Often times when classifying a written work, it is commonly deemed only capable of representing one genre; however, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictée challenges this concept by redefining and blurring the seemingly restricted boundaries the term “genre” typically implies. Throughout the text, several genres are intertwined into Cha’s writing including tragedy, poetry, epic, and autobiography. As a result of the diverse blending of genres, scholars created a rather controversial category for Dictée in hopes of encompassing the many branches of literature incorporated called, “contemporary epic.” As previously mentioned, categorizing Dictée as a contemporary epic is a controversy in the world of literature and has left many readers split, as several …show more content…
Unlike most epic plots where there is a heroic, divine male or godlike figure rising to the occasion, Cha created a maternal central character to claim the unbelievable stature of a divine individual. The character Mother, is representative for a female’s guide during her heroic quest in overcoming the separation, suffering, and trauma, as a result of leaving her homeland and the bittersweet pain she endured while assimilating to the English language and American culture. When the narrator first describes the mysterious figure in the beginning of the text, the mysterious figure was struggling to “[mimic] the speaking” of the new language she so desperately wanted to execute with accuracy; however, no words were formed in the placement of sounds (Cha 3). Later, after the reassurance of the Mother, a different, more empowered description of the mysterious figure is provided by the narrator stating that “where proper pauses were expected [when speaking. They would be] no more (Cha 75). The mysterious “she,” otherwise known as the author Cha, depicted the Mother as larger than life and used her as a guide for getting through both the emotionally and physically demanding challenges placed upon Koreans immigrating to the United States at the time. Because there is evidence of a character being viewed as a higher type, Cha’s Dictée demonstrates …show more content…
Immediately, Cha begins to play with the idea of space with her unorthodox usage of the phrase “From a far” (Cha 1). Geographically speaking, Cha has a background with space and distance as an immigrant from South Korea to Hawaii longing for her homeland; therefore, by placing a space between a and far, she is creating literal space in the word as a representation of the distance between herself and her former home. Another interpretation, in relation to being an immigrant in a new country is the spiritually driven feeling of dislocation and the wedge being placed between Cha and the Hawaiians because of the cultural barriers that come with being from another country. Following, this interpretation being relevant to the argument in the previous paragraph, regards the space between the Mother and daughter characters. As mentioned previously, Cha, the mysterious female figure values the Mother as a divine figure who is better than she is. For this reason, a distance and space is created between Cha and the “larger than life” Mother, putting Cha below the divine figure and out of physical reach. Lastly, an understanding could be made of Cha’s unfamiliarity and inaccuracy with the English language when first arriving to the United States. This could be taken as the space that she feels mentally
Without her planning and preparing for meals, his mother's personality and emotions vanishes. Back in Korea, "she's a forthright, talented, beautiful woman" (pg 4), but because of her lack of knowledge regarding the English language, she loses her once thriving self as she lacks confidence in this new country. In reality, his parents "don’t want to eat non-Korean food; they want to hold onto what they know" (pg 2), thus emphasizing how
Tan, Amy. “Two Kinds.” Exploring Literature: Writing and Arguing About Fiction, Poetry, Drama and The Essay.4th e. Ed. Frank Madden. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. 253-261. Print.
In ‘American Translation’, The mother believes that having a mirror at the foot of the bed is bad luck for her daughter’s marriage. The daughter becomes irritated by her mother's constant findings of bad omens. The daughter and mother conflict with the ways American and Chinese women view things around themselves. In section II, the daughters ignore their mother mythical stories that represent true teachings. In section III, they realize the importance of their tales.
The Essay written by Amy Tan titled 'Mother Tongue' concludes with her saying, 'I knew I had succeeded where I counted when my mother finished my book and gave her understandable verdict' (39). The essay focuses on the prejudices of Amy and her mother. All her life, Amy's mother has been looked down upon due to the fact that she did not speak proper English. Amy defends her mother's 'Broken' English by the fact that she is Chinese and that the 'Simple' English spoken in her family 'Has become a language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk' (36). Little did she know that she was actually speaking more than one type of English. Amy Tan was successful in providing resourceful information in every aspect. This gave the reader a full understanding of the disadvantages Amy and her mother had with reading and writing. The Essay 'Mother Tongue' truly represents Amy Tan's love and passion for her mother as well as her writing. Finally getting the respect of her critics and lucratively connecting with the reaction her mother had to her book, 'So easy to read' (39). Was writing a book the best way to bond with your own mother? Is it a struggle to always have the urge to fit in? Was it healthy for her to take care of family situations all her life because her mother is unable to speak clear English?
