Kushagra Sachdeva Prof. Amber Day LCS 121-L 2/19/2016 SAVING SOURDI This short story talks about the struggles and experiences of the main character, Nea. The main characters of the story are the elder sister Sourdi and the younger sister Nea. They both have grown up together and are really affectionate to each other. The story features diverse encounters of a family that’s consists of a single mother and her two daughters and also how their bond slowly fades away as all of them grow older gradually. The story is written from a point of view that influences how one views the numerous characters and their respective choices. This story particularly emphasizes heavily on the …show more content…
subject of identity as it has different characters with different attitudes. Although both the sisters grew up together, the respective growth of their characters is uniquely manifested. This story is written in a way which forms different identities of different characters in the minds of the readers. I can properly identify each character because each one of them has peculiar characteristics and traits. I feel throughout the story Nea tries to protect her sister and feels that men, in particular, pose a threat to their sisterhood.
She feels that men aim to snatch her sister away from her. I am certain that expectations are the mother of all disappointments and this story proves it. Nea expects her sister will love her forever and that both of them will be inseparable but as we read the story we see how Sourdi gets married to an elder man, with who she moves out to a new home. Sourdi and her husband have a kid together and Nea is left all alone because her beloved sister is busy with her own life and family. Nea says, “She had made her choice, and she hadn’t chosen me.” (Nea, pg-134). I believe this implies how both of them have a different outlook towards life and how their identities are defined by their choices in …show more content…
life. I perceive Nea to be naïve, anxious and full of aggression because of her selfish activities. Nea says, “Once, when my older sister, Sourdi, and I were working alone…some men got drunk and I stabbed one of them. I was eleven.” (Nea, pg-121). Nea is fearless as it is seen at the beginning of the story when Nea fearlessly attacks and stubs the drunken man to ensure her sister's protection. She also involves Duke, Sourdi’s old lover, when she feels that Sourdi is being abused and mistreated by Mr. Chhay. Nea’s mother also feels that the problem with her daughter is that she does not think before acting. She is a hard-headed child since her childhood and creates her identity as a person who is aggressive yet passionate and caring. The mother of the two girls is a simple woman and she perfectly fits into the category of people who want to live their life without taking any risks. She is a strong-willed woman who works 2 jobs to support her family and has the power to deal with the obstacles in life. In the beginning, of the story when the men disrespect Sourdi, she says to Nea, “You not thinking. That your problem. You always not think!” (Ma, pg-122). This excerpt makes me feel that being a war refugee from Cambodia she feels that her family is inferior to the Americans. I strongly remark her as a soft-spoken woman who doesn’t want to hurt anybody. She knows about the relationship between Sourdi and Duke but plans to marry Sourdi to Mr. Chhay who is an older but financially stable man. This shows that she wants the best for her children and is thinking about Sourdi’s future. I feel that Sourdi is identical to her mother and her thought process is very similar to that of her mother.
She is portrayed to be simple and respectful of her elders and this is evident when the narrator says, “But Sourdi wouldn’t even look at Mr. Chhay. She kept her eyes lowered though he tried to smile and talk to her.” (Nea, pg-126). This also shows Sourdi’s innocent side and later when her mother tells her to thank Mr. Chhay for the gifts and the food, she submissively thanks the man. She is young and when she hears the news about her second pregnancy she gets really tense and calls her mother in misery. At the end of the story, Sourdi says, “I’m a married woman now. I’m not just some girl anymore. I have my own family. You understand that?” (Sourdi, pg-133). This excerpt shows that Sourdi is really mature for an 18-year-old and she assumes the responsibility of being a mother now. She wants to have her second kid and is ready to face the challenges that life brings to
her. After reading this story by May-Lee Chai, I felt that I knew every character thoroughly because all of them are very well distinguished from one another. I identify each character separately because of their different characteristics and viewpoints. Nea is rebellious and passionate while her mother and sister are more simple and practical. Every character holds their respective identity throughout the story which in turn helps in understanding the theme of the whole story better. It gives out a strong message as to how you cannot impose your feelings on other people. It also shows the difference in the attitudes of people and how people make choices that are best suited for themselves.
Valerie has successfully portrayed the picture of change in gender role within the ethnic community. She has cited an example of Sansei. In the book, it is said that the older generation was purely patri...
When she first appears in the short story, Nea instantly displays aggressive behavior in order to protect her sister from a man. She seemingly protects her older sister from a threatening man by stabbing the man with a knife. Nea tries to justify her rash behavior by say that, “he was hurting Sourdi!” (Chai 282). Throughout the short, Nea continues to defy rules and act impulsively due to her protective nature of Sourdi and sees her sister’s relationship with men threatening her own as the story progresses.
Shostak, when interviewing Nisa, considers that in the beginning of the book, Nisa seems to exaggerate the stories from when she was an infant. Although the stories are exaggerated by Nisa, a lot of women can relate to her life even with the geographic distance between them or if the society is completely different. Women of the same age can relate to Nisa, or if they went through the same situations like her. Certain women, even in America, have gone through a situation where they had to bury their own child or if they have lost a husband.
