Movement is only as good as the stillness you can bring to it to put it into perspective. Leslie T. Chang’s travel narrative Factory Girls not only: exonifies the discussion, but is also a metaphor for the multidimensional concept of home. Chang considers many perspectives but chooses to only focus on a select few- all of which bring contrasting and often immiscible arguments only to initiate an vision inward of Chang’s own development and ultimately an emulsified concept her readers can resonate with. Chang’s writing speaks a lot of the contrast between the village immigrating girls leave from and the city they arrive in. She defines them as two separate an immensely different places before we can even learn the names of the girls who …show more content…
At one point in the narrative, a girl is quoted as having had 6 hours of sleep” and only wishing she could use less [citation needed]” that she should fill her days not only with the work that so often went into overtime but that every waking moment should be spent improving herself, moving forward- not spent in retrospect or thinking in hindsight. Their home is constantly improving, each piece being assembled as they move forward. Furthermore, newer migrants have looser ties to their villages [105] when Qianqian’s story is told within the confines of the super-factory Yue Yuen people seemingly lived and died within the walls, with it’s various amenities and services such as kindergarten [99], Yue Yuen was a good place to work but it took all [the girls] strength to break free. [107]. Those who worked in the super-factory either redefined their sense of home or grew accustomed to never seeing it again. Department of English and Humanities Asst. Professor G Serwani Venkata Swamy writes that home is in a sense, “a place of no return” in the sense of a geographical location but also a “livid experience of locality” that can be lived, defined and relived anywhere. The segregation in Yue Yuen to specific
There is a linguistic gap between the mothers, who are the first generation of Chinese immigrants, and their American-born daughters. The mothers speak only fragments of English and their daughters speak little or no Chinese at all. So the communication often becomes a matter of translations and leads to misunderstandings. The first misunderstanding with translation is shown when Jing-mei tries to explain the significance of the club’s name,
Four Chinese mothers have migrated to America. Each hope for their daughter’s success and pray that they will not experience the hardships faced in China. One mother, Suyuan, imparts her knowledge on her daughter through stories. The American culture influences her daughter, Jing Mei, to such a degree that it is hard for Jing Mei to understand her mother's culture and life lessons. Yet it is not until Jing Mei realizes that the key to understanding who her
Including her temporary environments, the transportation that June May uses throughout the story mirrors her release of resistance as she is encouraged to learn more about her mother and homeland. The transportation usage in the story symbolizes June May changing throughout the course of her journey. Transportation indicates movement and includes an origination and a destination. In the beginning of “A Pair of Tickets,” June May travels by train, and expresses how different she feels. Readers observe June May’s internal transformation as she enters her destination in Guangzhou, China. June May states that she “can feel the skin on [her] forehead tingling, [her] blood rushing through a new course, [her] bones aching with a familiar old pain. And [thinks], [her] mother was right. [She is] becoming
Furthermore, there was a strong lack of female empowerment resulting as there was a general strong dichotomy in tasks performed by each gender. However, the women’s new lives offered them a sense of liberation by providing a larger space of operation, in that they could explore additional activities previously limited or unexplored to them, such as teaching and gardening. Regardless, these observations paint a general brush of the women traveling and there always exist individuals, such as Sessions, who buck this trend.
