Analysis Of The Third Dumpster By Gish Jen

In 2012 a short story “The Third Dumpster,” Gish Jen expresses a fictional but all too real situation of a decision that separates two cultures and two generations. A Chinese American family, ever-aging parents, and two grown sons, Goodwin and Morehouse, face a significant decision of accommodating their parents with their living situation. The title has many connotations: it implies that by the time the “third” generation comes; the culture will be tossed away (dumped) and be uprooted forever. What will be lost? First, the culture will be depleting, then their values and morals, and finally, the culture will terminate. In her story, Jen demonstrates a culture diminishing by displays of the purposeful word choice “dump” with symbolic meanings.

[America is a big ol’ melting pot.] cliché - replace According to the census, America is integrated with many subcultures that make America the land of opportunity in multi-cultural blend. Multi-cultural mingling [is] rephrase w/o is when two or more cultures harmoniously merge together. Being multi-cultural suggests adapting to new and different arrangements. [The act of blending achieved according to the text, “the drink looked like a blended lawn” (86).] fragment? Needs to flow in better Jen’s propose in this quotations suggest that the sons [are] rephrase w/o are a blend of Chinese and American. Since the sons are born and raised in America from Chinese descendent parents denotes that they [are] nonetheless Chinese - Americans. Cultural integrations occur to some without their knowledge especially if they have been in America for fifty years; that’s because America is based on multi-culture lifestyle. Embracing the multi-cultural lifestyle one must live it. Accepting this lifestyle one might suggest it begins in their diet. [Americans of a certain class are more aware of their health and tends to monitor it compared to Asians whom think eating right is good enough.] rephrase w/o are The parents’ acceptance to monitoring their health shows progress in acquiescing to the American culture. [“Now, though, setting their children straight had at last given way to keeping

Both the sons are renovating the house for their parents there is many debris they must “dump”. [“And that’s not even the end of the asbestos, said Morehouse” (88).] floating quote Asbestos is stringy fibrous building materials. The string represents the thin rope holding on the culture the sons are tried to; and now they are dumping it. When Goodwin arrived at the third dumpsters he noticed a bowling-alley with bowling-pins scattered all over the ground. [ “It looked as if the pin had been knocked down for eternity and would never be reset” (87).] integrate quotation The use of the quote represents the culture being pushed away and will never come back. As Goodwin proceeds to dump the asbestos, “he did think he saw, though, a bit of white smoke rise from the dumpster as he drove away” (89). The smoke metaphorically denotes the transition of the culture’s departure. In the Chinese culture, they burn incenses for the death of their beloved ones and ancestors. Goodwin just witnessed the loss and death of his culture. Also, Jen chose another dumpster site as the Masonic Temple: the Masonic Temple is where people go to pray; this metaphor means Goodwin needed to pray for his abandonment of his culture. Losing a culture due to accustoming to another is destined. Chinese culture will be distanced as long as they remain in