The two short stories, “The Princess of Nebraska” and “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers” by Yiyun Li, depict the lives of two people under Chinese communist control, trapped by the social restraints of their society in search of individual salvation. In “Princess of Nebraska”, a young girl (Sasha) struggles to find internal purpose and satisfaction within her life, feeling that the restraints of communist control keep her from achieving the sense of self she desires. She believes the United States is the solution to gaining her individual freedom and fantasizes the recreation of her identity and life. Similarly, “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers” revolves around the same theme of social freedom vs the discovery of the individual self. Mr.Shi, …show more content…
Many immigrating to the United States develop ideas of themselves and their own identity in order to fit the form of America they have been coaxed into believing. In “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers”, Mr.Shi displays these expectations and false prophecies of character when he naively concludes, “America is worth taking a look at; more than that, America makes him a new person, a rocket scientist, a good conversationalist, a loving father, a happy man”(189). Mr.Shi not only perceives America as a place of pure prosperity and freedom, but also anticipates a society where he can recreate himself. Arguably, these limited ideas of America can foster one 's desire to improve as an individual, however this often results in a further loss of identity because they are unwilling to accept their true self. He longs to exist within the form of American society he fantasizes because he envisions himself as a more developed and well rounded person that he feels communist China has kept him from …show more content…
In “Princess of Nebraska” the author exemplifies the disenchantment of America when she writes, “If only her baby were a visa that would admit her into this prosperity, Sasha thought, saddened by the memories of Inner Mongolia and Nebraska, the night skies of both places black with lonely stars”(79). Although America is unique in certain rights and freedoms, these freedoms just as anything else have limitations. Sasha feels unchanged by her new environment, still feeling unable to grow her sense of self or escape the problems she attempted to abandon in her old world. The prosperity of America does not keep Sasha from the loneliness and troubles that consume her life, thus making the “night skies” of America and China comparable. In “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers”, Mr. Shi has similar struggles coping with the anticlimactic realities of true America and his inability to provoke change within his relationship with his daughter. The narrator highlights the lack of communication and distance that still exists between them when stating, “He feels disappointed in his daughter, someone he shares a language with but with whom he can no longer share a dear moment”(194). Although Mr.Shi feels America should serve him the liberties to be a better
The obstacles Ichiro faced in searching for his lost identity reveal a discrepancy of American values, such as freedom and equality, which are deeply rooted in a segregated society. Through the negativity of many of the Japanese-American veterans and the differences among Ichiro’s entire family, he has literally gone from having a duel-heritage to no identity at all. Since he has no desire to be Japanese and feels unworthy to be American, he sees himself as nothing. His hatred of himself not only hinders the possibilities before him, but it also paints a whole new picture of America. Instead of a nation that is united and fights for freedom and equality, America is divided by racism and strips away the freedom of those they find inferior.
There might be an emotional response at the tragedy of thousands of people plucked from their homes to live in a foreign place, but it is far more effective to show these struggles through the eyes of one person, rather than from an economic or or national viewpoint. Anyi does exactly this in “The Destination”. Anyi never forgets the individual hardships of each character, she demonstrates what “It was not easy to live in Shanghai” (Anyi 137) means to each person. Characterizing their hardships with compassion and understanding that, young or old, changes in China had an effect on all, and all have the right to acknowledge
In the novel “Red Scarf Girl” by Ji Li Jiang, the theory of Marxism is at play as Ji Li strives to help the reader understand the impact that the Cultural Revolution in China had on her family and on her country. By using the struggle between the social classes, Ji Li helps the reader gain a greater understanding of the negative impact that a corrupt government can have and often times does have on the lives of its people. As the reader moves throughout the novel, it makes sense why, by the end of the book, Ji Li Jiang would call China her country but America her home, for she came to understand just how much she appreciates freedom.
Tsai, Shan-Shan Henry. The Chinese Experience in America. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1986.
Both novel and short story collection reflect the fear of a past being unexplored and left behind. They express deep concern about a lost generation of Chinese-Americans and look desperately for the ignored, shut out past as a result.
Immigrants arriving in America for their first time are initially devastated at their new lives and realize their “golden lives” were simply fantasies and dreams of an ideal life in America. Immigrants from foreign countries, including those mentioned in Uchida’s Picture Bride, faced countless problems and hardships, including a sense of disillusionment and disappointment. Furthermore, immigrants and picture brides faced racial discrimination not only from white men, but the United States government, as well. Immigrants were plagued with economic hardships lived in deplorable living conditions. Though nearly every immigrant and picture bride who came to America fantasized about an ideal life, they were faced with countless hardships and challenges before becoming accepted American citizens.
