Essay on Lost Sister by Cathy Songs

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

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

Amy Tan’s ,“Mother Tongue” and Maxine Kingston’s essay, “No Name Woman” represent a balance in cultures when obtaining an identity in American culture.  As first generation Chinese-Americans both Tan and Kingston faced many obstacles. Obstacles in language and appearance while balancing two cultures. Overcoming these obstacles that were faced and preserving heritage both women gained an identity as a successful American.

In The Joy Luck Club, the chapter "Waiting Between the Trees" illustrates major concerns facing Chinese-American women. Chinese culture is a male dominated culture that leaves women little freedom. Their only job is to make their male spouses content. Living with their traditional culture in American society, Chinese-American

Over there nobody will look down on her, because I will make her speak only perfect American English.  And over there she will always be too full to swallow any sorrow!  She will know my meaning because I will give her this swan- a creature that became more than what was hoped for.”  (Tan 1)  The culture in China the mothers of Joy Luck dealt with was unlike anything their daughters could ever imagine or appreciate. Between the mothers Lindo, Suyuan, An-mei and Ying-ying, the Chinese culture forced them into being married by a matchmaker, giving up babies, witness desperate attempts to save loved ones, and having an abortion.  In many ways the Chinese culture scared each woman, although they were proud of their heritage, their daughters deserved better.  These four mothers had very high hopes for the better lives that they wanted to give their daughters by raising them in America.  They didn’t like or want to have their daughters looked down upon, just because they were Chinese women.  From each of their own experiences, they learned that they wanted to improve the lives of their following generation.

Sui Sin Far’s short story, “In the Land of the Free” touches on the reality of being a Chinese immigrant in late-19th century America. The story revolves around a Chinese couple. The husband is ready for his wife, Lae Choo, to arrive from China with their new son, later named Kim. However, due to policies on immigration, the American government was forced to take possession of the child due to a lack of paperwork. However, Far’s short-story has a deeper meaning than just focusing on unfair immigration policies. She takes advantage of the story’s ending to symbolize a rejection of immigrant culture, most especially Chinese immigrant culture, by taking advantage of Kim’s change in behaviors, appearance, and dialect.

To begin with, The Joy Luck Club centers its content around the lives of eight women of Chinese heritage each with their own stories to tell; yet, all striving to satisfy their aspirations in America. A concisive cross is common between the mothers’ hopes compared to those of the American born daughters. Immigrating to America for various reasons, the four mothers all had one goal in mind, to not only construct themselves a better life, but also ensure the finest future for their daughters. For the mothers in the Joy Luck Club, the American dream was to instill Chinese history, heritage, and habit in their daughters while providing American opportunities of growth, gratification, and gallantry. Carrying heavy pasts, the four original American Joy Luck Club members arrived in The United States to start anew, “America was where

She is significant in Chinese history because of her writings and teachings of the “Admonitions for Women” using a Confucian approach to define appropriate behavior (Gregory p. 123).

In this time in China, the role that women and men had were very different from each other. Women were expected to be quite, obedient, and respectful. While men were the provider, the intellectual and the decision maker in the family. In Shen Fu and his wife, Yun marriage it started out like the typical relationship in eightieth century China, each one fulfilling the roles that society had in place for them. But as they became to know each other more, Shen Fu saw Yun real personality and wanted someone to experience life, so he started to encourage her to be herself and told her she didn’t have to live up to this gender stereotypes for women. They both were always

     Money. A word that captures all peoples attention was scarce among the Asian - American community. The low wages drove both parents into the work force and changed the roles of women in the family. The Asian way of the wife being submissive in all activities and only working at home with the children changed with the move to America. The wife’s working made a more equal standing in the household but also deprived the children of a quality home life. The importance of women in Asia is non-existent. For example: women had to walk behind their husbands in Asian culture but in American culture they rose to equal standing because of their work status.

Even though written in two different parts of the world, depicting women who are products of vastly different cultures, it is amazing how similar their feelings are-showing that a woman in an unhappy marriage is just that-Unhappy and unsatisfied. It doesn't matter what part of the world she lives in and what cultural beliefs influence her thought process. In the end, she is just a woman who wants to be happy and seeks satisfaction in a marital relationship-lack of which can spell doom and depression.

Diana Chang's “The Oriental Contingent” appears to have a plot that mirrors her own life. Chang understands the challenges that these two young women face, and can relate to their situation. The young women feel that they do not represent their heritage well, which makes me wonder if Chang has ever felt the same way.

To be a woman in China with or looking for a job is not easy. Chinese tradition places women at home to tend to the family or the house. Many times when a woman goes to an interview, she may only get the job if she is pretty. This is hard for Eliza, because of the growing population, she will struggle to get a promotion. Jo-lin is one of the first woman on the Gansu province drug squad. Nobody understands her, and why she loves her career. Getting a job, and being accepted for the one you have is very hard for a girl in China.

Naming custom was not the only cultural thing that was following in China. One of the most painful way that took away the women freedom was known as foot binding, “they use cotton and silk to swathe the feet of girls to make the front end sharp and restrict the free growth of both feet” (“International”). Song expressed her feeling towards this strange tradition by saying “They never left home, to move freely was a luxury, stolen from them at birth” (line 11-13). As Cathy Song discovers in the line that the freedom of Chinese women was “stolen” from the very beginning. Song tried to introduce the tradition of foot binding in these lines. In China, when the girls reached their age at three, their feet were bounded so tightly that they could

China, as one of the four ancient civilizations, has a long history and thus people there have always been emerging in a full complex set of ethical codes under the influence of Taoism and Confucianism. Like many people from other civilizations, Chinese people share a traditional patrilineal society and therefore creates a whole set of gendered stereotypes to classify the social roles of men and women. Till now, those understandings still somehow affect how people act within the community, however, in a negative way.