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Proposal: Wayson Choy and The Jade Peony
In “The Jade Peony”, Wayson Choy, theorizes how diaspora views generations, and how it affects cultural differences, and their background. He poses to the reader that being Chinese-Canadian, as a hyphenated aspect, does not mean that an individual is being Chinese. The reader is to question, “What does being Chinese” mean in Canada? How can one be and live Chinese without losing clout and leverage as Canadians? How can one transform the so-called Canadian identity into the image of the many ethnicities that constitute it? We should not pretend we are living in some idealized, “little China” are not in Canada. As we explore the repeating conflicts in the story we begin to understand how difficult it is
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to assimilate cultural beliefs, and traditions into a new life. The bond between Sek-Lung, the youngest child, and his grandmother helps to preserve the family history. It will further argue the issues of leaving Chinatown, and how it will become a complicated imperative. Physical boundaries of Chinatown will create difficulties within the children negotiating between Chinatown and the broader Canadian community. Overall, different perspectives from a generation of Chinese families and children will describe the blend of old and new. This essay, will argue about Choy narrative; the “diaspora space.” It will be interworking history, cultural choices, homosexual acceptance, and identity barriers amongst others. Bordered spaces, including physical, cultural and linguistic spaces are explored vividly to enhance my argument about diaspora integration. Jasneet Kaur Harmony Law HUMA 1250 28 February 2017 Annotated bibliography Glenn, Deer. "Full Issue." Asian Canadian Writing. Spec. issue of Canadian Literature 163. N.p., Jan. 1998. Web. 27 Feb. 2017. In this article, Choy problematizes the notion of Chinese’s and critiques between ethnicity and power structure. He suggests back to the Chinese Canadian history, and rethinks the World War II period through focus in marginalized experiences. Another perspective is the discourse of ethnicity that plays a part on these children. The children have a significant role in the novel, because this literature allows the reader to understand how the two different diasporas will intertwine and what characters would be significantly affected by the change. Lai, Daniel W.L. "Ethnic Identity of Older Chinese in Canada - researchgate.net." J Cross Cult Gerontol, 27 Dec. 2011. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. In this article, it will explore the interrelationships in among various members of a Chinese immigrant family.
Elderly character will allow the reader to understand the cultural and traditional factors that are brought to Canada. Grandmother will share her knowledge of Old china and herbal medicines with others. The children will learn from the grandmother old Chinese traditions, and will be exploring non-westerns understanding of the old age and concomitant notions of respect, reverence, and duty. It will also show how the elderly are usually the caregivers to their family and others.
Quirt, Maggie. "Contextualizing Care, Old Age, and Disability." An Interdisciplinary Annotated Bibliography on the Contributions of "Dependent" Populations and the Costs of Caregiving. N.p., 7 Aug. 2005. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.
Wayson, Choy. "The Jade Peony." BC Teachers' Federation. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb.
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2017. In this source, it discusses Vancouver’s Chinatown between the 1930s and the 1940s, and features stories about the three Chinese children exploring their new lifestyle. It further examines how Chinese immigrants work to find their identity as Chinese Canadians and how the two cultures and generation gaps conflict. Other themes include discrimination experienced by Chinese immigrants who struggle against ethnic, gender, and financial constraints. It allows the reader to study the differences between the Chinese and Canadian lifestyle and the acceptance of gender limitations and sexual desires are disagreed upon. It will compare and contrast the limitations and freedom that is given among the two diasporas. Hockey, Dan. Ethnic identity among Chinese in Canada: its relationship to self-esteem N.p. N.p 1993. Print. In Canada’s multicultural society, ethnic identity is important to the elderly and can influence areas such as access to services. There are many contributing factors that affect diaspora and aims to study the cultural groups. Some examples include, validate the factor structure of a Chinese ethnic identity measure for older Chinese in Canada, examining the level of ethnic identity, and how ethnic identity is more evident in older individuals, compared to the children. Choy, Wayson. The Jade Peony: A Novel., 1995. Print. There are several different themes throughout this novel however diaspora is one of the significant factors which revolve around the whole book.
