Short Story Analysis: Severance Pay

    That catch was that they wanted their daughters to exhibit the wisdom, strength, and respect that they themselves possessed.  Unfortunately, this is the paradox or catch-22 of the story.  The Chinese mothers wanted the daughters to never experience the pain they had experienced themselves.  But to gain the enormous strength and wisdom of life they wanted the daughters to have, the daughters would have to go through the same trials and tribulations that their mothers had.  For how could you expect a child to have the same strength and wisdom about life if that child did not experience the same amount of struggle and pain?  The Chinese mothers in effect wanted it both ways.  They wanted their daughters to become American in many ways but yet retain some important Chinese traits.  Unfortunately, their children became more American than they had wished.  This is also best exemplified by the short story before the main one begins.  It reads, "Now the woman was old.  And she had a daughter who grew up speaking only English and swallowing more Coca-Cola than sorrow.  For a long time now the woman had wanted to give her the single swan

On the other hand, her father goes to work as a cap driver where he is treated poorly, called racist names, and struggles to make money. Surprisingly, he gets up for work every morning with a smile while knowing he will be home until late that night just to start it all over again the next day. Throughout the story she points out and questions how her father can face the negatives while keeping his smile instead of asking him what motivates him to get out of bed every morning. First, the generation gap is obvious. He understands to get up and do what you have to do to provide for your family. While she has her dream job and a high level of education but continues to wine about not enjoying herself as if her job is a bother; yet she has accomplished all of her dreams. Secondly, the two came up in different cultural beliefs and backgrounds. Waheeda’s father comes from a war torn poverty stricken country. He probably did not come from having much and his tolerance of what is good and bad are noticeably higher than his daughter. This story is “necessary” to read because it reinforces the idea that life is much more rewarding when you think of things in a positive manner like Waheeda’s father.

“We may look and act modern in many ways, but we can’t escape what we are... obedient chinese daughters.” This quote sums up the world that May and Pearl live in, that no matter the culture, no matter the time period, and no matter the situation, your gender decides your fate or does it? The theme of gender and how they dictate our roles in society run rampant in Shanghai Girls by Lisa Lee. Lee’s novel covers a great deal about the immigrant experience and the struggles they had to go through to adapt to their new environment but one thing they didn 't need to adapt was the parts they played in their families. The importance of this traditional society,where the men are the breadwinners and the women the caretakers are first shown in how Pearl and Mays family worked. The father was expected to make money and take care of the household, while the mother, May and Pearl were off fooling around. When the situation turns dire, the father does not conform to his role to help his family and takes the easy way out and sells off his daughters. However the father did not account for his daughters refusing the offer he already made to pay back his debts. This caused a thunderstorm of confusion and trouble, which led to the death of respect, Pearl had for her father. For in this critical moment, the father wet himself and could not muster out a word but the mother brilliantly stepped in and defused the situation. “I see hardness in her that I’ve never seen before.”,

The second job she holds down is with The Maids. This job entails a 7:30 - 3:30 work day at $6.65 an hour. This is the best paid and nicest looking maid job she encountered, and chooses to work there. She quickly finds out, however, the societal downfall of being a maid. Every house she goes to, the homeowners are rude, and often very ‘standoffish’. They seem to want no part of a maid, the class of workers that is ‘below all others’, in their eyes. "Were nothing to these people...nor are we much to anyone else," (100) one of her coworkers explained.

Louann’s husband left her pregnant and without a job. She was forced to assume the risks of raising a child alone and finding a job. A few months later her husband sent her a letter and asked her to follow him on to the Colorado-Montana rodeo circut but Louann declined and took on a new job at the salsa factory. “It’s over between me and Angel. I know it is” says Louann (128). She didn’t know much about anything besides being a house wife; however she managed to fine herself a good job at a salsa factory and quickly (through her good work ethic) she reached the position of manager. While at the same time raising her son Dwayne, Louann showed incredible initiative and the courage to over come the risks of being left alone by her husband.

As a woman working in a world controlled by men she is frequently discriminated against. She longs for a new life. One the allows her to show off her true abilities. However, during this time women were not superior. Men were in charge of the “real” jobs, and the women had to stay inside. Towards the end she understands the true effects this discrimination has on her, writing, “File me under W becuase I once was a women.” The discrimination Jorge faces is similar to those of the secretary’s. He is discriminated for his ethnic background. Jorge often feels that the jobs he acquires are those made for his race, writing, “I must be from the country of janitors.” While working for the church Jorge faces many stereotypes, such as “ [The] fiesta of the bathroom.” These actions ultimately lead Jorge’s decision to leave his