Sourdi is growing up and Nea is finding more ways to interfere to protect her. When Duke and Sourdi started to form a friendship she starts to find any way to dislike Duke. “Chopstick boy I called him, just to be mean” (Chai 184). Nea does not want to comes to terms that her older sister is replacing her with someone else. “I use to think of him as something like a bookmark just holding a certain space in her life until it was time for her to move on”.(Chai par. 4). When Sourdi fell from running from Duke, Nea blamed Duke for making her fall. “He tried to put his arm over her shoulder, too. I was going to push him away”. Sourdi put her arms around his and leaned against him. The action by Sourdi is displaying how she does not want to be saved by her sister who consistently tries to save her from everyone who comes in her
The speaker's relationship with her husband had to go over a few changes. At first, she did not want anything to do with her husband, she was still fourteen years old consequently feeling unready on handling such a big responsibility, but she had no other choice but to stay with him as she was a part of an arranged marriage. Later on, the speaker accepts her relationship with her husband and
...en-year-old girl”. She has now changed mentally into “someone much older”. The loss of her beloved brother means “nothing [will] ever be the same again, for her, for her family, for her brother”. She is losing her “happy” character, and now has a “viole[nt]” personality, that “[is] new to her”. A child losing its family causes a loss of innocence.
Technology weeds out the week families and leaves destruction in the eyes of the children who were exposed to family destruction. When a kid gets stuck in a bad family he acquires a different kind of family- not of blood relation but of respect and love relation, but the wounds are supposed to heal from previous experiences of a bad family, but if a ...
In the age of industrialization when rural life gradually was destroyed, the author as a girl who spent most of her life in countryside could not help writing about it and what she focuses on in her story - femininity and masculinity, which themselves contain the symbolic meanings - come as no surprise.
A traditional extended family living in Northern India can become acquainted through the viewing of Dadi’s family. Dadi, meaning grandmother in Hindu, lets us explore her family up close and personal as we follow the trials and tribulations the family encounters through a daily basis. The family deals with the span of three generations and their conflicting interpretations of the ideal family life. Dadi lets us look at the family as a whole, but the film opens our eyes particularly on the women and the problems they face. The film inspects the women’s battle to secure their status in their family through dealing with a patriarchal mentality. The women also are seen attempting to exert their power, and through it all we are familiarized to
Sripathi’s intolerance of spending money on anything but himself leads to the disgust of his wife. During the planning of Maya’s engagement, he worries about “how much that [would] cost” (102) and even calls his wife a “foolish woman” (102). This is significant because it shows that Sripathi cannot bear the thought of splurging on his daughter’s engagement. This shows that he does not care about pleasing other people who are invited to ceremony; rather, he cares about his own financial future. Through the exchange between him and his wife, Sripathi is portrayed as a selfish person who only cares about his own opinions. He even belittles his wife for not accepting his opinion as the best idea. However, after Maya’s death, Sripathi copes by becoming more empathetic. He recalls what he has done to Maya and wonders how he will be able to face his grandchild with the knowledge that he is responsible for her mother’s death (245). This is significant because Sripathi begins to reflect and consider how others feel. Through this personal thought, this reveals how much his character has changed since the death of Maya. He now understands that he will not be able to face his grandchild because of how disowning Maya contributed to her death. Sripathi now tries to atone for what he has done to Maya by attempting to get closer to Nandana. This helps him to
Everything in this world has a balance. Without negative, there is no positive and without Sula, there is not Nel. Their friendship is strong and they are one when together, and become nothing when broken apart. Nel turns into a dull housewife, living the life of her mother, and Sula dies alone without anyone who truly loves her by her side.
Sula and Nel’s friendship in their childhood was beneficial for both of them. Sula’s meeting of Nel was fortunate, because they find a soul mate within each other. They are both the daughters of “distant mothers and incomprehensible fathers” (Morrison, 50). Both girls lack affection in their relationships with their mothers. They can’t find this affection in their relationships with their fathers either, because Sula’s father is dead while Nel’s father is away at sea. They find the affection they need with each other. Their friendship was a way to mother each other. Since they can’ find the support they need from their families with their families they began to support each other and figure out what each other need in their life. The significance
The use of love and tension between the parent and child had help the readers demonstrate the importance of a elder figure in one’s life. The various different style of relationship help compare between the acceptable and undesirable a person can experience. Truly, a child is required a parent figure to help with situations and concerns; to share and express their opinions.
Since Sister was affected the most by certain actions of the family, Welty narrated this short story through Sister’s point of view to show how the function of the family declined through these actions. Sister was greatly affected when her sister broke the bonds of sisterhood by stealing her boyfriend and marrying him. Secondly, Sister was affected by the favoritism shown by her family towards her younger sister. Since her sister was favored more than her, this caused her to be jealous of her sister. For example, Sister shows a lot of jealousy by the tone she uses when describing what Stella-Rondo did with the bracelet that their grandfather gave her. Sister’s description was, “She’d always had anything in the world she wanted and then she’d throw it away. Papa-Daddy gave her this gorgeous Add-a-Pearl necklace when sh...
The only glory and satisfaction enjoyed by the women portrayed in Things Fall Apart was being a mother. They receive respect and love from their children. They are strong for their children. The women are viewed as very gentle and caring. They are expected to take care of their children with the best of their ability and are trusted totally by their children. This honorable presentation of women is used by Achebe to identify women's role in the Ibo society. This presentation is necessary to show that women indeed play an important role in society.