This is the first time that Kingston explicitly tells which additions to the story are her own. Not only is she referencing the story at hand, but she is also alluding to her life. While her mother very much colored her childhood, Kingston will be dictating the direction of the rest of her life. Kingston tells the story of Ts’ai Yen, a poetess captured and made to live with barbarians. Towards the end of the tale, Kingston tells of a song Ts’ai Yen sings: “Her words seemed to be Chinese, but the barbarians understood their sadness and anger…her children did not laugh, but eventually sang along” (209).
Tan also uses“different English with her family (mother /husband) that she grew up with”. Amy Tan has provided us with many examples. Tan states on page 789 “As a case in point, a television station recently interviews my mother and I didn’t see it when it was aired, but my mother did. She was telling me what happened. She said that everything she said, which was in English, was subtitled in English, as if she had been speaking in pure Chinese.” But to her mother she saw nothing wrong with the way she talked and it was absurd for the Television station to make her sound as if she was an illiterate English speaker or speaking Chinese.
She also described her learning Chinese like the most boring thing in the word by using some words as: “kowtow”, “chant”, “sing-san-ho” and ideographs letters. When she became ten years old, Wong “had better things to learn”, she started to study American culture, learn science subjects and read American literature. Her regard that was better than Chinese culture. She considered Chinese was “source of embarrassment”, that sounds “pedestrian”, “chaotic” and “frenzied” and that’s the reason she tried to separate herself from the family members when she “nearby American super marker outside the Chinatown”. Moreover, her brother exasperated her Chinese learning by mocking it with a pidgin speech.
Tanya’s parents did this because they wanted her to fit into this, “red, white and blue world.”(pg 8) They wanted her to be able to speak the English language without a hint of the Spanish accent. Her parents said that by doing so people would look past the ethnicity and only see an American girl. Tanya tries to relate with her audience by speaking a bit of Spanish in her essay. Some of the words she uses are Latinos, ingles, and gringa. By using these words she can relate to both the American and Latino audiences, while also showing her knowledge of the Spanish language.
Much of the Chinese values moved with them to America. In the movie Mulan, all the parents want for their daughter, Mulan, is to bring honor to the family. But Mulan is not your typical Chinese girl; she has her own opinions, and can’t hide who she really is. (Mulan) In the story “Two Kinds”, Jing-mei’s mother and father want her to be a prodigy in order to make a life for herself. At first Jing-mei liked the idea, but after all of her attempts and fails she wanted to live a normal American life.
Unlke Yunior, she did not grow up in another country. Her struggle deals with finding an identity as a Chinese- American. Unlike the Domincan culture, which seems to be outspoken and open, the Chinese seem to encourage silence and secrets. The novel begins with Kingston’s mother saying, “You must not tell anyone,” before sharing the story with her daughter. - Silence is encouraged in their culture, allowing Kingston to develop into a shy, awkward girl with trouble adjusting.
How will she understand your feelings? Jing-mei Woo, Rose Hsu Jordan, Waverly Jong, Lena St. Clair grown up speaking English and drinking Coco-cola, free to choice their jobs, their life styles and their husbands. But they also carry the hopes and expectations of their mothers: Suyuan Woo, An-mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, Ying-ying St Clair., who left unspeakable sorrows behind them in China to travel to America where their children will have choices that were denied to them. But it’s also a country of change and confusion, a place where the Chinese idea of “joy luck” doesn’t mean the same to an American-born mind. Each mother and daughter tell her own story.
Summary of “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” was written by Professor Amy Chua who is a Chinese mother of two. This article was published January 8th, 2011 in the Wall Street Journal. This article is mainly intended for what Chua refers to as “Western parents.” Amy Chua’s opinion is that these “Western” mothers fail at having successful children unlike Chinese mothers such as herself. According to Chua, Chinese mothers believe that if their child fails it is directed towards their parenting and that they have failed as a parent. Chua listed all the things she doesn’t allow her children to do, and she believes that it is correlated to how successful her children will be.
We never speak English to each other. Since our first language is mandarin, plus my mother is not really an English speaker, we will only speak mandarin to each other. She will go to adult school for ESL class and learn English skills. However, she will always put single terms into one sentence with non-grammatical way. In the article, I like how Tan said, “I was forced to ask for information.” Even though I don’t have to pretend I am my mother, but I get the feeling that who ever speak better English had the responsibilities to help out the situation.
Why Chinese Mothers are Superior There are numerous different ways to raise your child, and the “Western” parents often wonder how the Chinese can get so successful kids and in this article Amy Chua, who is a professor at Yale Law School and author of “Day of Empire” and "World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability." explains how the difference in the Chinese and Western methods of raising your child. When I write Chinese- and Western parents it’s in a very loose way, just like Amy Chua writes in the article. Amy Chua has two girls, Louisa and Sophia, they live in New Haven. She comes with examples throughout the book on how she raised her two girls.