The Joy Luck Club

Throughout many portions of The Woman Warrior, silence becomes a big theme and develops with the many stories told in each chapter. For the narrator, the concept of silence means not having an identity because not speaking means not having a say as a woman. However, as the book moves on, she becomes aware of the several negative factors that are associated with claiming independence and doing things differently in a Chinese community. Furthermore, the idea of silence is also hooked up to cross-cultural

The piano in “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan is a vital symbol to the story. The piano was first introduced when June and her mother were watching television. The narrator illustrated that the piano music on the television, “…was being pounded out by a little Chinese girl, about nine years old, with a Peter Pan haircut” (Tan 384). This closely resembles the description of June, and most importantly, the mother seemed to judges the girl has harshly as she did to June. This is evident when June argued, “maybe

In the story, “Who’s Irish” is about an elderly Chinese lady, living in America, attempting to help her little girl and her family raise her granddaughter Sophie. She battles while watching Sophie experience her childhood in this society and wishes to train her the way a legitimate Chinese young lady is raised. This brings strife between the grandma and her girl, Sophie's mom. The two ladies argue and in the long run have almost no association in each other's lives. Later on in the story, Sophie’s

In Amy Chua’s controversial memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, she explores the Western and Chinese parenting technique. She describes herself as being a “tiger mother” and raising her daughters the Chinese way. A “tiger mother” can be described as a strict or demanding mother who pushes her children to high levels or achievement, using methods regarded as typical of childrearing in China and other parts of East Asia (Google: 2014). The term “Chinese mother” is used loosely in this essay, as

In Vietnamese culture: astrology, fortunes, parables, and philosophy create the foundation for a unique set of traditions and beliefs. In Monkey Bridge, Lan Cao illustrates how several features of mythology and tradition affect the life of a Vietnamese family during the Vietnam War, and as they migrate to North America. The story of Monkey Bridge revolves around Mai, a young, Vietnamese immigrant adjusting to life in America, and her mother, Thanh, who has difficulty separating from Vietnamese traditions

Maxine Hong Kingston is telling a tragedy caused by gender discrimination in her essay “No Name Woman.” She is a first generation Chinese American. Her mother consistently tells her about the Kingston family back in the Old Chinese village to remind her of her Chinese root. Kingston’s mother tells her that she has an aunt in China with a forbidden existence; they say that her father “has all brothers because it is as if she [the aunt] had never been born” (Kingston 135). In 1924, most men in this

Essay on “Two Kinds” Type your essay on “Two Kinds” below: Title The short story “Two Kinds,” written by Amy Tan, focuses on the struggles of a young protagonist named Jing-mei trying to find herself without the influences and pressure of others. Aldous Huxley once said, “One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.” This relates to the story in significant ways because when Jing-mei’s mother moved to America in hopes of a better future, Jing-mei is pushed to be the

Different types of cultures exist all over the world. In this story, Two Kinds by Amy Tan, the mother left everything behind to move to California because she believed that “you could be anything you wanted to be in America.” Instead of pursuing this belief herself, she controlled her daughter, Ni Kan, into doing so. This then led to a conflict in the culture that Ni Kan was raised in versus Chinese cultures that the mother was raised upon. In China it is common for parents to choose their children’s

In Fish Cheeks Chinese American writer Amy Tan explores the adolescent cultural anxieties she faced growing up in from both ethnic backgrounds. For example, Tan uses her personal experience of when Robert, her crush, and his American family were invited over for a Chinese style Christmas Eve dinner. Tan describes the way she feels about herself, imagines the way Robert and his family might feel, and how she feels ashamed in the moment of the dinner. Furthermore, Fish Cheeks details the issue of Tan

As I was reading this chapter, I made a couple of text-to-text connections to other books that I have previously read last year. Qindil enters the land of Mashriq where he encounters an entirely different culture than that of his own. He is forced to adjust to his surroundings by interacting with other people in the lands. I found this scenario to be synonymous to some of the plot in the book, An na. This book is about a girl who immigrated to America from China. She and the rest of her family have