I read this story a few times, to truly grasp an understanding of what the main conflict presented—as the prompt mentioned. I could choose multiple main points depending on how I interpreted the story. Initially I wanted to state that the main conflict I found was on how the half sisters of Jing-Mei would find out about their mother’s recent death in conjunction with the meeting of Jing-Mei for the first time. Each time I read the passage, I followed a different issue that I could assume to be the ‘conflict’ but slowly begin to realize that each conflict I was finding was only further developing what I believe to be the true conflict: Jing-Mei was unsure of her identity. Through various parts of the story, Jing-Mei references who she is in …show more content…
I am becoming Chinese” (129). That segment is then followed up with a memory where Jing-Mei denying being any part Chinese and being closer related to her caucasian friends, at the time her mother informed her that one day she would understand and embrace the Chinese part of her, but that it would establish in her own time. Further into the passage, when she reaches the hotel at the first destination of her and her father, she express a bit of disappointment that the hotel isn’t meeting an ideation that she had and referee to as “communist China” and further disappointment when her father informs her that they would not be going out for an authentic Chinese meal. These factors support my main conflict as it seems Jing-Mei is searching for something or the moment when she can truly identify herself as Chinese. All the events within the story, Jing-Mei is searching for who she is through those she encounters and the events that take place. Its when her father is telling her the story of why her mother had left behind her half sisters where Jing-Mei finally starts to identify herself as Chinese and to connect with her heritage, as her father begins to tell her the story she interrupts: “No, tell me in Chinese, Really I can understand”
In the beginning, Jing-mei, is “just as excited as my mother,”(469). Jing-mei was eagerly hoping to make her mother proud. However, her mother’s obsession with becoming a prodigy discouraged Jing-mei. The daily test began to aggravated Jing-mei because they made her feel less sma...
I believe that Jing-Mei should have told the truth from before, instead of telling them later. For, this proves to Jing’s half sister’s unnecessary hope of seeing their mother again. If Jing would have told them earlier it would have been less heartbreaking, although it didn’t necessary mess up their joyful reunion; it might have psychologically affected her half sisters more than it would have done if they found out earlier.
Jing-mei 's mother wants Jing-mei to be a prodigy and get popular. Thus, the mother rents a piano for Jing-mei to help her achieve this. Many years later, Jing-mei finds the piano in a broken state, so she decides to have it repaired. She starts playing the song she used to play, “Pleading Child.” But to the right of “Pleading Child,” she finds a second song named “Perfectly Contented.” She starts to play both songs, “And after I [Jing-mei] had played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song.” (6) Jing-mei’s mother tells Jing-mei that there are two kinds of people: the respectful kind and the disrespectful kind. At that time, Jing-mei also finds out that there are two kinds of people inside her. She could choose to be the kind where the person is a prodigy and respectful, or be the kind that is ugly in the eyes of people. When she plays “Pleading Child” and “Perfectly Contented,” Jing-mei realizes that her identity had changed completely because of her laziness and beliefs. Jing-mei learns that there are two kinds of people in the world, and she should choose the right
Gus Lee, who was born in San Francisco in 1946, a pace about his childhood. He wrote a novel named China Boy in 1991 and did a great job in describing a boy who was grow up in San Francisco and the hardships that the little Chinese boy experienced. Based on the history, the push factors that brought the Chinese to America are unemployment, poverty, famine, overpopulation, and political persecution. In another way, the pull factors are the United States has plenty of work opportunities, the idea of the gold mountain, steamboat ads and the illusion of equality. Gus Lee describes Kai Ting as a representative Chinese boy and growing up in the United Sates, and how he overcomes the difficulties that he faced in the United States. The novel shows
Similarly, Wong also grew up in America with a traditional Chinese mother. In contrast, Wong’s upbringing involves her mother forcing her into attending two different schools. After her American school day, Wong continues on with Chinese school to learn both cultures. Her mother felt it was her duty to “[. . .] learn the language of [her] heritage” (Wong 144). This puts a burden on Wong as she starts to despise the Chinese culture.
This summer I read American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. After seeing that the graphic novel was a comic book, I was very excited to read it. I relished how the author decided to tell this story in an unique format. Having pictures really helped myself visualize the story in my mind. The way Gene Luen Yang used language in his story was extremely interesting. Each character spoke slightly different than others based on where their background. In the beginning of the novel, when Wei-Chen Sun he first meets Jing Jang he greets him in a more proper way. “ ‘Sorry to bother you, but you're chinese aren't you?’ ”said Wei-Chen Sun.
She self-identifies as Chinese-American because she “feels Chinese inside” even though she considers herself to be very assimilated into the American culture. This coincides with one of the four types of ethnic self-labels for second generation immigrants that Portes and Rumbaut analyze: national origin, hyphenated, plain American and pan-ethnic. These identifies arise from reactions to specific external events, internalization of racialized categories or life experiences (Feliciano Lec. 1/25/2016). The reason she still identifies as Chinese is because she was raised to think that way; she grew up in a Chinese dominated community both at home and in school. She also believes that because she is not of a mixed ethnicity, it is easy for her to self-identify as Chinese-American. When asked what makes her American, she responded that it is because she lives in America and she follows many American social norms. She does not believe that citizenship has anything to do with being American, it is just a form that acknowledges that you can receive certain benefits that non-citizens do not have the privilege
This terrified Jing-Mei, making her believe that it would cause her to suddenly change, "I saw myself transforming like a werewolf." Jing-Mei Woo finally realizes that she has never really known what it means to be Chinese because she was born and has lived in America all her life. After her mother's death, Jing-Mei discovers that she has two twin sisters living in China who have been searching for their mother and that s... ... middle of paper ... ... to take it anymore.
