The Imporance of the Setting in A Pair of Tickets by Amy Tan

669 Words2 Pages

A Pair of Tickets

Since the earliest days of writing and storytelling, Setting has been an imperative part of the storytelling process. Setting is one of many ways a writer can show emotion as well as a plethora of other emotions or experiences in a story. Amy Tan, the author of “A Pair of Tickets”, uses setting to create the feelings being in a mysterious land and being at home at the same time. Setting creates a greater understanding of the struggles that the characters have/are going through during the story. In “A Pair of Tickets,” setting creates the following introspective elements for the characters: a greater understanding to each characters wisdom, reveals the struggles of each characters and shows each characters true age.

The setting of the story creates a better grasp on the intelligence of each character. The narrator of the story goes from her belief that there is no way she is Chinese to understanding her heritage and that she is really Chinese. The narrator states that she doesn’t really know what it means to be Chinese (Tan 133). She progressively learns throughout the story what it means to be Chinese. She mentions of Aiyi and her father knowing Mandarin only while the rest of Aiyi’s family only knows Cantonese (Tan 137). This relates to setting due to the time and areas that Mandarin was spoken compared to where Cantonese is spoken now. The narrator was shocked to see the elegance of the hotel they were scheduled to stay in and the pricing (Tan 138). This can be interpreted as her being inexperienced while the rest of her family were either used to this kind of service or had no outstanding opinions upon it. The narrator starts to see her father in a different manner once he and Aiyi start conversing and onc...

... middle of paper ...

...found experiences and feelings that the reader can somewhat relate to. The narrator was changed from only seeing herself as an American and only seeing herself and her mother’s daughter to being Chinese and being a part of her mother. Setting can create: a better understanding of the characters experiences, the challenges they’ve had to work through, and the longevity of their being. Without the proper use of setting one can only assume that any story could be only dialogue followed by the feeling of being stuck in a blank room with nothing more than the characters. Therefore, setting should never be overlooked or thought as less equal to any other storytelling element.

Work Cited

Tan, Amy. “A Pair of Tickets”. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing.

Eds. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Longman, 2010: 132-145. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Jamestown Colony Analysis

    536 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout history, the tale of an emerging civilization has been one of the hardships. Difficulties and potentially fate-damming scenarios conquered by determination and collaboration between a group of individuals. The story of the 17th-century colony Jamestown along Virginia's coast is no different. However, the light in which historians look upon the colony is very dependant on whom you ask; my research revolved around Professors' Karen Kupperman and Edmund Morgan. Morgan remains firmly behind his now 40-year-old standpoint on the colony; that the settlers lack of ingenuity and overall unity resulted in an embarrassing example of American dependence on third-party aid. Quite separately Professor Kupperman is a proponent of the idea that

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Chinese Mothers In America

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    As the daughter mature, they begin to feel that their identities are incomplete and become interested in their Chinese heritage. One of Jing-mei’s greatest fears about her trip to China is not that others will recognize her as American, but that she herself will fail to recognize any Chinese elements within herself. Waverly speaks wishfully about blending in too well in China now that it’s in fashion, Waverly likes to think that being Chinese is part of her identity, and doesn’t appreciate it when her mom points out how American Waverly.

    Read More

  • Jamestown 1607: A Tale of Survival and Sacrifice

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    The year was 1607, on May 14 a ship have arrive to what is now known as Jamestown. This was the beginning of the United States, yet it doesn’t tell about the hardship these individuals had to endure. These settlers went through obstacles and came out victorious, but at what price. Death, one of the most common word you will see in Jamestown, this was due to the harsh environment that the settlers have encounter. Many factors have influence their survival from the area that have chosen to the kind of health they are experiencing.

    Read More

  • Diving into John Cheever’s Short Story, The Swimmer

    988 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...nterpretation of the story would be distinct with each setting. For example if he was to choose to write this story with a lower class, African-American social setting the interpretation the audience would acquire would much different. It could be to represent the enslavement era or the civil rights movement. Thus, setting is extremely crucial to the ultimate interpretation of the story.

    Read More

  • Mother Daughter Relationships - The Mother-daughter Relationship in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

    821 Words  | 2 Pages

    The second and third sections are about the daughters' lives, and the vignettes in each section trace their personality growth and development. Through the eyes of the daughters, we can also see the continuation of the mothers' stories, how they learned to cope in America. In these sections, Amy Tan explores the difficulties in growing up as a Chinese-American and the problems assimilating into modern society. The Chinese-American daughters try their best to become "Americanized," at the same time casting off their heritage while their mothers watch on, dismayed. Social pressures to become like everyone else, and not to be different are what motivate the daughters to resent their nationality. This was a greater problem for Chinese-American daughters that grew up in the 50's, when it was not well accepted to be of an "ethnic" background.

