The connection to the past one can have can be physical, mental, or perhaps something beyond that. Through stories, through ghosts, through one’s own vicarious experiences. In The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan, that connection to the past is highly spiritual and supernatural through its main characters and what they derive of messages and stories they tell, or are telling. The characters Kwan and Olivia relate to society, themselves, and each other through this connected past and add meaning through these same connections. Kwan is a our main show-stopper. She is told to have 'yin eyes', something in Chinese culture that is the ability to see the dead in the form of ghosts and spectrals. Not only does Kwan use these yin eyes to relate stories and messages of the dead to her sister Olivia, but Kwan also uses these to look into her own previous life as an …show more content…
Being the main character, Olivia also contributes by presenting this story in the first place and telling not only hers but Kwan's tragic tales of woe. Together, however, Olivia and Kwan contribute to the meaning of the story by fulfilling it with a sibling relationship. By putting in this constant, though if sometimes doubtful relationship, Tan expresses Kwan's connection to ghosts and the past with her yin eyes as an element to a sibling and sister relationship, not an obstacle, and expresses Olivia's doubt as something that can at least bring this all down to earth every now and then. In The Hundred Secret Senses, the characters' connection to the past not only affects their relationships, but also to a point, themselves. Though this connection is prevalent, it is not altogether invasive, and leaves Kwan and Olivia to develop their own relationships with themselves, society, and most certainly with each
However, instead of allowing the corruption and grief of losing a significant figure in her life completely consume her, Leah embraces a new culture and turns to another male figure, her husband Anatole, for guidance. With new surrounding influences, Leah encounters various forms of separation, whether it be from her birthplace, father, or husband, and accepts all the drawbacks and loses that come along with the isolation. At the same time, Leah also challenges herself to overcome the loss and succumb to the loneliness that could potentially bring her closer to a new aspect of life never explored before. Through it all, Leah turns her experiences with exile into bittersweet memories sprinkled across the time span of her life for each rift allowed her to obtain a sense of self identity during periods of time free of human contact or, in Leah’s case,
I enjoy reading Fae Myenne Ng’s Bone. I find her novel easy to read and understand. Although she included some phrases the Chinese use, I find no difficulty in understanding them, as I’m Chinese myself. The novel Bone is written in a circular narrative form, in which the story doesn’t follow the linear format where the suspense slowly builds up and finally reaches a climax stage. Rather the story’s time sequence is thrown back and forth. I find this format of writing brings greater suspense and mystery to the reader. When I read the book, my mind was always wondering what reasons or causes made Ona commit suicide, and this made me want to continue reading the book to know the outcome. The happenings in the story do portray reality of the lives of Chinese immigrants in America, their hardship and difficulty in adapting American lifestyle and culture. For the younger generations, adapting the American culture and lifestyle is much easier than for the older generations. This is shown in the book and it also happens in reality, which is another reason why I like this book. This is a fiction novel, but the story told is like a non-fiction book; giving readers a sense of realism. As a Chinese reading Bone, I understand the narrator’s feelings and predicaments. Although she is an Asian, her thinking lies more on the American side. Leila wants to move out to stay with Mason but yet she fears leaving her mother alone and also of what her mother might say in r...
Throughout the story, it has been Sister who has tried to persuade the reader to take her side in the debacle with her family. The truth is that it was Sister who caused the entire dispute that is going on with her obsession to compete with her sister that goes back to her childhood where she feels that Stella-Rondo is spoiled and continues to be spoiled up to the end following Sister’s desperate need for attention.
June-May receives a letter from her twin sisters shortly after her mother’s death. However, her sisters do not know their mother is dead and have been searching for her for years. June-May takes the letter to Auntie Lindo who writes back pretending to be their mother and says that they are coming to visit. June-May protests saying “They’ll think I’m responsible, that she died because I didn’t appreciate her,” (Tan 149). She believes that her sisters will hate her when she shows up without their mother and has to announce her death. As a result, Auntie Lindo writes back announcing the passing of the mother and announces that instead their sister, June-May, will be coming. It is during this trip that June-May fulfills her mother’s dream, “carrying with me her dreams of coming home. I am going to China,” (Tan 147). By doing this she gains another part of her mother. However, it is when June-May reunites with her sisters that she fully becomes one wi...
