Summary Of The Story 'Where The Gods Fly'

Where the Gods Fly

Coming to a new country can be both overwhelming and frightening. Having no friends, not speaking the common tongue and not being familiar with the rules and traditions of this country. While the new country has a set of norms and rules, you also arrive with these, which you have developed in your former country. While all of this is more than enough to adapt to, it gets even harder in the case of you bringing a child along with you. Being a parent, the contrasts from your former life that you might have a tendency of clinging on to, will at some point affect your offspring, and while you are doing your best to give them a good life, you might have to actively take away one of their favorite things to do. “Where the Gods

Throughout this part we jump from memory to memory. In the beginning of the story we are briefly introduced to the mother, and also a rather interesting trait that she is influenced by through the story. The mother is a devout Buddhist. She practices traditional Chines culture and she seems to live her life off of decision based on her religious values and Chinese culture. “...I think, and then, ashamed, immediately touch my forehead to the ground before the triple Buddhas”. Early on the reader realizes that the story revolves around her reminiscing several important and highly influential points in their lives in America. The first point is the mother and father arriving and America with their five-year-old daughter, Pearl. Pearl’s mother and father had to work at a factory all day in order to provide for themselves as well as Pearl. “Her father and I spent our waking hours at the factory in Chinatown” (l.8) In the first period of time, Pearl attends school while her parents work, and afterwards she stays at home alone, waiting for them to return. One evening the mother realizes that this abandonment perhaps could be the reason for

While the mother dos have mixed feelings about this, she agrees to let her dance. The main reason behind this is that she is very happy that her daughter doesn’t have to be alone after school while her parents are still working. The mother herself was not allowed to attend classes in her own childhood, and this influences her to be a bit unwilling towards “When I was a girl in China, I was not permitted to go to classes...the learning I possess, I picked through lingering at the table...as my brother studied”. The reason behind her being so insistent on Pearl getting a proper education is most likely that Pearl will have no one but herself to rely on. Both of her parents work at a factory, and they can’t provide for her forever. This is another clear contrast between the old and the new. It is a general stereotype that families with Asian heritage often want their kids to become successful doctors or lawyers, even if the parents themselves are working at a factory or sitting in ordinary middle-class jobs. It is clear that Pearl’s parents also have the desire, and that they desperately want their daughter to succeed in life and getting an education. As the story progresses Pearl’s mother fears that the ballet is devouring Pearl, and that she is slipping away from what the mother recognizes as familiar for Pearl. Pearl’s father falls ill and a Buddhist ritual commences