    Read More

  • The Use of Setting in A Pair of Tickets and Everything that Rises Must Converge

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    "A Pair of Tickets" and "Everything That Rises Must Converge" are good examples of how setting explores place, heritage, and ethnic identity to give us a better understanding of the characters. In "A Pair of Tickets" Jing-Mei Woo discovers for herself what makes her Chinese and the setting played an important role in helping us understand how she came to this discovery. The setting in "Everything That Rises Must Converge" gave us a good understanding of why the characters acted as they did to the situations presented. The setting in both of these stories greatly contributed to the understanding the characters better and in general the whole story.

    Read More

  • Self-Identity In Amy Tan's A Pair Of Tickets

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    Setting is a place or a certain location where an event is about to take place. It is used to create a vivid image for the reader and to better understand the characters and the certain situations the characters face in a story. Furthermore, the setting also gives further insight about a character’s thoughts, feelings, and reactions to what is happening around them. By learning about the setting in a story, the reader will be able to understand how the setting relates back to the character and to the story itself. In Amy Tan’s short story “A Pair of Tickets” setting is used to emphasize the discovery of self-identity as well as heritage and culture for the protagonist Jing-mei.

    Read More

  • Setting in Hills Like White Elephants, by Ernest Hemingway

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    Swaying trees in the distance, blue skies and birds chirping, all of these are examples of setting. Setting can create the mood and tone of characters in a story. In the story Hills Like White Elephants, the story starts out with our two characters, Jig and the American, also referred to as the man, on a train overlooking mountains. “The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry” (Hemingway).

    Read More

  • Human Oppressiveness in Two Kinds and A&P

    2353 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Importance of Setting in The Cask of Amontillado and Hills Like White Elephants

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    Settings are used in short stories so that they can complement the themes. Themes in “The Cask of Amontillado” included revenge and deception, which were brought out by the carnival and the catacombs settings. Themes in “Hills Like White Elephants” included evasion of responsibility and miscommunication, and this was outlined by the train tracks, the environment on either side of the train tracks, and the hills themselves. Hence, in both short stories, setting played an integral role in emphasizing the themes.

    Read More

  • The Three Symbols in Trifles by Susan Glaspell

    305 Words  | 1 Pages

    The setting of a story is the physical and social context in which the action of a story occurs.(Meyer 1635) The setting can also set the mood of the story, which will help readers to get a better idea pf what is happening. The major elements of the setting are the time, place, and social environment that frame the characters. (Meyer 1635) "Trifles by Susan Glaspell portrays a gloomy, dark, and lonely setting. Glaspell uses symbolic objects to help the audience get a better understanding for the characters. The three symbolizes used are a birdcage, a bird, and rope.

    Read More

  • A Solitary Blue Character Analysis

    460 Words  | 1 Pages

    Description of setting is how an author ( Cynthia Voigt ) or a character may describe a setting they are currently in or have experienced. “He awoke to a sky the color of thick smoke. All stars faded but one: Venus, the morning star, low on the eastern horizon, large and white…then he turned to go back.” (Voigt 147). The way he describes the setting is if you could actually be there in real life. Description of setting is the second to last way Jeff Greene comes to life. However, it is not that last.

    Read More

  • Importance of setting in Soldier’s Home by Ernest Hemmingway

    598 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story has different elements that make it a story, that make it whole. Setting is one of those elements. The book defines setting as “the context in which the action of the story occurs” (131). After reading “Soldier’s Home” by Ernest Hemmingway, setting played a very important part to this story. A different setting could possibly change the outcome or the mood of the story and here are some reasons why.

    Read More

  • Conflicting Points of View in Two Kinds by Amy Tan

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan is about a mother and daughter who have strong conflicting ideas about what it means to have a sense of self. This may be partly due to the mother growing up in China, which is a very different culture than the American culture where endless opportunities are available to anyone who wants to pursue them. Jing-mei's mother wants her daughter to be the best, a prodigy of sorts, and to have the kind of life, full of hopes and dreams that she did not have. In the beginning of the story Jing-mei liked the idea of becoming a prodigy however, the prodigy in her became impatient. "If you don't hurry up and get me out of here, I'm disappearing for good." It warned. "And then you'll always be nothing" (500). After disappointing her mother several times Jing-mei started to detest the idea of becoming a prodigy. The idea Jing-mei's mother had for her to become a prodigy was too much pressure for a small child and was something that Jing-mei was clearly not ready to be. As a result the pressure that her mother laid upon her only made Jing-mei rebel against her mother and she resisted in giving her best. Jing-mei did this because she only wanted her mother's love and acceptance for who she was not only what she could become. Furthermore, Jing-mei's point of view of being the kind of person that one can be proud of was very different from her mother's point of view.

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Breadwinner

    1630 Words  | 4 Pages

    Setting - Identify the physical (when/where) settings of the book. How do these settings affect the moods or emotions of the characters?

    Read More

More about The Imporance of the Setting in A Pair of Tickets by Amy Tan

Open Document