The main conflict in this book I will be examining is, “What role does the Cultural environment play.” It is one of the aim conflicts of the story since they live in a country that is not their own. The family tries to follow the cultural environment and by doing this they are forgetting to their own Chinese heritage. However, it is brought back by the elderly, but the children fail to comprehend the Chinese heritage. Choy will display various messages about life and behaviour. He will show that one should not be ashamed of embracing their heritage, and how it is a crucial part of their identity. Also, the importance family, will allow the reader to understand how people do not live forever, so you must enjoy your life and love your family, in order to learn and pass on traditional and cultural norms to the future
generations.
The novel “The Jade Peony” is narrated by three different characters throughout the story as it progresses. In part one of the book, it is narrated by a character named “Jook Liang” but usually just called Liang while in conversation. The reader is told the setting and time of the plot, which is in Vancouver, BC and in the time of the Great Depression (In the 1930s). We also learn the names of all the members in Liang’s family. An important figure in Liang’s portion of the story is a man named Wong-Suk. Wong-Suk and Liang become great friends, he occasionally tells her tales from the past. While Poh-Poh was helping Liang tie a ribbon for her tap dance shoes, we learn about her childhood. Poh-Poh was considered disfigured and her mom sold her to a family, where she
Judy Fong-Bates’ “The Gold Mountain Coat” discusses the childhood of the narrator who is a Chinese immigrant living in Canada. The narrator, even at a young age, possesses such admirable keen observation as she is able to notice the environment and even the situation of people around her. Living in a small town that is “typical of many small towns in Ontario” with only one Chinese family neighbor, the narrator is the only Chinese child. With the nearing day of arrival of John’s family, the narrator feels uneasy of her new responsibilities.
Thru-out the centuries, regardless of race or age, there has been dilemmas that identify a family’s thru union. In “Hangzhou” (1925), author Lang Samantha Chang illustrates the story of a Japanese family whose mother is trapped in her believes. While Alice Walker in her story of “Everyday Use” (1944) presents the readers with an African American family whose dilemma is mainly rotating around Dee’s ego, the narrator’s daughter. Although differing ethnicity, both families commonly share the attachment of a legacy, a tradition and the adaptation to a new generation. In desperation of surviving as a united family there are changes that they must submit to.
The Cultural Revolution in China was led by Mao Zedong, due to this Liang and many others faced overwhelming obstacles in many aspects of their life such as work, family and everyday encounters, if affected everyone’s families life and education, Liang lets us experience his everyday struggles during this era, where the government determined almost every aspect of life. The beginning of the book starts out with Liang’s typical life, which seems normal, he has a family which consists of three children, two older sisters and him the youngest, his two sister’s reside in Changsha 1. his father has an everyday occupation working as a journalist at a local newspaper. Things start to take a turn early in life for Liang Heng, his family politics were always questioned, the mistake made by one of his family members would impact his entire family and it would be something they would have to suffer through, it was impossible for them to live down such a sin.... ...
The united States Declaration of independence states that all men are equal, but aren’t all women as well? Nowadays, the numbers for the population are at an increase for the support in gender equality, with the capture of feminist labels. The seek for equality between men and women, and criticize the privileges that arouse by gender differences. However in Old China, males control almost everything due to a patriarchal society. At that time, not only men, but also women are influenced by male chauvinism. In the Jade Peony, written by Wayson Choy, female characters are affected by an unequal perspective despite their age group.
This is evident in the persistence of elderly characters, such as Grandmother Poh-Poh, who instigate the old Chinese culture to avoid the younger children from following different traditions. As well, the Chinese Canadians look to the Vancouver heritage community known as Chinatown to maintain their identity using on their historical past, beliefs, and traditions. The novel uniquely “encodes stories about their origins, its inhabitants, and the broader society in which they are set,” (S. Source 1) to teach for future generations. In conclusion, this influential novel discusses the ability for many characters to sustain one sole
In Wayson Choy’s The Jade Peony, a major topic explored is the strict use of gender roles. In the novel, the theme of cultural identity explores how the characters are oppressed by gender roles through cultural tradition. The novel creates a window into the lives of a Chinese-Canadian family, as everyone is trying to find their place in a country that doesn’t accept them and a culture that is never truly theirs, each family member goes through a struggle wherein they have to figure out where they can stand on the side of that dash. Chinese – (or) – Canadian, each side holding its own unique challenges within its “hyphenated reality.” (Philip Gambone (The New York Times)).While they will never be accepted as truly Canadian, their Chinese culture
“It was not easy to live in Shanghai” (Anyi 137). This line, echoed throughout Wang Anyi 's short piece “The Destination” is the glowing heartbeat of the story. A refrain filled with both longing and sadness, it hints at the many struggles faced by thousands upon thousands trying to get by in the city of Shanghai. One of these lost souls, the protagonist, Chen Xin, was one of the many youths taken from his family and sent to live the in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. Ten years after the fact, Chen Xin views the repercussions of the Cultural Revolution internally and externally as he processes the changes that both he, and his hometown have over-gone in the past ten years. Devastatingly, he comes to the conclusion that there is no going back to the time of his childhood, and his fond memories of Shanghai exist solely in memory. This is in large part is due to the changes brought on by the Cultural Revolution. These effects of the Cultural Revolution are a central theme to the story; with repercussions seen on a cultural level, as well as a personal one.
