Ha Jin Children As Enemies Summary

June May lived her life for thirty-six years without really exploring her family history and heritage. She never took and interest in who she was or where she came from until her mother passed away later in her life. Her mother was very passionate about embracing their Chinese culture, but June May could not comprehend why it was so important, sometimes even embarrassed by it. June May spent her life surrounded by people who did not share her culture and customs. Because of this, she never questioned why her culture was insignificant most of her life. It is ultimately uniting with her family, connected through blood and history, provokes June May’s attitude towards her heritage. At age thirty-six, June May tells the reader, “My mother is dead and I am on a train, carrying with me her

While social status is becoming more distinct, family relationships are diminishing. It is common while walking through the mall to hear a young girl sassing her mother, or a pair of siblings unpleasantly bickering with one another. Around 10,000 years ago this extreme, malicious behavior was rare because early civilizations were kinship based, meaning that ties of blood and marriage bound groups together. This foundation emphasized the concept of family, involving respect between siblings of the opposite sex, children and parents, and between children-in-law and their parents-in-law. With the advent of industrialization came big cities, causing families to break apart as members moved around for jobs. There remains a kinship among immediate family, but not extended family like in ancient times. Will Durant believes that family is the nucleus of civilization, an idea that our society must readopt from earlier peoples.

In “Who’s Irish”, Gish Jen demonstrates a family that has Chinese root and American culture at the same time. The main character is a fierce grandmother who lives in with her daughter’s family, and then ironically forced to move out because of her improper behavior during she raises her granddaughter. The author uses some unpleasant language and contents to describe the situation, which are effectively demonstrate how difficult and how struggle for people who lives in the gap between two different cultures. I can’t say who is right or who is wrong, but feel sorry for the grandmother.

Amy Chua suggests that it is important for the children to acknowledge their parents and respects them. Chua expands on this positions when she states “Despite [the Chinese] parents’ brutal demands, verbal abuse, and disregard for their children’s desires, Chinese kids end up adoring and respecting their parents and wanting to care for them in their old age” (Chua 211). This shows that even though it seems like Chinese parents and their children are always bickering and arguing about things, it is only out of love and respect. Although the relationship between daughter and child in this book seems bleak, it is clear that Amy loves her kids very much and would never imagine losing them. The love conveyed between Amy and Lulu is evident because after they fight, they sit down and laugh together. Amy Chua considers herself a typical Chinese mother who aspires that someday her children will grow and take care of her and her husband.

In the story “Two Kinds”, author Amy Tan, who is a Chinese-American, describes the conflicts in the relationship of a mother and daughter living in California. The protagonist in this story Jing-mei Woo’s mother is born and raised in China, and immigrates to the United States to escape from the Chinese Civil War. For many years she maintained complete Chinese traditional values, and has been abided by it deliberately. This kind of traditional Chinese culture has also affected her daughter profoundly. However, Jing-mei is born and raised in the United States. Despite she has a Chinese mother; she is unfamiliar and uncomfortable with Chinese

The character of Jin Wang in American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yan changes throughout the story according to the different conflicts he encounters. Jin Wang’s troubles first start when transferring to a new school in a new town, where he is the only ethnic minority in his class. Being outcasted by his classmates he begins his journey in dealing with his own differences. Through internal and external conflict, Jin Wang realizes his true self.

Every individual has traditions passed down from their ancestors. This is important because it influences how families share their historical background to preserve certain values to teach succeeding generation. N. Scott Momaday has Native American roots inspiring him to write about his indigenous history and Maxine Hong Kingston, a first-generation Chinese American who was inspired by the struggles of her emigrant family. Kingston and Momaday manipulate language by using, metaphors, similes, and a unique style of writing to reflect on oral traditions. The purpose of Kingston’s passage is to reflect upon her ancestor’s mistake to establish her values as an American

ntroduction: Family is an integral part of many American’s lives it shapes how we grew up, how we interconnect with society, and how we choose to live our lives. “The American Family” by Stephanie Coontz is an essay comparing the way of the family from several points in time to show what changes have come about for better or worse. Her points may be biased and in order to seek confirmation of her points, the memories of individuals who have lived through the longer span of time will provide incite as to whether others agree with her. I have conducted such an interview with my grandparents Linda Jolliffe, being 70, and Earl Jolliffe, being 73. By reading Coontz’s essay aloud I was able to record and analyze their thoughts and opinions from their perspective, and compare theirs with mine while taking a look into why bias has such an effect when writing.

