Jade Peony Grandmother

Thesis: one’s personal culture and sense of tradition will always be a strong part of the self, regardless of external factors which can have a profound influence on one’s life.

“My two older teenage brothers and my sister, Liang, age 14, were embarrassed by my parents’ behavior. What would all the white people in Vancouver think of us”(Choy

Equally important in the story is the use of characterization to show the reader exactly who the protagonist in the story is and what kind of life she is living, we first read of her sisters and how they act in contrast to the protagonist: “I [the narrator] wasn't even pretty or nice like my older sisters and I just couldn't do the girl things they could

Both incidents are prime examples that show the grandmother?s behavior. We see that the grandmother is selfish and uncaring. She claims that she is a "good" person, yet she criticizes everyone and always wants to get her way. She hides the cat and lies about it to her son; she did not consider how anyone would feel about her bringing the cat. Yet, on the other hand she is very concerned with social opinion. She is dressed nicely, her excuse is that "in case of an accident anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know that she was a lady" (O?Connor 907). This shows that the grandmother was very concerned with people?s opinion. She acted proper, had strong virtues, values; a good woman in her view. But she was a self- centered person who judged others harshly, so that she would look good.

The reader is almost forced to look at the actions of the grandmother as being similar to that of a young child. There's not a quiet moment with her around and she never sits still. The reader tends to have a negative perception of the grandmother due to these personality traits. However, these traits are expressed in a comical way causing the reader to be annoyed by the grandmother, but also entertained.

The grandmother in the beginning seems to be a very curious, kind, and old fashioned woman. As the story progresses she turns into this self-centered selfish woman. She appears like this in times like when she tells story’s (old fashioned) about her past experiences and the excited way she points out things (innocence and kindness.). I dislike that her curiosity is what lead the family to their death. Overall she remained the only character I liked so when she was killed I was left disappointed.

The character grandmother in O’Connor’s story has grounds the reality of the events and drives the family into tragedy. She is a central character in O’Connor’s story and is depicted to be a dynamic character stuck in the old ways. Through her actions and the idea of being stuck in the old ways of thinking, she leads her family into tragedy. Being the main character in the story, Grandmother significantly adds to the development of the plot. The author manages to win the attention of the reader from this character owing to the manner in which she shapes the storyline. Grandmother’s reminiscing of the old ways claims a distinctive curiosity from the reader and helps in

The grandmother hid her cat in a basket, which she puts in the car with her on the day of the trip. The grandmother wears a floral hat and dress, because if she were to get into a car accident people would know she is “a lady”. The two kids June Star and John Wesley clearly dislike their grandmother, it is very clear because they often make remarks to suggest this. The family makes their way through Georgia and they Grandma reminisces about an old suitor she had back in the day when the family passes

In my view I believe that the grandmother is not a sympathetic character because when they got into that wreck, she over done everything and made everything that happed seem so bad. It also seemed like no one cared that she was even there at that time. The grandmother also is a very bossy woman and she doesn’t put up with nothing. When the misfit came around her, she acted real fine almost like she liked him and really cared for him.

After riding along a little further, the family is involved in a car accident. The main reason that the family is involved in the car accident is due to the grandmother. The grandmother remembers a mansion that she visits as a young girl. She is eager to go, because she wants the children to see how she grew up. This further states how the grandmother social class, because she lived in a mansion. During the time of the grandmother’s life, only plantation owners and their family lived in mansions. This also stressed the social class of the grandmother, because you can tell from this that the

The main conflict in the short story “The Jade Peony” was the fact that Grandmama was dying and that her family had trouble with dealing with the fact that she may leave them. Firstly, at the start of the story we are introduced with the death of Grandmama and how her family loved her so much, and that it did not feel the same when she was not there. Secondly, we start to realize that the narrator (Sek-Lung) and Grandmama spend a lot of time together picking out small shards of glass so they could later turn it into a wind chime. Their family is not impressed by this but that doesn't stop them from doing what they want to do. As Grandmama and Sek-Lung are making her last wind chime we begin to realize that Grandmama is preparing for her death

Beautifully written by Wayson Choy, The Jade Peony is truly a work of art. Despite the midnight oil I’ve burnt, upon grasping an understanding I began appreciating the subtle yet powerful style of storytelling. The story follows the perspectives of three children each with different flaws confronting the injustice in World War 2 and during World War that were present in society. Through the three vastly different point of views we explore the idea of gender gap,mental states and effects of war on community.

Only when the grandmother is facing death, in her final moments alone with the Misfit, does she understand where she has gone wrong in life. Instead of being superior, she realizes, she is flawed like everyone else. When she tells the Misfit that he is “one of [her] own children,” she is showing that she has found the ability to see others with compassion and understanding.

A literal interpretation of the grandmother portrays an elderly southern woman attempting to maintain the proper and genteel values of the South. The grandmother places great importance on her appearance and the opinions of others. This importance is revealed at the beginning of their journey when the story compares the grandmother, a reflection of the past, to the daughter-in-law, a reflection of the present:

A horrible epiphany of the truth about the plantation strikes the grandmother which then leads her family and herself to a mishap. It is significant that the story reveals how nowadays, circumstances are getting worse because before, everything was fine and this produces a positive effect to the young characters such as the grandchildren. Having said that, this is also the reason why they get into a misadventure where they encounter their vicious murderers.