Gish Jen’s short story “Who is Irish?” is very interesting. First of all, her writing style is very different. While I read the story, I can feel that the author is very Chinese because she chooses to write the story with some kind of broken English, and it is sometimes funny. “My daughter tell me I should not say Irish this, Irish that”. (Jen 177) At first, I thought this story is mainly about Irish culture or something related to Irish topic. However, the main story is actually about an immigrant grandmother that shares her story about cultural gaps. There are different kinds of gaps presented in this story. First, the grandmother talked about how parents were treated differently in China and in the US. In China, children have to take care of their parents and serve them as their top priority. Yet in the US, it is the other way around. And if the parents did not offer the help, the children will complain that their parents are not supportive. (Jen 177) Actually this practice of children taking care of their parents when their parents get old is not only in China, but in different parts of Asia. It is our obligation to take care of our parents because this is one way to show our love.
The grandmother is somehow contemptuous of her son-in-law (John) because he was unemployed, yet he does nothing but going to gym and leave his wife (Natalie) to be the only source of income of the family. This is another cultural gap. In Asia, it is the responsibility of the husband to earn income for the family that’s why the grandmother said: “if John lived in China, he would be very happy”.
I think the most interesting part of the story is when the grandmother talked about spanking her granddaughter (Sophie) for her misbehaviors and the stories came with it. In Asia, many parents spank their children when their children did something wrong. When I said something wrong, it means something that is not tolerable or something really bad. This is actually very effective, because my parents used to spank us when we were young and did something silly. We did not complain nor hate our parents for spanking us because we understand the message that our parents want us to understand. It is just a small punishment that we need to keep in mind and should not repeat the same mistake.
I was kind a surprised with anger when Natalie asked her mother to move out of the house because she spanked Sophie. This is not acceptable especially Natalie was raised with Chinese culture. The grandmother was heartbroken when Natalie and John threw some heartrending words on her. “You are crazy!” said Natalie and “It is your family”, said John. (Jen 185) It is true that the grandmother should not use stick to hit Sophie, but Natalie should listen to her mother’s explanation first. Sophie was too stubborn, and the grandmother was too old to jump into the foxhole to bring Sophie out. Besides, if she wanted to blame her mother, it should be in front of her husband and Sophie because the grandmother will lose her face. In Asia, under no circumstances a child should take care of their parents at all cost. We will never exist if our parents didn’t bring us to this wonderful world and took care of us.
http://asianweek.com/062499/ae_gishjen.html
This is the link to an interview taken in 1994. I actually thought that Jen was the grandmother before I read this article. LOL
2 comments:
I agree strongly with your thoughts regarding the reading “Who’s Irish”. I too thought that the story was about something related to the Irish culture. However, it is mainly about the differences between generations within a Chinese family. I believe we are very family oriented. This similarity mostly comes from the fact that we are born and raised in Asia, a culture which put family over everything else. I feel that it was disrespectful when Natalie asked her mother to be more supportive. That is definitely a word which should not be asked by a child to her mother. Another time when I felt that Natalie was really disrespectful was when she called grandma “crazy”. That is just unacceptable to hear from a child.
Also I want to criticize John who is Natalie’s husband. I can understand your point when you said that a husband’s responsibility is to take care of the family. I also wrote the same thing in my blog about John. His character makes little sense to me in that he does not work but also does not want to take care of his daughter either. The only thing he likes to do is working out. It is funny how he is respected by his wife.
The short video clip that you posted is also very nice. It is related to the story in a way that it teaches what is expected of a child to his/her parents. It is totally contrasting the characters in the story “Who’s Irish.” Anyway, good work.
What’s up Arvin!
Sign me up for also thinking that “Who’s Irish?” was going to be a story predominantly centered around Irish immigration/families. I liked your blog post about the story though, and you brought up a lot of interesting points in the story.
For example, you (and the story itself!) focus a lot on cultural differences. Something that I think is unique about this story in is that it isn’t solely about Chinese vs American culture, but Irish vs Chinese vs American. I think there are American cultural influences through Amy, John and even Natalie. Amy’s “craziness” is certainly out of place in Chinese culture, and isn’t directly attributed to the Irish flow of things. As well, John and Natalie are both very American-modern types of parents in how they both work a lot (when they have jobs, anyway) and rely on help from their elders (both Grandmothers.) It could be said that for all the ways that Natalie isn’t Chinese, she is American.
What I find most interesting in all of this is that the attributes of these cultures aren’t necessarily exclusive to them. After all, taking care of your parents in their old age is definitely a recognized value within American culture. It just seems, within the story, that it carries even more weight in China. Additionally, spanking as a form of discipline is/has been a very prominent practice in American society. It wasn’t until recently that people have openly discussed alternatives and considered the negetive repercussions of physical punishment. It’s like Gish Jen doesn’t necessarily expose glaring holes that don’t match up between cultures, but instead shows how similar practices might be prioritized differently.
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