Lan Samantha Chang Water Names

In society, one’s culture and traditions are what makes a person’s character and personality. In most families, there are traditions that are passed down like folktales. Folktales are stories passed down person by person and eventually change slightly over time. However, the focal message of folktales always typically stick. Folktales teach valuable life lessons while entertaining the reader or in some cases the three granddaughters as seen in “Water Names.” The short story “Water Names” written by Lan Samantha Chang is a story of a Chinese folktale told by a grandmother narrating the tale to her three granddaughters. The folktale centers the symbol of water and the meaning manifests as the three young girls learn what it can do. The grandmother

tells her three granddaughters that they descend from a line of strong men and women who receive their strength from the water if they stick together. This tale told within the short story emphasizes the importance and meaning of water in one’s life, especially in regards to family. In “Water Names” Lan Samantha Chang utilizes such elements as title, detail, and symbol to reveal the meaning of the story through the interplay of the contemporary setting and action with the ancient legend.
Throughout the short story, the manifestation of the title’s importance is highlighted. The title “Water Names” is a perfect way to depict the river names and water discussed in the folktale. The grandmother tells her granddaughters that the spirit of the river is within them which builds their personality to become strong and ultimately “name” and “brand” who they are. Grandmother Waipuo describes that their family is strong when they are united and they are “unlike mountains... cannot be powdered down or broken apart.” Mountains can be moved and broken apart, but the water gives a name to the family and makes them who they are. If the family sticks together, nothing can get between them; however, if the three young girls allow for the “floods and seasons of ill-fortune” to break their character and separate them, then they will no longer have the spirit of the river within them. The river and the water that flows within it is what makes the family strong, and the three granddaughters must learn from this and take it as a lesson to never separate and stick together. This unity that is being fostered is extremely important in revealing the meaning of the story because this is a tradition the girls will learn to adopt as their Chinese grandmother once did as she too was once taught the valuable lesson. The young girls listen to the tale of this ancient legend but still question and connect it to their young lives in that current time. The title of the short story plays a key role in developing the meaning of the story in regards to the interplay of the contemporary setting and the action with the ancient legend.
The writer’s attention to detail is an essential tool utilized to reveal the meaning of the story. Near the end of the short story, when the three granddaughters are left in confusion with various questions, there is a sense of mystery left. The young girls question the tale their grandmother told them and then it switches to a detailed description of their surroundings, “Waipuo in her room, the house, and the small city we lived in, the great waves of grass than ran for miles around us, the ground beneath as dry and hard as bone.” This describes the young girls’ surroundings and it builds the notion that life will not be easy because it is dry and hard as bone and there are large waves of mountains that they will have to surpass, but they can do it because they have the spirit of the river within them. The attention to their surroundings is a contrast to details described in the beginning of the story. Waipuo describes that the girls come from great sides of China, where the river was so grand and broad, creating a feeling of loneliness and obstacles to come. However, the writer utilizes these details to reveal “small girls” can overcome and face the “big world” with its large and daunting obstacles if they stick together. Waipuo recounts that their family is strong because they have stuck together, and that is what the young girls must do. Although it is an ancient tale, the lesson that if they are united, they can face anything, allows the girls to relate it to their own lives and contemporary setting. The use of details in the short story unravels the meaning of the tale told by Waipuo to influence her young granddaughters to be strong because the river has given them the ability to be.
One of the most important elements the author employs to reveal the meaning of the story through the interaction the girls have with the contemporary setting and action with the ancient legend is symbolism.

Symbolism is seen throughout the short story and has a significant effect on the young girls at the end. At the beginning of the story, the three girls are playfully fighting; at the end, the girls are silent and are left with questions. The symbol of water has had this impact on the girls because it is seen as a majestic and virtuous force that has run within their family and made them strong. Waipuo, who is an elder, has come to understand this because it is depicted that she often sat with the girls in silence, and appears to be very strict. As an elder, Waipuo understands how important the water is and says that “our strength and spirit wear down mountains into sand. But even our people must respect the water.” The water is seen as a divine force that controls their lives and without it, the family would be weak and they would powdered down and broken apart, but because they understand the power and respect the water, they are strong and have value. Although the pearl ring is not as prominent of a symbol as water, it is still important when Waipuo tells the tale. The pearl ring symbolizes purity, and it foreshadows how pure and innocent Wen Zhiqing’s daughter was. This pearl ring provoked the daughter to believe that a beloved husband was waiting for her in the river, and when she had told her father this, he said it was “nonsense.” It was disregarded as real because Wen is older and wiser, while his daughter still believed this because she was young and naive. The pearl ring created a false hope and dream within her that lead her to hurry to the water during a terrible flood. The young girls can connect both symbols to their own lives and realize that the water is powerful, and it can help them, but it should not be played with because it is dangerous. The

three girls can connect it to their own lives and setting when realizing that the ancient legend provides a valuable lesson. The symbols in the short story play an important role in shaping the meaning of the story through the interplay of the contemporary setting and action with the ancient legend.
Lan Samantha Chang’s short story “Water Names” depicts a folktale telling of a grandmother to her three granddaughters. The folktale being told offers a valuable lesson of strength and unity to the three young girls. The grandmother, Waipuo, who appears to be strict and very traditional, reminds the girls of her ancestors who lived along the Yangtze River, and tells them of a story of a young girl who loved the river, but did not realize how dangerous it was as she believed that a beloved man was waiting for her within the water representing her innocence and how naive she was. This story provides the moral lesson that the girls can surpass anything as their family and previous ancestors had the spirit of the river within them. The message advocated is that it is vital for the girls to stick together because they are strong alone, but even stronger together. Ultimately, the writer makes use of elements such as title, detail, and symbol to reveal the meaning of the story through the interplay of the contemporary setting the girls are in and action with the ancient legend.