The White Umbrella
“The White Umbrella” by Gish Jen is a very reflective realistic fiction story of a chinese american girl’s youth. When the girl was young, her mother went to work without telling anyone. Her mom didn't even tell her father. The narrator and her sister just assumed normal life when their mother started coming home late. The story picks up one day when the two sisters are at their piano lesson. The older sister becomes envious when her piano teacher (Mrs.Crossman) applauds Eugenie (the girl whose lesson was before hers) on her playing. When the Eugenie leaves, the narrator notices that Eugenie has left her umbrella. Before she can react, Eugenie gets in her car and drives away. When the
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narrator’s lesson starts she plays amazingly to show off to Mrs.Crossman that she can play like Eugenie. After her lesson, the sisters waited outside to wait for their mother. Then it started to rain, The younger sister went inside while the older sister waited outside. Eventually Mrs.Crossman brought out Eugenie’s umbrella, but it turned out that it was actually Mrs.Crossman's. She gave the umbrella to the narrator just as her mother pulled up at the curve. On the way home, the narrator’s sister noticed she had the umbrella and became sceptical. The narrator knew what her mother would say if she saw the umbrella. Unfortunately, shortly after she noticed it they got into a car crash. After that, the older sister threw the umbrella down the sewer. Never to be seen again. Throughout much of the story, the narrator shows many traits.
One of those traits is jealousy. The narrator shows jealousy when at her piano lesson she thinks “I stared at the umbrella. I wanted to open it, twirl it around by its silver handle; I wanted dangle it from my wrist on the way to school the way the other girls did”. She is jealous of the other girls and their possessions because she cannot have such nice things.Another trait the narrator shows is stubbornness. After the narrator's piano lesson she demonstrates this trait when she refuses to believe that her mother is not coming soon. Every time Ms.Crossman asks her if she wants to come inside because her mother clearly isn't coming, the narrator refuses the offer even though she knows her mother isn't coming. In addition, the narrator refuses to let her sister, Mona, go inside because of the false belief that her mother is coming soon.The final trait that is possibly the most compulsive, is shamefulness. When she was given the umbrella from Ms.Crossman she said something no one should ever say. She said “I wish you were my mother”. Immediately after she said this, her mother drove up. Out of shame, she quickly whisked her sister away into her mother’s
car. The white umbrella symbolises guilt. I think this because even though the narrator knew what her mother would say about having it and she still accepted it. It also symbolises guilt because when the white umbrella was given to her she said “ I wish you were my mother” and she felt guilty afterwards. The guilt that the white umbrella was giving her eventually forced her to throw it down the sewer. The message that I have obtained from this story is to not let jealousy overcome you. There is one really crucial time during the story this theme could be applied. When the narrator accepted the umbrella from Mrs.Crossman, her jealousy given to her by the thought of the other girls with their umbrellas, led her to take the umbrella even though she shouldn't have. Without the umbrella, her mother could have possibly not gotten into a car crash. Her sister wouldn't be sceptical of her either. Altogether the umbrella is one big problem that could have been resolved if it wasn't for the narrator's jealousy
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