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Where The Gods Fly Analysis

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It can be extremely difficult to move to a new country. You do not have any family, friends or familiar faces and you have to start a completely new life in a land with a different language and culture. This is what Jean Kwok writes about in her short story Where The Gods Fly written in 2012. Where a mother has to decide if she should take her daughter out of her dance classes. Is it fair for the mother to take away something her daughter loves so much? The short story is about a Chinese immigrant family who moves to America. The mother of the family is the protagonist and she is trying to give her daughter the best life as possible. After about 11 years in America, it is hard for her to see her daughter Pearl, live a life like an American. Therefore, she struggles with the decision of taking Pearl out of dancing school, so she can get a proper education. As a result, she goes to the gods and seeks comfort. The short story begins in medias res and when she thinks back and the past, she has a …show more content…

She was born in Hong Kong, but came to America with her family when she was five-years-old just like Pearl was, when she arrived with her family. Jean Kwoks parents lost all their money when they moved to America, so like Pearls parents they had to work at a factory, where they had to work hard every day to make a living. In addition to that did Jean Kwok also dance as a professional ballroom dancer when she was younger and so does Pearl in Where The Gods Fly in contradistinction to Kwok, Pearls is a ballet dancer. Therefore, there is many similarities between Pearl and Jean Kwok lives. It is difficult to say if Where The Gods Fly is based on Jean Kwoks own life despite all the similarities. However, it seems like was inspired by her own life to write a story about a typical Chinese mother who cannot accept that her daughter grows up to be an American woman and not a Chinese

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