Unable to see through the compassionate and honest mask people often wear, the narrator quickly learns not to believe everyone has her best interest at heart. She was greeted in America by a family whose greed and arrogance is masked by a seemingly perfect job offer, and her eventual discovery of their deceitfulness completely changes the tone of her thoughts. After dedicating a full month to working tirelessly for this family and receiving no wages in return, the narrator walks out, unable to “think through [her] pain…then everything began to bleed in [her]. And [she] was helpless” (31). She is forced to turn away from upper class America and decided to look for opportunities in the Ghetto. She finds employment in a small factory that is owned by an “old, wrinkled woman that looked like a black witch of greed” (40). The narrator and her fellow factory workers are forced to perform in less than reasonable conditions for absurd lengths of time, but as soon as she speaks up about the injustices in the factory, she finds herself among the American unemployed for the second time. Her hope in the American people is lost, yet her hope in America’s opportunities and the country itself continued to fuel her

To continue, Chin’s grandma has no money, therefore in order to experience a better quality life, she is sent to live with other relatives, however many of them consider her a burden because she’s just another mouth to feed. Each time Chin moves, she experiences harsh class differences, for example in some of the homes she stays at, they have no electricity or running water. While on the other hand, other families she has stayed with have been fortunate enough to afford color television, a maid and other luxuries. Fortunately, Chin is able to overcome class stereotypes with her intelligence, which allows her to attend a prestigious high school regardless of her class ranking.

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 concise 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

My father pulled heavy carts for pennies. My mother sold jugs of water from the public fountain, charcoal, and grilled peanuts to get us something to eat” (166). Grace’s mother and father work hard to provide for her. Raising Grace is their primary goal, and later in their lives, they take it a step further and move to America to provide better opportunities for Grace. Having a child in Haiti forces Grace’s parents to view Haiti differently than before. Rather than just surviving and making ends meet they also have to address that they are going to raise a child in the poor conditions around them. This motivates her parents to work harder and eventually move to provide better opportunities for their children. “Night Women” is another story that shows how family is an important motivator. The narrator of this story resorts to prostitution to provide for her son.

Originally living in China, she came to “visit her relatives, better job opportunities, better education, overall better life.” She envisioned America to be similar to what they show on televisions, “a beautiful place and wonderful environment.” However, reality was different. She quickly learned this was different than reality, as streets were dirty and not all buildings were as glamorous as shown on TV. The primarily challenges she faced in America was, “the language and diverse culture.” I believe this is a hurdle more immigrants have to face while striving for the American Dream, as they are thrown into a country with interracial cultures and languages. Overall, these expectations and challenges to be the norm, as many immigrants come to America believing they will be prosperous as long as they put in the effort, only to be disappointed in their accomplishments or be

The author already expresses the tension between warring nations and sets up a precedent for the rest of the novel. After leaving the original Joy Luck Club, Suyuan tries to create a new life for herself in America. Amy Tan deceptively portrays America as the place to start a new, yet the same cultural tensions exist in America as well. Although the setting changes, the key elements remain the same, a Joy Luck Club still exists, demonstrating that anxiety and confusion still endure. Moving to America has not done anything to alleviate these tensions, throughout the novel The Joy Luck Club persists as a place for four women to discuss and reflect upon their problems. Diverging from The Joy Luck Club, the setting of The Namesake begins in the U.S. where cultural anxiety is infused within the story line.

In Leslie T. Chang’s book, Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China, we are introduced to the stories of young workers who immigrate from rural Chinese villages to factories in more urban regions of China. Chang became acquainted with dozens of young women who have ventured off to Dongguan, a new metropolis just north of Hong Kong. Dongguan is just one of the cities in the Guangdong province, the largest receiving province, which attracts rural migrant workers. Chang focuses on two specific ones, Min and Chunming, who increasingly came to trust her enough to share their experiences, journal entries, phone calls, and personal confessions. These girls are employed in a variety of factories which include purse factories, phone factories,

The emergence of the market economy has spurred unprecedented waves of rural to urban migration seeking emplotment. One particular group of women that have migrated, especially for factory work, are dagongmei, or “working girls,” young female migrants. As explored in Leslie Chang’s book Factory Girls and her TED talk, it is important to listen to the voices and lived experiences of the migrants themselves, rather than speak for them or assume them to be helpless victims of capitalist exploitation. It is important to recognize that many of these women choose to migrate for a variety of reasons, some to get away from the family, some to gain a sense of independence, others to escape a difficult rural life. As explored in her book Made in China, Pan Pun Ngai does agree that it is true that many women eagerly migrate for work voluntarily, and usually do not view their circumstance as being one of victimhood. In fact, many view the label of dagongmei as not an identity to be ashamed of, but rather a new identity and sense of self for the millions of young country women

Short stories can share themes, motifs, symbols, consequences, and plot lines, even if there is never any intention to share a common element between the stories. The stories can be written close together or in different decades and still be linked to the one another. They can also be worlds apart with different meanings in the end, but that does not stop them from having similar ideas expressed within them. The following three stories, “Lagoon” by Joseph Conrad, “The Rocking Horse Winner” by DH Lawrence, and “The Lady in the Looking Glass” by Virginia Woolf, are three totally different stories that share common threads that make them the stories that they are.