The setting of the story creates a better grasp on the intelligence of each character. The narrator of the story goes from her belief that there is no way she is Chinese to understanding her heritage and that she is really Chinese. The narrator states that she doesn’t really know what it means to be Chinese (Tan 133). She progressively learns throughout the story what it means to be Chinese. She mentions of Aiyi and her father knowing Mandarin only while the rest of Aiyi’s family only knows Cantonese (Tan 137). This relates to setting due to the time and areas that Mandarin was spoken compared to where Cantonese is spoken now. The narrator was shocked to see the elegance of the hotel they were scheduled to stay in and the pricing (Tan 138). This can be interpreted as her being inexperienced while the rest of her family were either used to this kind of service or had no outstanding opinions upon it. The narrator starts to see her father in a different manner once he and Aiyi start conversing and onc...
As she gets off the train, Jing-mei starts to describe her surroundings once again. For example, she describes Guangzhou as “The landscape has become gray, filled with low flat cement buildings, old factories, and then tracks and more tracks filled with trains like ours passing by in the opposite direction. I see platforms crowded with people wearing drab Western clothes, with spots of bright colors: little children wearing pink and yellow, red and peach” (266). The colors mentioned go along with how Jing-mei described her mother wearing clothes that do not go well together. The colors are bright, much brighter than the colors she saw on the train. It could mean that she is getting closer to her mother by seeing her in other people in China. However, Jing-mei has not fully embraced her roots, which is understandable since that side of her has only just awoken. Again, Jing-mei is questioning herself when she and her father are going through customs. For example, she describes the long lines as “getting on a number 30 Stockton bus in San Francisco” (266). Immediately after making that connection, Jing-mei reminds herself “I am in China. I remind myself. And somehow the crowds don’t bother me. It feels right” (266). Jing-mei is allowing herself to drift away to what is comfortable. Reminding herself that she is in China, she begins to feel at peace and that it feels
In analyzing these two stories, it is first notable to mention how differing their experiences truly are. Sammy is a late adolescent store clerk who, in his first job, is discontent with the normal workings of society and the bureaucratic nature of the store at which he works. He feels oppressed by the very fabric and nature of aging, out-of date rules, and, at the end of this story, climaxes with exposing his true feelings and quits his jobs in a display of nonconformity and rebellion. Jing-Mei, on the other hand, is a younger Asian American whose life and every waking moment is guided by the pressures of her mother, whose idealistic word-view aids in trying to mold her into something decent by both the double standards Asian society and their newly acquired American culture. In contrasting these two perspectives, we see that while ...
When she arrives, she feels somehow proud to be Chinese. But her main reason why she went back home is to reflect her mother past life on her present life. Through the setting and her relatives, Jing Mei learns the nature of Chinese American culture. The main setting takes place in China, effects of the main character’s point of view through changing her sense of culture and identity. The time period plays a large role on the story, there is disconnect between the mother and daughter who came from different culture. In “A Pair of Tickets”, we learn it’s a first person narrator, we also learn detail of what the narrator is thinking about, detail of her past and how life compared to China and the US are very different. The theme is associated with the motherland and also has to deal with her mother’s death and half sisters. Her imagination of her sister transforming into adult, she also expected them to dresses and talk different. She also saw herself transforming, the DNA of Chinese running through her blood. In her own mind, from a distance she thinks Shanghai, the city of China looks like a major American city. Amy Tan used positive imagery of consumerism to drive home her themes of culture and identity, discovering her ancestral
The poem of A Story by Li-Young Lee analyzes the coming of age of a son through the eyes and emotions of a father. On the surface, it seems like a simple situation of a father telling the son a story to entertain him. But it is upon closer inspection and deep analysis that reveals the true meaning of the poem that the poet is trying to convey to the reader.
The main conflict of this story is Jing-mei's struggle between accepting her identity based on her heritage and not on a personal image. There is no real order in which this conflict is clarified, because the climax and resolution come about at the same time. The conflict is internal due to the fact that she cannot accept her true identity. The climax comes when she finally meets her twin sisters and says, "I get beyond the gate, we run toward each other, all three of us embracing, all hesitations and expectations forgotten" (870). It is then that the resolution comes into play and "After all these years, it can finally be let go" (870). It is at that point, when she can finally a...
The story is told in the first-person narrative, or subjective point of view. This is important as it leads the reader to sympathize with the narrator as well as setting up the protagonist/antagonist relationship of daughter and mother. In this case, Jing Mei narrates as an adult but through the eyes of a child, allowing the reader to draw upon his/her ow...