Daksh Thakur Mr. Rios 1st Period Enriched Honors English I 3/7/2024 Unraveling Wildness: The Cultural Construction of Identity in Gish Jen’s “Who’s Irish?” In Gish Jen's "Who's Irish," wildness is defined as the state of being untamed, unrestrained, and uncontrolled, exemplified through the lack of discipline or restraint. In this multifaceted narrative, the character of Sophie, a mixed child of Irish and Chinese heritage, is portrayed and viewed as wild by her Chinese immigrant grandmother. Sophie's wildness is not inherent to her nature, but rather a product of the American culture and societal norms that shape her identity which is undomesticated, feral, and not ideal for a Chinese girl according to the grandmother. Through an exploration …show more content…
Amy was Sophie’s babysitter, and she served as a representation of American culture. She is also a facet to consider in Sophie’s wildness, as she is seen affirming and supporting Sophie’s actions in the narrative as follows: “This Amy thinks Sophie should love her body. So when Sophie took off her diaper, Amy laughed. When Sophie ran around naked, Amy said she wouldn’t want to wear a diaper either. When Sophie goes shu-shu, in her lap, Amy laughs and says there are no germs in the pee. When Sophie takes off her shoes, Amy says bare feet are the best, even the pediatrician says so. That is why Sophie now walks around in no shoes like a beggar child. Also why Sophie loves to take off her clothes” (164). This quote shows the fact that American culture is encouraging Sophie to do things that they view as progressive, such as her embracing her body and appreciating her individuality- a prevalent value of American society- and her embracing her bodily functions such as walking barefoot and peeing. The exposure to these values causes a lasting impact on Sophie, through which she duplicates these wild actions according to the Grandmother, who views all of these progressive values as wild and …show more content…
When his mommy came, he threw it right at her. Oh, it’s all right, his mommy says” (166). Viewing this interaction instills a belief in Sophie, in which she perceives that she will not receive any consequences for actions that are harmful and wild, such as Sinbad’s. This belief is reinforced when Sophie proceeds to kick Sinbad’s mom when prompted by him on another occasion, with no immediate consequences from the mother but instead receiving punishment from her grandmother, who spanks her. This underscores how the American ethos, with its emphasis on leniency and the absence of harsh punishments like spanking, can foster a sense of impunity in children like Sophie, ultimately leading to their unrestrained and wild behavior. The Grandmother views Sophie and Natalie's family as embodying wild too, due to her belief that deviating from traditional Chinese culture and community, which she believes to be synonymous with wildness. The concept of wildness represents the unpredictability of American culture, which is juxtaposed with the predictability of Chinese
What is in a story if you can’t take something out of it and relate to your everyday life? The book “Typical American” by Gish Jen, gave me something that I never fully, and I probably still don’t, comprehend: foreigners, and their struggles in making a new life in another country. I have been on my share of trips, both domestic and abroad, but was never in a distant land long enough to feel the effects of the unknowing these people felt every day. The manner in which this story was presented has
Malique Fleming Women’s Studies Final Project Typical American In the novel Gish Jen symbolized a Typical American and what the original Chinese erudite people defeated challenges to acknowledge American culture and esteem, and ended up noticeably run of the mill Americans finally. In their world, a thing called destiny was not optimistic, but it was a way toward acknowledging the American dream and American way for seeking after cash, to demonstrating their qualities, and how they also went
Chinese-Americans authors Amy Tan and Gish Jen have both grappled with the idea of mixed identity in America. For them, a generational problem develops over time, and cultural displacement occurs as family lines expand. While this is not the problem in and of itself, indeed, it is natural for current culture to gain foothold over distant culture, it serves as the backdrop for the disorientation that occurs between generations. In their novels, Tan and Jen pinpoint the cause of this unbalance in
Conflicting Cultures in Gish Jen's Mona in the Promised Land Novels that illustrate a confrontation between disparate cultures provide particularly straightforward insights into basic human behavior. Characters confronted with a cultural conflict must explore basic human commonalities to breach the gap between the cultures. In doing so, one diminishes the differences between her culture and the unknown culture, ultimately bringing her closer to her raw humanity. Simultaneously, this sets
