War as an influential force in The Jade Peony
The Jade Peony is a novel that concentrated on the life of early Chinese immigrants by describing a series of stories happened in a four-kid family. The novel told the reminiscences of three children’s child life in that family, therefore it was divided into three parts according to the different characters. But apart from the family routine portrayed in the novel, it can be clearly seen in the whole book that war, as another implied clue, played an important role in the development of the story.
In the first place, as an overall background, Chinese civil war between Kuomintang (the party leaded by Chiang Kai-shek) and The Communist Party (the party leaded by Mao Tse-tung) caused the first
…show more content…
People lived in Vancouver Chinatown were far from the flames of war, but they were so concerned about what was happening in Old China. Not only because they cared about their hometown, but also because they cared about their families, friends, or relatives who were still living in China. From this point, the concern about the war that was showed by people were regarded as strong feeling connection with Old China. Although war did not directly caused pain to people in Chinatown, the suffering it caused in Old China was also brought to Canada. In chapter eight, one of stepmother’s childhood best friends, called Chen Suling, was killed by an explosion of a bomb. In the beginning of this chapter, we can see Sek-Lung’s family was looking forward to the Chen Suling’s visit to Canada, and appreciated her talents of English. All of them, except for Sek-Lung who disliked her because he would be controlled if Chen Suling came, hoped to see her eagerly. But a bomb turned their hope down. Stepmother felt extremely painful for losing her best friend, just like Sek-Lung said in the end of this chapter “I never heard stepmother mention Chen Suling’s name again.”(161). Later, with the war becoming fiercer, the social order in Vancouver also became instable. “Gangs of older, jobless boys roamed back streets hunting for Japanese. Fights broke out. There were knifings on some
《Shanghai Girls》 is the Chinese-American writer, Lisa See published in 2009. In this novel, the theme of the novel is often interpreted as describing her emotions. About her life in China and the United States, with plenty of space describes the life of Chinese immigrants and her mentality, and appearing the homesick theme of the novel. This article focus on China 's Shanghai, Angel Island in United States and Los Angeles, those three places for basic point. And show the protagonist pearl and May as the representative of Chinese immigrants, they were forced to flee from China, then to the full of hopeful and expectation to America. The author use theme layers forward to reveal the theme of the novel homesickness. 《Shanghai Girls 》 has enriched the literary theme of immigration; broaden the horizons of Chinese American Literature. These have three issues that worth of research: The background of the article; the relationship between this article and the history of California; and this book reflects the historical process of Chinese immigrants at that time.
Mao had to overcome the Nationalist to come to power and bring communism to China during the Chinese Civil War in the early
Many causes led to the Civil War. This all happened around the mid 1800s. It was a conflict between the Northern and Southern states. Both sides had their own view on slavery, and their separate views caused contentions between the two. Both had different views on whether to expand or stop slavery growth to the West, or have slavery at all.
A strong, intelligent, independent boy is what every traditional Chinese family wants. Unfortunately, Sek-Lung is not such an ideal child. In the novel, The Jade Peony, Sek-Lung is a marginal character. He is rejected by the dominant group, first being made to feel insignificant and second to feel uncomfortably visible.
One of the themes of the Jade Peony was the difficulty that the early Chinese immigrants had to face when they came to Canada in the late 1800s. Wong Suk is one of the early immigrants, believing there is a "gold mountain" that could make them rich. "There had also been rumours of gold in the rivers that poured down those mountain cliffs, gold that could make a man and his family wealthy overnight." (pg 17). When he first arrived, he found out the "gold mountain" was only a lie, instead waiting for him is dangerous railroad work, a low-paying job "with only a few dollars left to send back to China every month, and never enough dollars to buy passage home." (pg 17). He also had to face a racist Canadian government, who "passed the Chinese
This novel explores similar themes in regards to language. The children appear to be threatened throughout the novel by second-gen knowledge of the English language. Toward second-gens and the English language itself, resentment is clearly portrayed in these characters. During serious conversations, Jook-Liang is looked upon by the adults with suspicion. Her presence is clearly perceived as untrustworthy as she is characterized as a child with “Big Eyes. Big Ears. Big Careless Mouth. A Mouth that went to English school and spoke English words. Too many English words,” (Choy, 50). While “the Jade Peony” emphasizes children as translators, disparities in English proficiencies between first and second-gens appears to generate hostility toward
Finding oneself is hard. Finding oneself in Canada, in the late 1930s, as a Chinese, is even harder. Jung-Sum experiences this in The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy. Although a young boy of only twelve years he has experienced many horrors in which his character has been displayed. At the age of four, Jung woke up to a strangled mother and a father who committed suicide (page 96). Traumatized, he clung on for dear hope. Hope that allowed him to reach the age of 12. Moving from one foster family to another he kept strong until his adoption. Jung is not like other children - despite times of hardship he keeps progressing. As a boxer, he trains diligently to be successful. His boxing shows his determined character and will to persevere. Moreover,
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, written by the talented author Chris Hedges, gives us provoking thoughts that are somewhat painful to read but at the same time are quite personal confessions. Chris Hedges, a talented journalist to say the least, brings nearly 15 years of being a foreign correspondent to this book and subjectively concludes how all of his world experiences tie together. Throughout his book, he unifies themes present in all wars he experienced first hand. The most important themes I was able to draw from this book were, war skews reality, dominates culture, seduces society with its heroic attributes, distorts memory, and supports a cause, and allures us by a
When the mothers finally arrived, they stayed true to their Chinese traditions and customs. But when their daughters grew up and were young adults, their daughters didn’t feel the same passion and love for their Chinese culture the way their mothers felt. Two daughters in particular were deeply ashamed of their Chinese heritage and culture. When June, Suyuan’s daughter, was in High School, she had a very difficult time in being proud of her Chinese heritage. June said, “...I was fifteen and had vigorously denied that I had any Chinese whatsoever below my skin.