Tan makes an appeal to emotion with the connections she describes. A connection between a mother and daughter that is wrought with emotion is as relatable as humaneness is to a human. There is a soft declaration to be found in Tan’s statement, “I knew I had succeeded where it counted when my mother finished reading my book and gave me her verdict: “So easy to read.” Tan gains trust by appealing to emotion with something as understandable as the loving and more often than not tension riddled connection between a mother and her daughter. Tan incorporates the intimacy of the “broken” language in correlation to her husband with these words, “It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with” (Tan 1). Under the assumption that Louis DeMattei (Tan’s husband) has no prior history with the Chinese Language Tan makes an important point of the use of the “broken” language she learned from her mother. Demattei doesn’t inquire or correct Tan when she switches between the English she acquired from the vast expanses of English literature and the English she acquired from her mother. Tan says, “he even uses it with me,” there is an implied level of comfort within the relationship she has with her husband. Tan shares what is viewed as “broken” and in need of fixing with Demattei and he reciprocates, leaving them
The narrator explains a quote she remembered that her mother said using the English that her mother uses, “Du Yusong having business like fruit stand. Like off the street kind. He is like Du Zong—but not Tsung-ming Island people. The local people call putong, the river east side, he belong to that side local people. The man want to ask Du Zong father wasn’t look down on him, but didn’t take seriously, until that man big like become a mafia. Now important person, very hard to inviting him. Respect for making big celebration, he shows up. Mean gives lots of respect. Chinese custom. Chinese social life that way. If too important won’t have to stay too long. He come to my wedding. I didn’t see, I heard it. I gone to boy’s side, they have YMCA dinner. Chinese age I was nineteen.”(108). Another example is when her (the author) mother use to have her call people on the phone pretending it was her. “Why he don’t send me my check, already two weeks late. So mad he lie to me, losing me money.” (110). After these incidents had occurred a while back, the author says: “I began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with: the English I spoke to my mother, the English she used with me, my translation of her English, and what I imagined to be her translation of her Chinese.” (113). This quote not only shows examples of the different Englishes in her novel, but it also explains how she begins to write stories using her
Charter, Ann, and Samuel Charters, eds. Literature and its Writers: A Compact Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2003.
“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.
aspect of her personality remains completely foreign to her mother. the narrator, who describes it with an innocent wonder. In the Beginning of the story The mother speaks of Wangero's actions in the past. The. Even then she displayed an arrogance that isolated her mother.
Kennedy, X. J., & Gioia, D. (2010). Literature an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama and
Her ability to balance her Chinese-American identity is completely dependent on his participation in the two spheres and through Jack’s rejection of his mother and Chinese identity, he ensures the suffering of them both. Just as Jack’s father becomes a physical manifestation of American culture for his mother, his mother becomes the embodiment of their shared Chinese-ness that is demonstrated in her letter’s line: “Why won’t you talk to me, son? The pain makes it hard to write” (192). He does not talk to his mother because he wants nothing to do with his Chinese self, preventing the balance of two heritages in both their lives and perpetuating the cyclical trauma present in their lineage. With his mother gone, the representation of his Chinese heritage shifts onto the woman who reads the letter to him, resulting in the shame he feels after the letter’s reading finishes: “The young woman handed the paper back to me. I could not bear to look into her face” (192).
Burget, Jasper. “ENG 359: The Origins of Literary Modernity.” ENG 359 The Origins of Literary Modernity, Williams College , 11 Dec. 2014, sites.williams.edu/engl359-f14/uncategorized/aphra-behns-oroonoko-or-the-royal-slave-a-parody-of-epic-proportions/. This article is a student written essay from a student at Williams College. However, it has not been peer reviewed.
Stump, Colleen Shea, Kevin Feldman, Joyce Armstrong Carroll, and Edward E. Wilson. "The Epic." Prentice Hall
Eileen Baldeshwiler’s “The Lyric Short Story” discusses the two different branches of short story—the “epical” and the “lyrical” (231). Baldeshwiler highlights the separate functions of the forms by focusing on their stylistic differences. The epical short story, according to Baldeshwiler, relies heavily on “external action” that is “fabricated mainly to forward plot, culminating in a decisive ending that sometimes affords a universal insight” (231). Further, the plot and characters are “expressed in the serviceably inconspicuous language of prose realism” (Baldeshwiler 231). In other words, the characters, plot, and overall tone of the piece adhere to reality. In opposition to this style, Baldeshwiler explains that the lyrical short story “concentrates o...