“My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. You could open a restaurant. Your could work for the government and get good retirement. You could buy a house with almost no money down. You could become rich. You could become instantly famous.” These are some of the dreams that Jing-Mei’s mother in Amy Tan’s Two Kinds has of America. She is not alone. Millions of people come to America to make these dreams come true, like the Indian’s Tribe in Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. They all come with their parents to America in hope of finding a better living to get away from the politics in their countries. Their parents or people putting enormous pressure on them to succeed, in the end it proves to be too much for them and the live mediocre lives.
This pattern continues today and is prevalent in more modern American writings as well. John Okada’s No-No Boy and Jack Kerouac’s “The Vanishing American Hobo,” two seemingly very different portraits of America, published within three years of each other in 1957 and 1960 respectively, both contain a thread of a confusion of self-identity as it relates to a larger American identity. These two works not only view the relationship between self-identity and country, but also delve into what happens when a country does not accept the identity that an individual has chosen for himself or herself. In No-No Boy, Ichiro and many other Japanese-American characters in the novel must create new American identities for themselves in the aftermath of Japan’s defeat in World War II. In...
...become Americanized in a different way. For example, Mrs. Spring Fragrance becomes Americanized through helping Laura and Kai Tzu form a relationship despite Laura’s betrothal to the schoolmaster’s son. The Chin Yuens become Americanized by finally allowing their daughter to marry her true love Kai Tzu. The Chin Yuens are now not only American in appearance, but they are also American through traditions. Mr. Spring Fragrance, however, had a much more difficult time becoming Americanized throughout the story. He had a difficult time accepting that the people around him, including his wife were changing and becoming Americanized. Mr. Spring Fragrance finally came to terms with the fact that though Laura and Kai Tzu achieved a happy marriage through American traditions of marriage, he and Mrs. Spring Fragrance are equally as happy in their through Chinese traditions.
Sui Sin Far portrays the effects of "Americanization" on the Chinese who arrived in America during the early 1900's, in her story of "Mrs. Spring Fragrance". She describes the processes that the Chinese characters in the story undergo as they slowly begin to accept the American culture as their own. She shows how they become "Americanized", yet shows how they are still rooted in the Chinese tradition. The piece is presented in a lighthearted tone yet deals with issues of national and cultural identity.
The Chinese people experienced rapid changes, in government and their own culture in the 20th century. In the book, Wild Swans, by Jung Chang, she depicts the experiences of not only oppression and suffering, but the development of the communist revolution, under Mao. Also, to show how the Chinese people, women in particular, fought against impossible odds by interweaving historical and personal stories from the twentieth century China.
When Ralph and Helen both tried to stay within their Chinese culture, they did not want to steer towards the typical American values. Ralph studies his countless books during his travels to America trying to avoid being sucked into the beautiful scenery that surrounded. By keeping his Chinese value of studying, he was able to avoid being attached to America. Ralph avoided indulging into the American culture by trying to stick strictly to his Chinese values. He avoids America and only tries to obtain knowledge that is absolutely necessary to live....
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.
As each new era of foreigners migrate to America, they face the obstacle of conforming to mainstream America. As “Hester Street” and “Eat a Bowl of Tea” portrayed, immigrants come to this land of opportunities with the hopes and dreams of a better life for themselves or their families. In “Hester Street”, Jake, a Russian Jewish immigrant who lived in New York's Lower East Side for five years, leaving his wife behind, and taking up with a new woman and earning enough money to support his dance hall ways. On the other hand, in “Eat a bowel of tea”, Wah Gay is a traditional Chinese immigrant who owns a club in Chinatown, and sends all his money to his wife back in China, who he has not seen in 20 years because of the inequitable immigration laws that had prevented Chinamen bringing their women into the country.
To truly understand multicultural literature, one must first try to understand the cultural background of the author. In the case of this piece, we are examining the Chinese culture and Jen’s experiences which shaped her writing. Gish Jen is a second-generation American. Her parents immigrated separately in the 1940’s. Her mother came to America to go to graduate school and her father came as part of the war efforts during World War II. With the rise of Communism in China, both were forced to remain here and ended up building a life together and raising their 5 children as Americans. Because they came in the second of three “waves” of Chinese Immigration, their reasons for coming and the process of assimilating into the American way of life was very different than other Chinese immigrants.