Gish Jen’s “Who’s Irish and Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds” both entail two different stories with similar symbols and themes, these stories also demonstrate a vast amount of cultural differences. In “Who’s Irish” the Chinese grandmother has opposing views on her son-in-law and his inability to get a job, as well as how her granddaughter should be raised. “Two Kinds” depicts the lifestyle a Chinese mother is trying to create for her young daughter, as all she wants is for her to become a young piano prodigy and not waste the opportunity of the American Dream. Nonetheless they share several attributes that set them apart from each other as they exhibit parallel battles, characters and story lines. It is evident in the text that both mothers represent oppressive and authoritarian personalities which end up getting in the way of their relationships with their daughters. Given both narrators’ unique characteristics and continuous consistency of personalities the audience will be able to set them apart and understand the different cultures in which the narrator’s were raised.
The narrator uses a vast amount of symbolism in “Who’s Irish” to vividly bring out the intended themes for the readers. Throughout the story the narrator could not understand why her daughter’s husband is so incompetent, and why he needs to be pampered. When the narrator uses the line, “plain boiled food, plain boiled thinking” (par. 13-14) she is expressing bigotry toward other cultures and their incompetence to understand what hard work really is. The symbolism here is being used to emphasize cultural difference that has ruled the working criteria of the American citizens. Consequently this is an example of how difficult is it for the narrator to accept other cultur...
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...e two stories contrasts each other on their thematic use in the two stories. In ‘Two Kinds”, Jing- Mei is very stubborn and also very naive. It was through her character that she vehemently prevented herself from being an immense piano player which displays she has no desire to obey her mother’s wishes for her. In “Who’s is Irish” the situation is very different as the grandmother attempts to raise her granddaughter the way she was raised herself, the Chinese way.
Lastly, we can distinguish that the theme and the symbolism in the two stories are very much interlinked, the narrators in both stories have clearly emphasized on their theme using symbolism. Symbolism in its own is a form of communication where the listeners will figure out the symbolic representative in relation to the narrative. Symbolism also demonstrates the narrative theme in the real world scenario.
Symbolism is one of the most effective and powerful elements in writing. We see various examples of this all throughout "The Things They Carried." Symbolism enables us to tell a story one way, while all along trying to say another. I believe Tim O'Brien has achieved success in doing so in "The Things They Carried."
Gish Jen’s story titled Who’s Irish is a story about a chinese grandmother who was struggling to adapt to a different culture. Throughout the story, the grandmother’s perception and understanding conflicted with that of her daughter, Natalie, her son-in-law, John Shae, and, her granddaughter, Sophie. The narrator is a Chinese Grandmother who was nameless and spoke in the first person point of view. When the Grandmother first immigrated to the United States along with her daughter and her husband (who passed away,) she found success through her restaurant. She believed that her hardwork and dedication gave rise to her success in a different country. This was why the grandmother does not like her in-laws. She presumes that because they are
Gish Jen’s “Who’s Irish” tells the story of a sixty-eight-year-old Chinese immigrant and her struggle to accept other cultures different from her own. The protagonist has been living in the United States for a while but she is still critical of other cultures and ethnicities, such as her son-in-law’s Irish family and the American values in which her daughter insists on applying while raising the protagonist’s granddaughter. The main character finds it very hard to accept the American way of disciplining and decides to implement her own measures when babysitting her granddaughter Sophie. When the main character’s daughter finds out that she has been spanking Sophie she asks her mother to move out of the house and breaks any further contact between them by not taking Sophie to visit her grandmother in her new place. The central idea of the story is that being an outsider depends on one’s perspective and that perspective determines how one’s life will be.
Symbolism is commonly used by authors that make short stories. Guin is a prime example of how much symbolism is used in short stories such as “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and “Sur.” In both of these stories Guin uses symbolism to show hidden meanings and ideas. In “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” there is a perfect Utopian city, yet in this perfect city there is a child locked in a broom closet and it is never let out. A few people leave the city when they find out about the child, but most people stay. Furthermore, in “Sur” there is a group of girls that travel to the South Pole and reach it before anyone else, yet they leave no sign or marker at the South Pole. Guin’s stories are very farfetched and use many symbols. Both “Sur” and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” have many symbols such as colors, characters, objects, and weather. The four types of symbols that Guin uses help the readers understand the themes in her short stories. Although her stories are farfetched, they need symbolism in them or the reader would not understand the theme; therefore the symbols make Guin’s stories much more enjoyable.
Imagine reading a story but later finding out that it symbolizes something different.For example “Antojos” by Julia Alvarez and “ The masque of The Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe show how symbolism can change a story. In these two novels you see the use of symbolism but into different ways. The two short stories are very different “The Masque of Red Death”takes place in the 14th century and is about the Bubonic Plague that killed millions. “Antojos” is about a girl who goes back to her home country and experiences a life-changing event.Although these two stories are very different in theme narration and multiple things there are a few things they have in common like external conflict, symbolism, and the sequence.
