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A reflective glance on cultural diversity
Culture and identity essay
A reflective glance on cultural diversity
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In the past, we have seen the issue regarding immigration in Canada. What all immigrants seek when they come overseas from another country is to find a new purpose in their lives. They are quick to immediately identify benefits of not just prosperity, family, or happiness, but to change the quality of life for the better. However, it can be tough to adjust to new places, especially for newer generations. The book was written by Wayson Choy was known as “The Jade Peony”, illustrates the struggles the three children have to face on a daily basis to balance traditional Chinese customs while growing accustomed to Vancouver. This plot summarizes the morals, the traditions, and the memories that bridge the connection between Traditional China and …show more content…
As once John F. Kennedy said “Change is the law of life. Those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” The relationship between the Juggler and Poh Poh is a compilation of flashbacks in Poh Poh’s head. The juggler is once somebody that not only loved her dearly, but he was the one to teach the recipe to make wind chimes. The chimes were symbolic in a way to contain her dearest memories. The juggler also gave her the Jade Peony - the important symbol that keeps her connection strong with traditional China. Poh Poh held onto the pendant for decades because she cared so much about the time spent with the friend - in remembrance of the very day her friend that never returned. A mysterious white cat approaches Poh Poh in the alleyway. The cat had similar features with the juggler. She noted that it was extremely pale and had pink eyes, “My friend, the juggler, the magician, was as pale as white jade, and he had pink eyes”. The pinkness in her pendant recognizes what her spirit appears to be, as well as the good fortune of the personal bond between the cat’s eyes and the peony. The white cat is also an emblem for both death and fate, meaning that Poh Poh’s time to leave the planet is near - foreshadowing the embodiment that old cultures will cease to exist in future millenniums of life. The past is but a reminiscent but of your own
In Wayson Choy’s The Jade Peony, a major topic explored is the strict use of gender roles. In the novel, the theme of cultural identity explores how the characters are oppressed by gender roles through cultural tradition. The novel creates a window into the lives of a Chinese-Canadian family, as everyone is trying to find their place in a country that doesn’t accept them and a culture that is never truly theirs, each family member goes through a struggle wherein they have to figure out where they can stand on the side of that dash. Chinese – (or) – Canadian, each side holding its own unique challenges within its “hyphenated reality.” (Philip Gambone (The New York Times)).While they will never be accepted as truly Canadian, their Chinese culture
Judy Fong-Bates’ “The Gold Mountain Coat” discusses the childhood of the narrator who is a Chinese immigrant living in Canada. The narrator, even at a young age, possesses such admirable keen observation as she is able to notice the environment and even the situation of people around her. Living in a small town that is “typical of many small towns in Ontario” with only one Chinese family neighbor, the narrator is the only Chinese child. With the nearing day of arrival of John’s family, the narrator feels uneasy of her new responsibilities.
The united States Declaration of independence states that all men are equal, but aren’t all women as well? Nowadays, the numbers for the population are at an increase for the support in gender equality, with the capture of feminist labels. The seek for equality between men and women, and criticize the privileges that arouse by gender differences. However in Old China, males control almost everything due to a patriarchal society. At that time, not only men, but also women are influenced by male chauvinism. In the Jade Peony, written by Wayson Choy, female characters are affected by an unequal perspective despite their age group.
These struggles of assimilation are revealed in Choy’s writing, who draws on his own experiences to provide vivid imagery and deep insight into the emotions felt by immigrants. In her analysis of Wayson Choy’s works, literary critic Deborah Madsen writes, “growing up in Vancouver’s Chinatown was instrumental in shaping Choy’s [...] writing” (101). Madsen explains that “the immigrant condition of a failure to belong, both in the nation of ethnic origin and also to the nation of residence” (101) is a recurring topic in Choy’s novels as a result of his own experiences. Madse...
The Chinese mothers, so concentrated on the cultures of their own, don't want to realize what is going on around them. They don't want to accept the fact that their daughters are growing up in a culture so different from their own. Lindo Jong, says to her daughter, Waverly- "I once sacrificed my life to keep my parents' promise. This means nothing to you because to you, promises mean nothing. A daughter can promise to come to dinner, but if she has a headache, a traffic jam, if she wants to watch a favorite movie on T.V., she no longer has a promise."(Tan 42) Ying Ying St.Clair remarks- "...because I remained quiet for so long, now my daughter does not hear me. She sits by her fancy swimming pool and hears only her Sony Walkman, her cordless phone, her big, important husband asking her why they have charcoal and no lighter fluid."(Tan 64)
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.
