Theme Of The Jade Peony

Clara Jacobs

Block C

Being a country known for its diverse population, Canada strives to be a welcoming place of refuge for those of any ethnicity. However, Canada has not always been accepting of diverse peoples. “The Jade Peony” by Wayson Choy is a short story which depicts the life of a Chinese family living in Vancouver. Although from another country, the grandmother of the family is able to stay deeply connected to her home country by creating art with her grandson. A story which also points to themes such as cultural assimilation and death is Thomas King’s short story, “Totem” which demonstrates a white colonial view on Indigenous peoples and their culture by portraying an ancient totem pole in a museum as disruptive and problematic.

In King’s story, this relic is the totem pole, and in Choy’s story a family’s Chinese heritage is preserved through a single jade stone woven into a wind chime. The Chinese grandmother’s “precious jade peony” (1) had been gifted to her by a friend in China and although the handmade wind chime which surrounded had broken, she “kept the jade pendant in a tiny red silk envelope, and kept it always in her pocket, until her death”. (1) The Chinese grandmother’s ability to carefully and thoughtfully preserve this stone represents how culture can be preserved through physical items, and these items can be transported and displayed throughout the world. In each so called “isolated island”, cultures are their strongest, since the majority of its population are of the tendency to engage in practices of its culture. Contradicting the grandmother’s ability to preserve and display her cultural heirloom, preservation was not an option considered for the museum’s totem pole in King’s short story. Rather than viewing the totem pole as a piece of art and allowing it to remain in the place it was built, the workers of the museum deem it necessary to “get a chainsaw and cut it close to the floor”. It may be that the Chinese grandmother was able to preserve a relic on her own, among her family, her own “isolated island”, King’s short story teaches how it is vital for all cultures to be respectful and understanding of others cultural practices and teaching. Although indigenous teachings may be their most well established among certain regions of Canada, the display of indigenous relics across the country is an example of its multiculturalism and its delight to display varying arts and cultures. King demonstrates how preservation of culture must be a collective effort, so that traditions do not remain exclusive to “isolated