Symbolism “acts as webbing between theme and story. Themes alone can sound preachy, and stories alone can sound shallow. Symbolism weaves the two together” (Hall). Symbolism uses the story to convey the theme. Darkness is used in the novel to show the secrecy and lies that the story has. The whole story involves secrecy among two women and a man. Without symbolism the story would just have a very dark house and two very mysterious and disturbed women. Instead there is a feel of secrecy right from the beginning. Symbolism gives the story excitement, while also providing the reader with a good read. The author can read the first few pages and determine the story is not a happy
Our mothers have played very valuable roles in making us who we are and what we have become of ourselves. They have been the shoulder we can lean on when there is no one else to turn to. They have been the ones we can count on when there is no one else. They have been the ones who love us for who we are and forgive us when no one else wouldn’t. In Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds,” the character Jing-mei experiences being raised by a mother who has overwhelming expectations for her daughter, which causes Jing-mei to struggle with who she wants to be.
Writers often use symbolism in the story to give a more vivid description rather than just saying, pictures are a perfect example. Symbolism is the art of using any object, place, name or anything that represents something rather
In her short story "Two Kinds," Amy Tan utilizes the daughter's point of view to share a mother's attempts to control her daughter's hopes and dreams, providing a further understanding of how their relationship sours. The daughter has grown into a young woman and is telling the story of her coming of age in a family that had emigrated from China. In particular, she tells that her mother's attempted parental guidance was dominated by foolish hopes and dreams. This double perspective allows both the naivety of a young girl trying to identify herself and the hindsight and judgment of a mature woman.
In the short story, "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, a Chinese mother and daughter are at odds with each other. The mother pushes her daughter to become a prodigy, while the daughter (like most children with immigrant parents) seeks to find herself in a world that demands her Americanization. This is the theme of the story, conflicting values. In a society that values individuality, the daughter sought to be an individual, while her mother demanded she do what was suggested. This is a conflict within itself. The daughter must deal with an internal and external conflict. Internally, she struggles to find herself. Externally, she struggles with the burden of failing to meet her mother’s expectations. Being a first-generation Asian American, I have faced the same issues that the daughter has been through in the story.
When she arrives, she feels somehow proud to be Chinese. But her main reason why she went back home is to reflect her mother past life on her present life. Through the setting and her relatives, Jing Mei learns the nature of Chinese American culture. The main setting takes place in China, effects of the main character’s point of view through changing her sense of culture and identity. The time period plays a large role on the story, there is disconnect between the mother and daughter who came from different culture. In “A Pair of Tickets”, we learn it’s a first person narrator, we also learn detail of what the narrator is thinking about, detail of her past and how life compared to China and the US are very different. The theme is associated with the motherland and also has to deal with her mother’s death and half sisters. Her imagination of her sister transforming into adult, she also expected them to dresses and talk different. She also saw herself transforming, the DNA of Chinese running through her blood. In her own mind, from a distance she thinks Shanghai, the city of China looks like a major American city. Amy Tan used positive imagery of consumerism to drive home her themes of culture and identity, discovering her ancestral
For many of us growing up, our mothers have been a part of who we are. They have been there when our world was falling apart, when we fell ill to the flu, and most importantly, the one to love us when we needed it the most. In “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, it begins with a brief introduction to one mother’s interpretation of the American Dream. Losing her family in China, she now hopes to recapture part of her loss through her daughter. However, the young girl, Ni Kan, mimics her mother’s dreams and ultimately rebels against them.
In American Born Chinese, three separate stories are told by author Gene Luen Yang. Each story uses different plot elements to connect with the reader’s emotions. In Jim Wang’s story of a school boy trying to fit in, foreshadowing is used. In Danny’s story of a popular teenage boy whose Chinese cousin embarrasses him, conflict is present. Finally, in the Monkey King’s story about a god trying to earn his place in the heavens inciting incidents are used. Overall, Yang succeeds in telling all three stories with these plot elements.
In “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan and “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara both protagonists have to make choices on how to live their lives in society. In “Two Kinds”, the subject matter are mothers who were born in China want their daughters born in America to follow their Chinese heritage and use American predictions to become successful. The story line is Jing Mei’s mother wants her to become a piano prodigy. Jing-Mei wants to live her own life and not let her mother have control over it. The historical background is when Chinese immigration began toward the end of the 19th century. The majority of Chinese immigrants came to San Francisco. In “The Lesson” the subject matter is wealth is not equally distributed in society. The story line is when Sylvia realizes the inequality that is happening in the world. Sylvia accepts it and isn’t sure where she stands in society. The historical background is during the 1950’ s-1960 the Civil Rights Movement was created to stop discrimination in the United States. In “Two Kinds” the mother and daughter relationship is unbalanced. The mother, Suyuan, believes Jing Mei can accomplish the American dream and become successful. In “The Lesson”, the story focuses on poverty and wealth in the world. Miss Moore wants Sylvia to fight against the inequalities and improve her status in life. An observation of the way Jing-Mei, the protagonist in “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, and Sylvia, the protagonist of “The Lesson” are both struggling to fit in society and wanting acceptance.
There are very many ways that Chinese and American cultures, cultural values, etc, contribute to the conflicts in "Two Kinds". The two cultures contribute to this by making the narrator do something because her mom wants her to do it. The mom values having straight A's and being a prodigy overall. She won't let her daughter be anything less than the best. Also, Her mother wants her to be better than what she was and to be able to do better in life than how she is doing currently. Their cultural values make it difficult for the narrator to do what she wants and have fun because her mother is always trying to get her to do things that she doesn't want to do. The more things that the mother forces upon her the more grief that the narrator has.