In 2012 a short story “The Third Dumpster,” Gish Jen expresses a fictional but all too real situation of a decision that separates two cultures and two generations. A Chinese American family, ever-aging parents, and two grown sons, Goodwin and Morehouse, face a significant decision of accommodating their parents with their living situation. The title has many connotations: it implies that by the time the “third” generation comes; the culture will be tossed away (dumped) and be uprooted forever
In reading stories, it is sometimes hard to understand the message the author is communicating to the reader. In the story "Who Irish" by Jen Gish I did not recognize the structure of the writing was off because of her accent. I think it was because when reading I would correct it in my mind but the third time I took my time to see specify details. It was interesting to see all the messages being said to the readers. This has a connection to generation gap because it showed how communication was
The White Umbrella “The White Umbrella” by Gish Jen is a very reflective realistic fiction story of a chinese american girl’s youth. When the girl was young, her mother went to work without telling anyone. Her mom didn't even tell her father. The narrator and her sister just assumed normal life when their mother started coming home late. The story picks up one day when the two sisters are at their piano lesson. The older sister becomes envious when her piano teacher (Mrs.Crossman) applauds
Gish Jen’s In the American Society is, on the surface, an entertaining look into the workings of a Chinese American family making their way in America. The reader is introduced to the life of a Chinese American restaurant owner and his family through the eyes of his American-born daughter. When we examine the work in depth, however, we discover that Jen is addressing how traditional Chinese values work in American culture. She touches on the difference in gender roles, generation gaps between immigrants
Ethnic Differences Across Generations Gish Jen’s “Who’s Irish?” explores a Chinese grandmother’s thoughts and beliefs about her ethnically integrated family. The grandmother tells the story as though she is looking back on past events and thinking about how they have affected her present life. As her tale begins, she identifies her granddaughter, Sophie, as a wild three-year-old (161). Perhaps the grandmother associates with Sophie’s strong will, because she reveals her own intense nature when she
In the novel, Typical American, by Gish Jen, the life of Ralph Chang's journey in America is cleverly unveiled. Jen focuses the story around Ralph's trials and tribulations as an foreigner living in America. At the beginning of Typical American, Ralph's character is shown about what he thinks about America. It is shown that he does not really respect America's beauty. "... famous mountains lumbered by, famous rivers, plains, canyons, the whole American spectacle, without his looking up once" (7)
used by Eisenstein and Pudovkin in the 1920s for the purpose of invoking specific emotions in the viewers. The movie The Night of the Hunter starring Robert Mitchum and Lillian Gish makes use of this film technique. The use of montage is apparent from the beginning of the movie. The first image we see is Mrs. Cooper (Gish) telling children a story as they are superimposed over the night sky. The next image is a bird’s eye view of children playing hide and seek and then finding the dead body of a
charged with her husband’s murder. It is found that Nick and she had two million dollar life insurance policies. This is used as a motive and Libby is convicted of his murder. As Libby serves her time in prison, she entrusts her friend, Angela, Annabeth Gish, with her son. Over some time, Libby finds out through a phone call to Angela and Matty, Benjamin Weir, that Nick had staged his own death and was still alive. After serving six years in prison, she is released on parole. She violates her parole and
In the silent film Broken Blossoms, the lighting, setting, and color change drastically. D.W. Griffith manipulates the mise-en-scene, altering the lighting, setting, and color change drastically not only connecting scenes but also to creating clear separations. The film breaks Cheng Huan’s first encounter with Lucy Burrows into three different colored segments: yellow, blue, and purple. These tints paired with other elements of mise-en-scene convey a seemingly dichotomous message regarding the
Blossoms. Distinctive to the film, Griffith administers a acting style that is as essential if not more to the film as the storyline is. The film would not be the same without Lillian Gish, which is in direct contrast to the other two films where the actors could be easily interchangeable. Different from today’s films, Gish and Barthelmess acting style were similar to that of stage acting with enormous and purposeful expressions. Specifically, Battling Burrows played by Donald Crisp exercises a large
Exploration of the Typical American Typical American by Gish Jen demonstrates the different struggles that a traditional immigrant family encounters. The book being discussed will be explained by means of historical influences and biographical influences during Jen’s life that affected the novel. This essay will also contain a critical analysis of the book and an analysis of the critical response from others. Yifeng Chang, who later Americanized his name by changing it to Ralph, left behind his father