Letiecq, B. L., Bailey, S. J., & Porterfield, F. (2008, August). " We have no rights, we get no help" the legal and policy dilemmas facing grandparent caregivers. Journal of Family Issues, 29, 995-1012.
The family's personal encounters with the destructive nature of the traditional family have forced them to think in modern ways so they will not follow the same destructive path that they've seen so many before they get lost. In this new age struggle for happiness within the Kao family, a cultural barrier is constructed between the modern youth and the traditional adults, with Chueh-hsin teeter tottering on the edge, lost between them both. While the traditional family seems to be cracking and falling apart much like an iceberg in warm ocean waters, the bond between Chueh-min, Chueh-hui, Chin and their friends becomes as strong as the ocean itself. While traditional Confucianism plays a large role in the problems faced by the Kao family, it is the combination of both Confucianism and modernization that brings the family to its knees. Chueh-hsin is a huge factor in the novel for many reasons.
“Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one, a story to grow up on. She tested our strengths to establish realities”(5). In the book “The Woman Warrior,” Maxine Kingston is most interested in finding out about Chinese culture and history and relating them to her emerging American sense of self. One of the main ways she does so is listening to her mother’s talk-stories about the family’s Chinese past and applying them to her life.
The Jade Peony, written by Wayson Choy, is a beautiful short story about the relationship between a young boy and his grandmother. The story deals with many complicated social and emotional issues including change, death, and acceptance. As we explore the repeating conflicts in the story we begin to understand how difficult it is to assimilate cultural beliefs and traditions into a new life.
Certain cultures that live at or below the poverty line prefer this type of assistance for their elderly family members because it allows them to have someone meet them at their home. This convenience is a big factor and provides the elderly with a way to fulfill their communal culture by living out their time at home among family, while still receiving any necessary assistance for health checks or IADL’s. This improves their quality of life by meeting their needs in a different way. These alternative methods to older adult care are more popular among minorities and cultural groups (Bookman & Kimbrel, 2011). Bookman and Kimbrel acknowledge the gap between financial status as well as culture and race, they stated, “...because elders are widely diverse by race and socioeconomic status, their families attach differing cultural meanings to care and have widely different resources with which to accomplish their care goals” (2011). Thus, creating the large gap seen in nursing home facilities. Specifically, cultures like the Chinese who maintain traditions like filial piety, in which the adult children must care for their elderly parent (Li & Buechel, 2007). This type of culture defines the line between those who view nursing homes as ideal and those who prefer a separate
Roberto, K. A., & Jarrott, S. E. (2008, January). Family Caregivers of Older Adults: A Life Span Perspective. Family Relations , 100-111.
June-May fulfills her mother’s name and life goal, her long-cherished wish. She finally meets her twin sisters and in an essence fulfills and reunites her mother with her daughter through her. For when they are all together they are one; they are their mother. It is here that June-May fulfills the family portion of her Chinese culture of family. In addition, she fully embraces herself as Chinese. She realizes that family is made out of love and that family is the key to being Chinese. “And now I also see what part of me is Chinese. It is so obvious. It is my family. It is in our blood.” (Tan 159). Finally, her mother’s life burden is lifted and June-May’s doubts of being Chinese are set aside or as she says “After all these years, it can finally be let go,” (Tan 159).