Xu Xy Famine Sparknotes

The short story “Famine” by Xu Xi is about her trip to New York from Hong Kong after her parents death with flashbacks to her life with controlling, abusive parents. Throughout the story there is a theme of revolt despite her parents having a strong, strict hold on her. From learning English, going on hunger strikes, to an impulsive trip to New York. From beginning to the end of the story, Xu Xi portrays herself as rebellious throughout her life.
Xu Xi is portrayed as rebellious throughout the story. One example of this is how she learned to speak English even though her parents don’t know the language. Xu Xi says, “My acquiring English, which my parents knew naturally not a word, was a sufficiently drastic defiance to last a lifetime , or

at least till they expired” (128). Xu Xi prides herself on going against her parents and learning English despite them not knowing a word. Her parents rejected Western culture and thus only drove her to learn it more. After being berated by her parents, especially her father, constantly about her education she made sure she was a good student. Even though she was taught by an American priest and it was just pure luck, she knew that her parents would not be happy with it. She liked doing things to spite her parents for their strong authority and control over. In the story she explains that although English wasn't really a linguistic requirement, it was her flight and escape against home. Despite her being an adult they still told her what she could and could not do. When she was continuing her education and trying to become an English teacher her parents still would not let her unless she did something for them even though she was an adult. This fueled rebellion in her.
Another act of rebellion is when Xu Xi went on two hunger strikes because of her parents for her education. Since her parents are both illiterate refugees from China, her mom had a job of frying tofu in a market and her father worked in the market as a cleaner. She was expected to support them as soon as possible. Xu would have been able to do that after six years of primary school but when she took the exams she proved that she was smart enough for secondary school. Then she went on a hunger strike to continue her education enough though her father threatened to starve and beat her. In the text Xu Xi recollects on when she went on the strike when she writes, “How dare I, when others were genuinely hungry, unlike me, the only child of a tofu seller who always ate. Did I want him and A-Ma to die of hunger just to send me to school? How dare I risk their longevity and old age?” (124). Despite being beaten and threatened she knew that she was smart enough to continue her education and she wanted to. Such an act was a rebellion against what her parents wanted for her even though it was considered selfish. The second hunger strike was two years prior to her enrolling in teacher training. They would not let her continue into Form V without promising to keep working at the markets after school.
Another example of Xu Xi’s rebellion is
One of the major acts of rebellion in “Famine” is how Xu Xi flies to New York from Hong Kong after her parents died. The first sentence of the story is “I escape….their deaths rid me of responsibility at last, and I could forfeit my pension and that dreary existence” (123). Even though her parents have passed away she leaves Hong Kong to spite them and flee from her past and they way they controlled her. Xu knew that they couldn't control her anymore. Her dominating parents always held her back. When they died she knew that she could ultimately do whatever she wanted. Throughout the story she expresses how much she wished she had not let them control so much of her life.
Another major act of rebellion is Xu Xi and the consumption of expensive foreign foods.

Xu Xi writes, “My parents ate sparingly, long after we were no longer impoverished, and disdained “unhealthy” Western diets” (124). Since during her childhood her parents ate sparingly and in moderation, she was never able to eat anything but plain foods and was unable to eat any food from other cultures especially Western. Even when her family was no longer poor and going through a famine, they continued to eat like they were. Her father was a vegetarian so they mostly ate tofu. He prohibited his family from eating meat. The food they ate was plain and her parents would often skimp on food. Now that Xu is on her own and alone in New York she decides to eat only the most expensive of foods. She can finally satisfy her curiosity for Western food. Now that she is free to order whatever she wants she goes all out and orders foods such as, hot scones, smoked salmon, steak, cold shrimp, as well as cabernet sauvignon. She over indulges in meals that she was not able to eat when her parents were still alive. She had many missed opportunities and now that she has no restrictions she is enjoying the pleasure of food. Growing up she was taught to be ashamed of a luxurious lifestyle and that there were more important things in life. Now she can finally enjoy the more expensive pleasures in life without having to feel the guilt from her parents. Now she is finally living a life and having the experience of something that she had wanted since she was a

child.
Throughout Xu Xi’s journey through her she rebelled against her parents and their rules. From learning English, going on hunger strikes for her education, flying to New York and indulging in foods she was prohibited from eating their is a strong theme of revolt.