understand how she came to this discovery. The setting in "Everything That Rises Must Converge" gave us a good understanding of why the characters acted as they did to the situations presented. The setting in both of these stories greatly contributed to the understanding the characters better and in general the whole story.
The book starts out in Shanghai China in the year 1942 where we are introduced to Ye Xian, also called Chinese Cinderella or for short CC is the protagonist of the story. She is kind, smart and playful. She lives in China and tells the story through her own eyes. CC is around twelve years old and was thrown out of her home because of an argument with her stepmom, the antagonist of the story. The stepmom is evil, arrogant and self absorbed. Lost in Shanghai with no place to go, CC wants to go to her aunt's apartment, but remembers she is in Nan Tian Island taking care of her godmother. CC then recalls three boys she had seen the other day while downtown with her aunt. They were acrobats and gave her a card with their academy's name. She rushes
Joan and Lee embarked on a time travel journey that taught more about their San Francisco 144 years ago. Both of the main characters are ignorant to Joan’s history background. As a result to their unexpected time travel journey, they are taken aback when they learn about the implications Joan brings into their journey when Sam points out her Chinese descent. Through his use of historical events, Buzbee was able to vividly deliver the mistreatment of the Chinese during the time frame of the gold rush. Along with his historical anecdotes in the form of Sam recounting them, the author was able to enlighten both Joan and Lee to the hardships the Chinese had to face in order to have rights just like any other citizen. Modern age children are taught about the importance of slavery and how African-Americans were captive and exploited with hard work, but many children in the public school system are oblivion about the Chinese Exclusion Act. It is through Joan and Lee, that Buzbee points out such historical blissful ignorance that present children face
The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan, shows the lives of four Chinese immigrant women and their American born daughters. The Chinese women, Suyuan, Lindo, An-mei, and Ying Ying, escape from their hometown, China, to America because in china, women do not have any rights and power and must obey their husbands or men. Although they live in America for a long time, the four Chinese women still have Chinese minds and thoughts and maintain the Chinese culture. However, their American-born daughters, June, Rose, Waverly, and Lena, have American minds and deny to accept the Chinese culture. The daughters’ different culture from their mothers’ causes the conflict between mothers and daughters. Moreover, this novel has the motif of wind, which is strong and powerful, but invisible. This invisible strength controls one’s decision and path as he or she becomes more confident and mature. And, the invisible strength, which is shown by four daughters, brings positive effect as they realize their mothers’ love and strengthen their mind.
The story, “A Pair of Tickets”, written by Amy Tan, is about Tan’s trip to China to discover her self-identity. The setting plays an important role in this story for this story because she realize that a large portion of her family history is in China. Through the story, while Tan is travelling through China to her final destination, she was reflecting how her mother’s past influence Tan’s present life. The story starts out when Tan is entering the Shezhen, China boarder and how she feels her cultural identity is changing. She grew up in San Francisco and she knew that her identity as an American, but her mother told her that once she goes to China, she will understand that she is Chinese American. Her mother told her that "once you are
This book tells a total of 16 stories divided into 4 sections. Each story is told by one of the 7 main characters and the stories are woven together that all connect with Chinese-immigrant mothers and their American born daughters. It all started in 1949, Suyuan Woo started the San Francisco version of the Joy Luck Club. After Suyuan Woo’s unexpected death her daughter Jing-Mei Woo also known as “June”, is asked to take her place in the club. The four mothers met at the refugee center in the city of San Francisco after emigrating from China.
The first and most important conflict in the novel is heritage. Both mothers, Suyuan and Lindo, come from a Chinese background and try to instill their knowledge and strengths into their children. However, their children are being raised in America with new ideals and a powerful freedom that both mothers never experienced. The two contrasting cultures present a scenario in which both influences cause great confusion and separation in relationships.
The story opens with a brief synopsis of Jing-Mei’s mother’s past. As a Chinese immigrant fleeing from war, her mother leaves behind everything: “her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls.” (Tan 206) As a resident in America, Jing-Mei’s mother does not wallow in misery but instead looks forward to a life with limitless boundaries, honestly believing that “[y]ou could become instantly famous.” (Tan 206) Brent tells us that Chinese immigrants view America as a true land of opportunity and that tradition demands a daughter’s obedience to her mother (1). With a history steeped in traditional Chinese culture and a spirit of adventure, her mother decides Jing-Mei will fulfill this dream and become a child prodigy.
“With time and maturity, Tan says, she gained a sense of pride in her heritage and formed a connection with her mother” (“The Joy Luck Club” 235). Like their author, the daughters in The Joy Luck Club experience a transformation in attitude towards their mothers and China over the course of the story, but the essential theme is more universal than that. Through the relationships of Chinese-born mothers and their American-born daughters, Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club speaks to not only generational and cultural struggles within immigrant families but the struggle of all people to discover a unique identity.