The American society dominates over their Chinese descent. They want to accommodate to America, however, being that their mothers so strongly hold onto their descent, the daughters feel as if they too were born and raised in China. Being the children of immigrants makes them feel as if they are mediocre to everyone else, and “...at times they may wonder, “Can one really assimilate?” (Mohanram 74). As they grow up, they immerse themselves into this new society, yet while still trying to “hide” their Chinese background. When they were children, the girls would try to physically change themselves to appear more American. Lena would walk around her home and open her eyes as wide as she could, if efforts to make them seem more European. Jing-mei denied having any internal Chinese aspects, insisting her Chinese identity was only limited to her external features. Waverly would feel overjoyed if her mother told her she did not look Chinese. They realized that their image was what was ultimately holding them back from feeling accustom to San Franciscan lifestyles: “Furthermore, the daughters experience themselves socially as a recognizable ethnic minority and want to eradicate the sense of "difference" they feel among their peers” (Hamilton 30). By changing their physical presence, the daughters believed it could change who they are as a person. The daughters may have been taking aback by the realities of society, yet they still longed for the opportunities and experiences America
“It was not easy to live in Shanghai” (Anyi 137). This line, echoed throughout Wang Anyi 's short piece “The Destination” is the glowing heartbeat of the story. A refrain filled with both longing and sadness, it hints at the many struggles faced by thousands upon thousands trying to get by in the city of Shanghai. One of these lost souls, the protagonist, Chen Xin, was one of the many youths taken from his family and sent to live the in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. Ten years after the fact, Chen Xin views the repercussions of the Cultural Revolution internally and externally as he processes the changes that both he, and his hometown have over-gone in the past ten years. Devastatingly, he comes to the conclusion that there is no going back to the time of his childhood, and his fond memories of Shanghai exist solely in memory. This is in large part is due to the changes brought on by the Cultural Revolution. These effects of the Cultural Revolution are a central theme to the story; with repercussions seen on a cultural level, as well as a personal one.
Ha Jin’s “The Woman from New York”, showcases the grand impacts of adjusting to cultural differences. This story encompasses both the emotional feat and the physical feat in distance that many go through in their lives. It specifically reveals the challenges that arise in adapting to new life back at home when in the past, a person lived elsewhere and much differently. In following the life of Chen Jenli in this story, readers can explore her societal and cultural struggles or they can place themselves in her shoes. In using Chen Jenli as a vessel, “The Woman from New York” addresses various and most certainly relatable difficulties that people like immigrants or expatriates face. However, these individuals can rely on the psychological process of mindfulness to help in adjustment and difficulties.
While physical isolation allows customs and practices that are far more violent and brutal in “Blind Mountain,” in “The Isle of Wang’an,” isolation seems to romanticize and ameliorate every
Wong feels that she needs to fit into the dominant culture from an early age. The reason for this is because society stresses the dominate culture, promotes the dominate culture and pressures immigrant children to fit in. Wong uses herself as an example of the tremendous pressure children of immigrants are under to fit in, which is a burden placed on them by society. The pressure is so great that many are embarrassed by their roots and their heritage. Wong experiences this burden, and this is what drives her to want to become the stereotypical All-American girl. She learns to hate her culture so much that she does not want anything to do with it and she wants a divorce from her ethnic roots, “Wong’s adolescent embarrassment of her ethnic
In October 1929, at the close of the Feminist Movement, Virginia Woolf published her famous writing, A Room of One’s Own. This feministic extended essay, based on a series of lectures Woolf presented at Newnham College and Girton College, channels Woolf’s thoughts and insights about women and fiction through the character of Mary Benton, who serves as the narrator. Through A Room of One’s Own, Woolf addresses three major points: having money and a room of one’s own (creative freedom), gender roles, and the search for truth. These three themes exist in other short stories such as “The Office” by Alice Munro and “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen, where they reveal themselves in varying degrees.
The word ‘home’ is something that is often misunderstood. Home makes up your identity and not many people know that. Therefore you ask me, ‘what is home?’ Home is not just in your house. Home is a place that surrounds you. It’s you environment and cause for emotions. Your home is where you are with the people that surround you (peers, family, and strangers), as well as cars, houses, stores, and/or toys.
In the beginning of the excerpt our narrator separates himself and chinese society from the hysterical villager hillbillies
In Chapters Four and Five of A Room of One 's Own,, the focus on Women & Fiction shifts to a consideration of women writers, both actual writers and ultimately one of the author 's own creation.
I agree with the statement “the history of a family begins when a person leaves home” . when Chang left rural tradition behind to make a new life for themselves in the city. The old rules no longer apply, traditional education and family values have little or relevance, and new arrivals in the city have to learn fast and adapt quickly in order to survive and prosper in this strange and often hostile new environment. I saw so many changes for people migration to city .
130 million Chinese workers go back home only once a year during Chinese new years; it’s the world’s largest human migration. The film The Last Train Home by Lixin Fan portrays the lives of a couple of Chinese garment workers who work 2100 km away from their family. This couple only sees their children once a year and they spend a large sum of their paycheck to get the train tickets back home.