The thesis falls into four chapters. Chapter One offers an overall view of the novel, introducing the main idea of The Women warrior. Chapter Two focuses on analyzing the relationship between mother Bell and daughter Ruby in details in this novel. In this chapter, a brief introduction of Chinese-American literature in United States will be first given. Then further exploration of mother]s and daughter¡¯s bond and Ruby¡¯s special lesbian love toward her mother Bell will be outlines by analysis as well as examples. In addition, since mutual understanding between mothers and daughters could not be reached, some basic reasons of their misunderstandings will also be offered. Chapter Three will explore the mother-daughter relationship much deeper than the former chapter and try to find the reasons accounting for Ruby¡¯s failure of rescuing her mother. It deals with the layer of silence imposed on Chinese American women. This chapter is designed to show the fact that
Mao zedong received help from the soviets to take over china and make it a communist country. Whereas chiang kai shek followed a more conservative path. He launched a political campaign in the north where communism was spreading to try and gain more supporters. Also he received help from the U.S. which is in fact is a westernized country. Even after world war two china still fought in a civil war.
The story serves as a backdrop of the speakers own experience as she grows up as a Chinese-American, she becomes town between the different cultures. The speaker struggle is difficult because she is told by her mother not to talk to anyone about what happened. The narrator’s mother inducts her into a long tradition of keeping things secret, the speaker knows nothing about her aunt other then what she was told. The story jumps back and forth between past and present.
Montréal’s Chinatown is located in the quadrilateral surrounded by Viger Avenue, Saint-Urbain Street, Boulevard René-Lévesque and Boulevard St-Laurent. It all started in 1860, when the first Chinese came to live in Montreal, to be able to build the railway from coast to coast, and to work in the mines. In 1902, this quadrilateral was officially named Chinatown. The Chinese community wished to continue to carry on its culture and customs, and by 1915, it boasted some 50 respectable businesses and restaurants. The point of having a Chinatown was for them to feel less homesick. Although the Chinese pursued their commercial activities in the district, some of them gradually migrated to the suburbs of Montréal, especially Brossard. Some of them
A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 21 May 2016.) World War II had just ended when the civil war broke out between Mao’s communist forces and Chiang Kai- Shek's forces. The war was costly on China and the affects were felt throughout the whole country. The peasant class was being treated poorly and World War II did not help. By the end of the war, the Communists had recruited nearly a million troops and emerged as a much more powerful force than they were before the war(Hays, Jeffrey. "COMMUNISTS TAKE OVER CHINA." Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 May 2016.) Most of the troops recruited were from the peasant class. Chiang Kai- Shek lost most of his support from within the country but outside the country he was receiving support from the US. The French on the other had many radicals within the revolution who rose to power. They were tired of the king spending all the countries money. Not only were the royal coffers depleted, but two decades of poor cereal harvests, drought, cattle disease and skyrocketing bread prices had kindled unrest among peasants and the urban poor("History.com." History.com. A&E Television
The chapter 2 of Sun Zi’s Art of War and Business Strategies is Waging War. In Sun Zi’s Art of War and Business Strategies chapter 2, Sun Zi said that as a general rule, for a military campaign, one would need 1 0000 speedy four-horse chariots, 1 000 heavy wagons and 100 000 fully equipped and combat-ready soldiers. To apply waging war in current business an organization should rewards employees who have high contribution to the organization based on their performance, they also have to review their compensation system to fulfill employee job satisfaction. This is because when their satisfaction increases, their loyalty will also increase. If the employee satisfaction increases, the productivity will be increase and the