Most families share similar issue. Regardless of race, wealth, or even religion, all families, at some point, hardships or even joys to share. In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” a family is force to face issues caused by poverty, misunderstandings, and separations. Momma, Maggie, and Dee all seems to appreciate their heritage, but the problem is that they do not view the same way. This lack of understanding is universal. In “Everyday Use” the family shares similarities and differences with my family concerning the disrespect, sibling relationships, and hard working parents.

In today’s society, family is often attempted to be organized within a social structure. Within this structure family typically is consisted of mom, dad, daughter, and son. However, many families do not fit into this configuration. These families may include same sex couples, separated or divorced families, extended families, or even blended families. Even though these families may be happy and healthy, to many they are not considered real families. Going along with the topic of imperfect families, both Barbara Kingsolver and Richard Rodriguez try to break down the traditional family structure through their writing. While Kingsolver’s “Stone Soup” and Rodriguez’s “Family Values” explore the ideas of different family structures and traditional American values, “Stone Soup” breaks down what an actual family is like while “Family Values” expresses the value of family in different cultures.

In this day and age, if you were abused as a child by your family members it is more socially acceptable to leave your family entirely behind as soon as you turn eighteen, or even before that point. Back in China during and before the time of the Chinese Revolution, this was not the case. In The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, Buck demonstrates the bind of filial piety through the depiction of Wang Lung and his uncle. Since the time of the Chinese Revolution, the dynamics of a family have changed in a positive way because people are beginning to not be bonded to their family on the basis of filial piety.

Liang the family’s only daughter says, “because of her age, the wiry ancient lady was the one person Father could never permit for any of us to defy” (Choy 147). The father of the family never, let his kids with any opportunity to disobey the olden ways the grandma had set with her rules and regulations. He did not stop them from trying to be modern but also wanted them to be aware of their background and their cultural values. Since, in the Chinese culture “the elder people in the family played an important role because they were considered as people who would guide the family, during their dark times” (“Citizens Compendium”). Therefore, due to this reason the elderly people were given all the authority to order the family, the way they wanted to. In addition, the children were assumed to give full respect to the elders. Hence, the children were not accepted to have relationships beyond their culture. Thus, this limits the children to explore new relationships. The Chinese culture is very strict about the relationship expectation of the family. The first wife of a husband was irreplaceable. Even if the husband remarried, the second wife would not be treated with the same respect and honour as the first wife. In the novel, the elderly people were teaching the kids how Stepmother was an appropriate way to describe the second wife: “’ Stepmother’ was a ranking much more respectable than ‘family servant’ honourable than

In every home, there is a different definition of family and how family should treat each other. Two short stories were read by an author named Flannery O’Connor. “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. It was about a dysfunctional family who encounters a criminal named “The Misfit”. The grandmother which is the main character is very judgmental towards others and sometimes her own family at times. This story starts off with a disagreement on where to go for a family trip, but they decide on going to Florida for the family trip after a while of arguing. On this trip, it showed what type of family they are. They talk about everything with one another as well as bicker and fight but at the end of the day, they are still family and love each other. They come together the most in panicking situations such as the accident and waiting for a car to help them. The point of this paper is the theme of family. Specifically, family is a theme in this short story because it depicts a dysfunctional family; the family you see on a crazy television show and can’t get enough of because they’re funny but also they have serious moments. There 's the two troublesome and annoying kids, the hot-headed dad who tries to maintain control of a situation and fails, the wife busy attending to the baby, and the grandmother, who 's a case all to herself (and also the main character). Though the story starts out seeming like a comedy, it takes a serious turn when the family encounters a criminal, who kills them

“Don’t humiliate us.  You wouldn’t like to be forgotten as if you had never been born.  The villagers are watchful.”  Practically through her mother’s indoctrination alone, Kingston was shaped throughout her childhood to respect honor, family, and the very Chinese culture itself.

Chinese families are highly misunderstood and stereotyped in the United States. It is important to understand a different culture before one makes the assumptions produced by these stereotypes. In order to find a better understanding about Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans, one must do research on that countries heritage, traditions, and other customs before submerging one-self into a Chinese families home. I chose to experience and observe a Chinese family who was kind enough to let me be a guest in their home to share dinner.