The novel “The Jade Peony” is narrated by three different characters throughout the story as it progresses. In part one of the book, it is narrated by a character named “Jook Liang” but usually just called Liang while in conversation. The reader is told the setting and time of the plot, which is in Vancouver, BC and in the time of the Great Depression (In the 1930s). We also learn the names of all the members in Liang’s family. An important figure in Liang’s portion of the story is a man named Wong-Suk. Wong-Suk and Liang become great friends, he occasionally tells her tales from the past. While Poh-Poh was helping Liang tie a ribbon for her tap dance shoes, we learn about her childhood. Poh-Poh was considered disfigured and her mom sold her to a family, where she
Madeleine Thien’s “Simple Recipes” is a story of an immigrant family and their struggles to assimilate to a new culture. The story follows a father and daughter who prepare Malaysian food, with Malaysian customs in their Canadian home. While the father and daughter work at home, the mother and son do otherwise outside the home, assimilating themselves into Canadian culture. The story culminates in a violent beating to the son by his father with a bamboo stick, an Asian tool. The violent episode served as an attempt by the father to beat the culture back into him: “The bamboo drops silently. It rips the skin on my brothers back” (333) Violence plays a key role in the family dynamic and effects each and every character presented in the story
We have all been in a situation where we have immigrated to a new country for different reasons regarding, better future, or education. In the book Jade of Peony, Wayson Choy describes a struggle of a Chinese family as they settle in Canada, with their new generation of kids born here, the family struggles to keep their children tied to their Chinese customs and traditions as they fit in this new country. The Chinese culture needs to be more open minded as it limits the future generation’s potential. Chinese culture limitations are seen through the relationship expectations, education, gender roles and jobs.
The Jade Peony, written by Wayson Choy, is a beautiful short story about the relationship between a young boy and his grandmother. The story deals with many complicated social and emotional issues including change, death, and acceptance. As we explore the repeating conflicts in the story we begin to understand how difficult it is to assimilate cultural beliefs and traditions into a new life.
The family's personal encounters with the destructive nature of the traditional family have forced them to think in modern ways so they will not follow the same destructive path that they've seen so many before them get lost on. In this new age struggle for happiness within the Kao family a cultural barrier is constructed between the modern youth and the traditional adults with Chueh-hsin teeter tottering on the edge, lost between them both. While the traditional family seems to be cracking and falling apart much like an iceberg in warm ocean waters, the bond between Chueh-min, Chueh-hui, Chin and their friends becomes as strong as the ocean itself.
Kai told me that the queen gave him an antidote, but only enough for one normal sized male. Dr. Erland gave me a little when he heard Peony was in her fourth stage of the plague, remembering his promise when I first arrived. His promise was that peony would be the second, behind the emperor, to get the antidote when they found one. When I got to quarantine and found her, she wouldn’t drink it. Her life drained from her eyes and she died in my arms. The androids tried taking Peony’s ID chip, but I managed to save it. That caused a ruckus that set off alarms and warning systems. While making my escape from the quarantine, I spotted Sunto, the baker’s son. I rushed over to him and made him drink the antidote. I then sprinted out of there as fast as I could.
Unlike Westerners, New Year is extremely important in Asian countries. It is a chance to reunite with one’s family after a period of time. Thus, many people, no matter what they do, will try to make time to come back home on this special event. In China, with the overwhelming population, more than 130 million migrant workers try to get back to their home villages. This is the result of the half industrialization process, where the country is caught between its rural agriculture past and rapid economic development present. “Last train home,” a movie directed by Lixin Fan, sheds a light on the difference between the rural and urban areas. At the same time, the movie secretly makes the viewers wonder what they should do if they are in the character’s shoe. The first portion of this essay will try to cover the difference between the rural and urban areas, ranging from physical landscape to lifestyles. Meanwhile, the second half of this essay will express my viewpoint, what I would do, if I am the parents in the movie.
“Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one, a story to grow up on. She tested our strengths to establish realities”(5). In the book “The Woman Warrior,” Maxine Kingston is most interested in finding out about Chinese culture and history and relating them to her emerging American sense of self. One of the main ways she does so is listening to her mother’s talk-stories about the family’s Chinese past and applying them to her life.
Lindo Jong provides the reader with a summary of her difficulty in passing along the Chinese culture to her daughter: “I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things do not mix? I taught her how American circumstances work. If you are born poor here, it's no lasting shame . . . You do not have to sit like a Buddha under a tree letting pigeons drop their dirty business on your head . . . In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you. . . . but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character . . . How to know your own worth and polish it, never flashing it around like a cheap ring. Why Chinese thinking is best”(Tan 289).