Point of View on Culture
Among many literatures about Asian and Chinese culture “Saving Sourdi” by May-Lee Chai is one. This short story is about a young girl, Nea, and her sister, Sourdi, and what happens when Sourdi grows up when Nea does not want her to. Their family are Chinese and they moved to America. Throughout the story one of the supporting characters, Ma, constantly reminds Nea what she should do as a young woman. Ma is used to the Chinese culture and it is clear in the arranged marriage that Sourdi is involved in, how Ma goes about punishment, and in general Sourdi and Nea’s interactions that the Chinese culture is a huge influence on them. In many obvious ways, Chinese culture is much different than American culture. Nea’s
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In “Saving Sourdi” two women tend to fall in line with the stereotype that surrounds them and one breaks the mold. Just as any Asian mother stereotype, Ma falls right in line with it. She is strict, she believes that her children should obey and listen to her and she believes that there is always a job to be done. These traits were passed down to Sourdi having her as the daughter that obeys and knows that when she is told to do something she must do it. Nea is nothing like this. She is opinionated, she is always going to do whatever is right in her mind and she is headstrong. In the story, Ma runs a family owned restaurant. This is important because as author Pratibha Parmar states in their article, “Gender, Race and class: Asian women in resistance”, “It is also important to look at how common-sense images of West Indian and Asian women have helped to socially construct certain roles for them in the labour market.” Ma being such a strong female character in this story has its purpose. Ma knows how to do hard work and how to make it count. Just as the “roles” Parmar is talking about, asian females are typically known to be hard workers, and they do not take anything lightly. They will work until the job is
Sydnee Winston writes that “The positioning of the mammy as “contented” and “pleased” with her domestic role established an ideal of black woman being “okay” with economic exploitation”. The truth was, they had to act “happy” with how their employers were treating them, because they needed those jobs to
After having offered an examination of the Mammy’s archetype, including her characteristics, as well as proposed an analysis of the depiction of Big Momma in the film Big Momma’s House, an ample comparison between both can be made. First, placing the plot of the film in Georgia project the first evidence that the film’s protagonist Big Momma is, indeed, comparable to the archetype of the Mammy, since the Mammy has its roots in Southern America, displaying relevant responsibility in education of Southern white children (cf. DelGaudio, 1983). However, the Mammy and Big Momma differ mainly in their work area. Given the fact that the movie takes place after the abolishment of slavery and even after the Civil Rights Movement in the sixties, Big Momma has no longer the need to work as a servant for a white family in order to conduct a happy life.
Hook ideas? War is something that changes peoples llifes May-Lee Chai's Saving Sourdi, is a story of a girl in need of being rescued. She has to be rescued from herself as her mind is stuck in a war which has actually ended years ago (I don’t think it ended), or in other words, a personality disorder that has been formed by psychosocial events. The girl, Sourdi, is still affected by the war. Throughout the story, all of Sourdi's decisions are influenced by her war experience and the intention to survive it.
She is the main female character of the novel and is the leader of the family. She would never let the family spit up. In Chapter 16, Tom suggests that the family should go to California while him and Casy stay behind and fix their car. Ma responds with “‘On’y way you gonna get me to go is whup me.’… ‘An’ I’ll shame you, Pa.’”
Marriage, the joining of two people for the rest of their lives. It marks a very special point in one's life, and it is a day that will forever be remembered by that person. Marriage happens all around the world millions of times a year. It is common in multiple cultures. Even though many cultures have similar events take place in their wedding, going from one culture’s wedding to another will show you that they also have very different traditions.
Lessons from the Culture Every year we see family emigrate to other countries, and they face many challenges. The stories “Sweet, Sour, and Resentful”, by Firoozeh Dumas, and from “Fish Cheeks”, by Amy Tan, share similar cultures and really interesting stories. Also, both families from the essay share several challenges that they are face when they move to the United States of America. The two families share many similarities; however, they differ in to keeping their culture, showing openness, and teaching a lesson from their culture to others.
“The Other Family” by Himani Bannerji, can teach people a life lesson about appreciating the culture they come from and that they should stay true to who they are regardless of what others think is right. In “The Other Family” when the little girl came home from school, she showed her mom a picture she drew of their family. When the mom saw the picture, she was very disappointed because the picture showed a white family, not theirs. The little girl said she drew a white family because all the books she read showed only white families. “I drew it from a book…all our books have this same picture of the family.”
Not a very developed character. Mama (Mary Logan): The mother of
Since the beginning of the story Nea believes that she is saving or protecting Sourdi from the expectations of her mother and Mr. Chhay. The mother and the uncle have fix a marriage with an older man named Mr.Chhay. Sourdi is a young girl that has a boyfriend name Duke, But her mom really dosen’t cares what Sourdi thinks or wants. So Sourdi meets Mr.chhay and she feels uncomfortable in the
A short story Saving Sourdi written by May-Lee where the main character and protagonist is Nea who is younger sister of Sourdi and they were rising in a chines family where her mom was the only one who make any decision about their family. The whole story focus on that how Nea attempt to protects her sister Sourdi from any danger that she is facing. Even though, Nea scolded by her mom at the first time while she tried to save her sister from drunk men, Nea never gave up, she continues try to save her sister till end of the story. However, Nea has some understanding problem that Sourdi was encountering. Nea play her role very dynamically by attempting to save Sourdi several times.
She is a mother based on the birth of her children, but she does not possess the nurturing qualities of a mother. However, she exemplifies a masculine role through ruling by fear and dominance and not
In current times, having a notable age gap between siblings is relatively common. Typically, siblings bond very strongly with one another and essentially become best friends throughout each other’s youth. However, once the elder’s youth “expires”, or reaches that age when maturity and adulthood begin, the once unbreakable bond seems to dissolve due to a great difference in interests and tasks. Often, this leaves the younger sibling clueless and confused, not understanding why their elder sibling has changed. May-Lee Chai applies similes and metaphors in “Saving Sourdi” to illustrate the misunderstandings that arise between close siblings when one matures first due to an age gap.
Throughout the entire novel, the mothers and daughters face inner struggles, family conflict, and societal collision. The divergence of cultures produces tension and miscommunication, which effectively causes the collision of American morals, beliefs, and priorities with Chinese culture which
However, Mammy’s character is proved to innately incorporate into American history and even to be taken as granted (Kowalski). Modern films that continuously portray this stereotype, such as ‘The Help’, in turn ‘reveals a contemporary nostalgia for the days when a black woman could only hope to clean the White House rather than reside in it’, as Association of Black Women Historians believes (Association of Black Women Historians). Furthermore, black women could be innately underestimated, which in turn may affect younger generations. Continuous portrayal of the stereotype may influence growing girls’ attitude towards racial differentiation, develop belief that dark skin somehow defines their identity and what they should become. Also, frequent portrayal of black women as servants create an impression that such ladies are extremely enduring, which further develops a belief that they may not have weaknesses and should withstand in any situation, not allowing them to be under someone’s protection.
As she takes care of her master’s children, the black surrogate mother does not desire to be anywhere else. In the eyes of her white family, the female black servant can assume the role of caretaker, or “mammy.” Serving as a second mother, the mammy is maternal, faithful, and devoted to her white family. Money can never compensate her work like her love for the family does. Although the mammies seemingly enjoy the role, one must ask, does she really?