“A Pair of Tickets” is a short essay in which Amy Tan, the author, portrays how a photograph can be used as a time capsule. June May, Tan’s main character, experiences the new view of herself rather than the blindness she had to her culture before her mother’s death. Before her mother, Suyuan, dies she predicted that one day, something would trigger the connection to her heritage little did she know it would come with devastating news. Through her worldly travels to China to find her long-lost sisters and tell them about their mothers passing she also finds the heritage and piece of identity that has been absent from her life. The plot structure and pacing create the stories main theme: people are often unable or unwilling to see themselves as they really.
Although this short essay is based on a true incident in Tan’s life it does contain pieces of fairytales and modernism. The story is revealed by Tan through first person narrative. The narrator, June May, is speaking about the events that she is experiencing. It begins with the memory of when she was in high school and how she was explaining to her mother that she did not feel Chinese (paragraphs 1-4). The narrator only knows of the situations she has been told about and experienced. Tan explains exactly how the reader is feeling along with giving the reader hints through June Mays’s actions and words.
During her thirty-six years of life June May has felt lost in her identity. When she learns of her mother’s death, she realized “I’ve never really known what it means to be Chinese” (paragraph 5). Now there was no longer anyone who believed “Someday you will see… it’s in your blood, waiting to be let go” (paragraph 4). June May acknowledges the transformation she will go through during her journey to China. This suggests that the reader is open to change; she believes that this is her way to honor her mother by reuniting her with her twin daughters. June May wants to tell them about their mother’s death but she then realizes that the scene she has dreamed of so many times is not going to go as she once wanted (paragraph 18). Then, in a surprising twist, everything she thought she knew about the meeting would be revealed to her as wrong. The meeting was a long
In the novel A Daughter of Han by Ida Pruitt, the readers are taken through a journey of one woman through her life’s highs and lows. Through the eyes of Ning Lao T'ai-t'ai, readers can truly understand the life of a working woman during this time period. Although life may not have been easy at times, Ning Lao shows the determination and passion she had for her family and for their lives to be better. The life of a working woman is never an easy life but adding in the social rules and opium addiction that effected each part of Ning Lao’s life made it much more difficult.
As an adult, Tan understands that her mother’s English is the language of intimacy. She now understands that her “mother’s expressive command belies how much she actually understands” Her mother reads “The Wall street Journal” and converses with their stockbroker on matters Tan doesn’t comprehend. It becomes evident that her initial
In the “Autobiography of a Chinese immigrant” written in 1903 by Lee Chew, dialogues about his point of view
The story shows the reader that June May had a misconstrued meaning of being a Chinese descendant because her mentality of a perfect American society and normal social structure which is full of prejudice and stereotypical environment has beclouded her thinking that Chinese culture is good. After learning of her mother’s past that made her realize the sufferings caused by war between japan and China and what led to her mother abandoning her half-sisters, she gears more to meeting with them and other family members in order to clear the many questions echoing in her head. Being a Chinese to her after seeing all her past judgment made her realize that China is her country that possess her family and her clan, it is obvious that being an American, a Chinese or Spanish does not change one’s personality or orientation but understanding the culture and identifying with it will instill a
Including her temporary environments, the transportation that June May uses throughout the story mirrors her release of resistance as she is encouraged to learn more about her mother and homeland. The transportation usage in the story symbolizes June May changing throughout the course of her journey. Transportation indicates movement and includes an origination and a destination. In the beginning of “A Pair of Tickets,” June May travels by train, and expresses how different she feels. Readers observe June May’s internal transformation as she enters her destination in Guangzhou, China. June May states that she “can feel the skin on [her] forehead tingling, [her] blood rushing through a new course, [her] bones aching with a familiar old pain. And [thinks], [her] mother was right. [She is] becoming
There is a common theme of hope throughout the stories of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Even in the face of immeasurable danger and strife, the mothers and daughters in the book find themselves faithful in the future by looking to the past, which is only helped by the format of Tan’s writing. This is shown specifically in the stories of Suyuan and Jing-Mei Woo, Lena and Ying-Ying St. Clair, and Lindo and Waverly Jong. The vignette structure of The Joy Luck Club allows the stories to build on one another in a way that effortlessly displays both the happy and dark times in each mother’s life, which lets their experiences act as sources of background and guidance to their daughters in times when they need it most.