Therefore, the younger generations obtain some sense of sympathy toward their ancestors and dreams that were to be fulfilled in The United States. American-born children, ostensibly, are liberated from their parents‟ past. Still, they are obsessed dramatically about their ancestral land. They are haunted by past, and the mystery associated with it; a mysterious past that existed only in the memories of their parents. Intelligently, Tan has used this strategy to narrate her stories. All of Tan‟s novels have parallel narratives, one related to the past which is retold by mothers, and in one case a step sister who has come back from China; and the other is associated with the present stories of daughters about the cultural conflicts and alienation, they feel regarding the ancestral heritage of their home which has been transmitted to them by means of past memories. The point is that storytelling plays an essential position in creation of a new, more Chinese identity, in contrast to the previous American one, McDaniels (2004) states that, Basically, both versions of the stories, mother‟s and daughter‟s are necessary for revealing the complete story, including the painful secrets, whether the pain is alleviated or just changes its context. Both mothers and daughters need to tell their versions and listen to the others‟ versions in order to have all the information necessary to arrange their
The novel Away is a clear example of how people are connected to the past. It characterizes three generations of a family of women. These women are connected through their experiences. They are all women of extremes; they are passionate about everything they do. They have the characteristic of going away. They follow their hearts into a land dominated by their imaginations. Nature is a part of each of the women. They follow the constant change in landscape throughout the novel, from Ireland, to the Atlantic Ocean voyage, to Upper Canada, and finally to Loughbreeze beach. Each woman in the novel is connected to the water; it draws them in and will hold them there forever. The women have relationships with men that they are drawn too because of the man's individuality. Away portrays three women from different generations and shows how similar they are. The women are strong and passionate about their causes; they are bound together through generations of going away. They leave their surrounding environments in an inner search for peace, compassion, beauty and love. Each woman connects to the other through her uncontrollable passions. The women in the novel are connected throughout each generation by their experiences of the past and present.
The past is something that, without clinical illness, is impossible to forget. No matter how horrific or emotionally damaging, it cannot be changed. What we chose to do with this memory of the past will shape our future. This lesson is one of the most important themes in Toni Morison's novel, Beloved.
...look like our mother. Her same eyes, her same mouth, open in surprise to see, at last, her long-cherished wish" (Tan 332). Each mother achieved her desire of implanting her Chinese spirit and wish into each American daughter.
As we progress though the novel, we a introduced to a variety of characters in the story like Rachel Turner
Every story has characters and their roles reveal much about the meaning and values of the story; additionally, the role that they play can serve as a representation of different ...
Each of these cultural competences has its own impacting influence and effect over the continuum of the lives of the characters that comprised the story. Towards the progress of the story, the impact of cultural values, beliefs and traditional norms that guided the Hmong people set up their own unique traditions and practices. This influenced the overall development of their cognitive skills and emotional capacities. Furthermore, these cultural competences defined their lives, how they lived in the community and how they organized their roles and their functions towards the society. These were various cultural domains that overall defined their personality and how they should live their lives and unique individuals. However, it was these same cultural and religious considerations that separated them the "normal sense" of development, function and expression of existence (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2009, p. 1). These are the cultural and religious influences that disabled them to understand the narrative display and critical applications of modern knowledge and science. Because of their own set of cultural display and traditions, the Hmong people could not care less of the applications and understanding of modern practices and expressions. Likewise, after Lia was thought of being possessed by an evil spirit, the community thought of her as a poor girl disturbed by the lost souls.
Although the film has an ensemble cast, it is Olive that is really the protagonist since it’s her desire to participate in the beauty contest which provides
Lisa as a young teen begins to manage her special gift to connect with spirits by progressing from the motivation her grandmother gave her to grasp a stronger understanding of what she spiritually obtains. Lisa’s grandmother encourages her to learn about the spirit world and the consequences that follow, to make sure her mistakes don’t mislead her, “Never trust the spirit world too much. They think much differently from the living.”(Robinson, 153). Ma ma oo (Lisa’s grandmother) ensures that Lisa is provided with the knowledge of the supernatural world at her current age so she will be prepared for the future and along with that she wants her to being to learn about herself through these teachings and develop from them. Considering that the bond between Lisamarie and her grandmother is already well established it makes the understanding and communication of the spirit world more interesting for her. Overtime Lisa becomes curious about her gift of connecting with spirits, “What do spirits look like?”...
In conclusion, Amy Tan uses many literary elements such as characterization, symbolism, and conflict to display the themes of independence and the battle within Waverly between her Chinese heritage and becoming Americanized. The characterization shows just how much young Waverly changes from beginning to end, and how she grows further and further from her family. The struggle between being an American and Chinese is portrayed with the symbolic properties of the good luck charm from her mother, the wind she hears while playing chess, and the game itself. By using the element of conflict, Tan shows the extent of the conflicts between the two cultures and ways of life, and also between Waverly and her mother.
...ading experience. As a reader we want to follow Hazel Grace further in her life after the novel ends.