On the other hand the main focus on Tan’s story is to show the beautiful and passionate side of her mother that people can't see. Tan describes how all of the English’s that she grew up with, normal English and "mother tongue" English, has shaped her first outlook of life. She writes, "But to me, my mother's
Chapter one titled, “No Name Woman”, is an example of the narrator referring to her mother’s talk-stories and a prominent illustration of incorporating the past into the present. This talk- story is culturally based to express information about the past. In “No Name Women”, the narrator explains that her mother, Brave Orchid, would use the stories to give lessons on life that would stick with her children. She represents a bridge figure with one foot in the past, her Chinese culture that she relays on to the family and one foot in the present, her assimilation to American life. The bridge that Brave Orchid acts as brings together the two cultures and allows her to incorporate the family’s Chinese history into their present
The biographical connection that the author “Amy Tan” draws in her short story “Two Kinds” with her main character Jing-mei, crosses in more than one side. First of all, they both are Chinese American whose struggle in their identities with their Chinese immigrant mothers. “Due to a cultural conflict and lack of proper understanding of each other’s perceptions” (Priya 1), and as a big gap developed between the two daughters and their two mothers, in which resulted a complex relationship between them.
She wants the audience to know right away that even though she is about to tell you the story of a difficult childhood, she did reach her goal in the end. After making this statement, Tan dives into her past and how she came to be where she is today. Her mother is the next most important point of discussion. Her mother influenced her writing style as well as her beliefs about her culture and heritage. ?Just last week, I was walking down the street with my mother, and I again found myself conscious of the English I was using, the English I do use with her? (Tan, 2002, p. 36). The broken up English her mother uses is the next issue Tan focuses on. ??everything is limited, including people?s perceptions of the limited English speaker? (Tan, 2002, p. 36). Lastly, she talks about her education and the role it had on her deciding what she wanted to do with her life. ?Fortunately, I happen to be rebellious in nature and enjoy the challenge of disproving assumptions made about me? (Tan, 2002, p. 39). By structuring the essay in order of importance, Tan reinforces her message that you can be anything you desire even with a different culture than the norm.
Tan shows that she is embarrassed in her family for their lacking of proper American manners. Although at the time she felt ashamed, the words spoken by her mother, “Inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame” became better understood later in life. In Amy Tan's work, the strong use of description of both the event that are occurring and Amy’s feelings about them, draws the reader in and makes them feel as if they are part of the action. Tan's Chinese-American culture and life stories are imprinted in her writing which gives the reader an opportunity to gain knowledge about the way of life in her family, friends, and even the Chinese culture. Tan's main purpose of writing is to inform and educate people about growing up as a minority in the American society.
Amy Tan’s A Pair Of Tickets is a story concerning family and roots. June May, like the author herself, was a Chinese born in USA and grew up with an American background culture, whereas her mother grew up in China and then immigrated to America. Looking at the repeated words, we discussed that one there are many words such as mother, sister, father and Aiyi. Most of the characters in this story belong to one family, June May’s family. It suggests to us that the tale is about relations and where we stand in our family. Even Aiyi brings practically her whole family to see her brother and niece. This is also one of the stronger traits of the Chinese cultures where there are many family occasions.
A Pair of Tickets" by Amy Tan uses unpretentious yet intense symbolism and imagery to make a wonderful story with layers of importance and significant profundity that one can't completely acknowledge unless you read it more than once.
In her short story "Two Kinds," Amy Tan utilizes the daughter's point of view to share a mother's attempts to control her daughter's hopes and dreams, providing a further understanding of how their relationship sours. The daughter has grown into a young woman and is telling the story of her coming of age in a family that had emigrated from China. In particular, she tells that her mother's attempted parental guidance was dominated by foolish hopes and dreams. This double perspective allows both the naivety of a young girl trying to identify herself and the hindsight and judgment of a mature woman.
In the story "A Pair of Tickets" by Amy Tan, talks about the story of Jing-Mei, the narrator, going to China to fulfill her mother's dream. This story was based on Tan's life experiences when she went to go learn more about her background and see her sister in China. Going to China for the first time made her feel as she was "transforming" and feeling the Chinese in her that she never knew she has. She later finds out how much she cherishes her family and learns how important her culture is to her. Knowing who she is and where she comes from is an important aspect of her inner self.