ipl-logo

Memoir Bound & Western Dress

1180 Words5 Pages

Over the course of a person’s life they will grow, learn, and change. In Natasha Chang’s Memoir Bound & Western Dress, there is a character whose life story emanates this. The book is based on the interviews the author has with her great aunt – Chang Yu-i. Natasha explains how Yu-I went through many trials and tribulations throughout her life but through it all became a better person. One of Yu-I’s earliest struggles was growing up in a very traditional household. Although she believed firmly in the rules she was taught Yu-i always longed for something more. As as Yu-I got older she learned that the only way to become who she wanted, was to turn to a more modern lifestyle. This realization helps Yu-i to learn to support not only herself but …show more content…

We first see this when Yu-i decides against the abortion that Hsu Chih-mo wanted. When Hsu Chih-mo learns about Yu-I’s pregnancy he immediately orders her to abort the baby. Shocked by the idea Yu-I is left to make a decision. After consulting with her brother Yu-I decides to keep the baby and raise the child with or without her husband. This is the first move that Yu-I ever makes against Hsu Chih-mo, showing the beginnings of Yu-I progression with thoughts. While Hsu Chih-mo wants to become more modern by having Yu-i get an abortion, in the end it is Yu-I that becomes more modern by disobeying her husband. Shortly after Hsu Chih-mo requests an abortion, Hsu Chih-mo disappears and leaves Yu-i. This is a big turning point for Yu-I because it makes her realize that Hsu Chih-mo does not care for her. During this time Yu-I analyzed the situation and figured out on her own what to do. She decided to move to Germany, first living with seventh brother then living with a woman named Dora. Here Yu-I is able to raise Peter and go about her life on her own terms. Yu-I even starts going to school. Once turning to the modern life Yu-I learns to make her own decisions. Yu-I even realizes this change herself when she says “I always think of my life as “before Germany” and “after Germany”. Before Germany, I was afraid of everything. After Germany, I was afraid of nothing.” (149) Yu-I’s peaceful life in Germany came to a swift end when her son Peter died causing her and Dora to go their separate ways. Still Yu-I learned many things from her time after her divorce and even got to experience a more modern

Show More
Related

  • The Patriarchy Of The Chen Family In Monkey King By Christina Garcia

    434 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a fateful turn of events, she reluctantly abandons her son. This is a decision that haunts her for the rest of her life. Even when it comes to love Chen Fang is deserted by her lover. Although melancholy, Chen Fang does not seem bitter. When she is in her cell after being accused of being a traitor against her country she still fantasizes about one day visiting her family in Cuba.

    Read More

  • Home Bird And Chu's House

    662 Words  | 3 Pages

    This quote shows that Chu Ju would run away from home for her sister’s sake. Chu Ju’s family was planning to sell Hua so they could have another child(who would hopefully be a boy), but Chu Ju wouldn’t let that happen, so she ran away so they didn’t have to sell

    Read More

  • The Best We Could Do By Thi Bui

    1410 Words  | 6 Pages

    While in the beginning of the novel, Bui had learned of her mother’s experience in Vietnam and giving birth, she had yet to resonate with her and the label, “refugee”. In the final chapter of “The Best We Could Do,” Bui rediscovers her mothers past. She begins to look back at her memories, but now through a different lens. In this chapter, Bui tells of how giving birth led her to a deeper understanding of who her mother was and what had influenced her approach to life. She looks back at her life and actions through her mother’s perspective.

    Read More

  • Copper Sun Personal Essay Examples

    322 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many situations in life make your mind set stronger in difficult challenges. Having hope for the better can make a person stronger to achieve for the best. Showing bravery , hope and courage had helped Amari get freedom that she desired. Expressing the history in the book shows challenges that people had gone through in the past.

    Read More

  • Identity In Monica Sone's Neisei Daughter

    925 Words  | 4 Pages

    At her Japanese school she experienced even more of a disconnect between her two cultural heads, while at the school she was expected to behavior like a proper Japanese girl, she had to sit a certain way, respond in a certain manner, and bow when appropriate. This persona she took on during those few hours everyday clashed with her real personality, “Therefore promptly at five-thirty every day, I shed Nihon Gakko and returned with relief to an environment which was the only one real

    Read More

  • Under The Briltmore Clock Analysis

    797 Words  | 4 Pages

    A Declaration of Independence Every time I visit Great Aunt Nora in her assisted living home in the center of Manhattan, I know she will fascinate me with her extraordinary stories about travel and life as a dancer on Broadway. Despite her failing memory, she exploits her rich past with occasional jewels of information that reveal her many sides. A theme that pervades all of her stories and her life is independence. Nora Bristow went against the grain of society by being an independent woman in the mid-twentieth century.

    Read More

  • Human Nature In Yu Hua's To Live

    1232 Words  | 5 Pages

    Youqing voices his opinion after Fugui explains to him that “[they have] given Fengxia away to somebody else to save money so he could go to school . . . he [screams] through his tears, ‘I’m not going to school, I want Sis!’” (Yu 92). This serves as a reflection of China under

    Read More

  • Prodigy By Maxine Hong Kingston: Character Analysis

    643 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wang-li had been changed by her mother, which resulted in a negative self-image when she wasn’t able to meet the harsh expectations. After going through exhausting tests and seeing the disappointment of her mother, Wang-li thought,

    Read More

  • Qiu Jin Summary

    702 Words  | 3 Pages

    The writer Qiu Jin was telling story of a girl who experienced a Chinese woman’s life through the period of feudal China to the semi-colonialism China. The girl’s name is Jurui, and she experienced every unfair torment that the old society imposed on girls and women. Although Jurui was unhappy and even angry about the way she was treated, she could not do anything to help herself until she read some readings describing how western women were respected and educated outside of China. After secret talks with a few of her friends who had same ambitions with her, they fled to Japan together for an education and planned to come back to free the women and the nation. If Jurui had been born some decades before, she wouldn’t have a chance to be enlightened

    Read More

  • Dying Li Character Analysis

    633 Words  | 3 Pages

    When she sees her beloved grandmother’s face on a poster that accuses her of being “the wife of a filthy capitalist” and “an enemy of the people,” she becomes outraged. After her home being deemed an unsafe place to live in, she goes to live with DiDi at her father’s movie studio, but discovers that some of the violence shown at her old school was apparent there too. After someone reported Baba’s innocent comment, Moying’s life and family was torn apart yet again. Suddenly, Moying’s life had meaning again, as she finds sanctuary in education.

    Read More

  • Who Is Ellen A Dynamic Character In Finding My Voice

    738 Words  | 3 Pages

    It also displays that conflict is inevitable in a parent/child relationship. ‘Ellen Sung’ is a dynamic character. Many events lead to Ellen’s understanding of her personality and help her meet her goals. Ellen faces many problems as she struggles to accept changes in her life.

    Read More

  • Girl In Translation Jean Kwok Analysis

    1402 Words  | 6 Pages

    The narration beautifully illustrates the struggles of being pushed into a foreign world, where people look different, have other traditions, other norms, and speak an entirely different language. Based on her own childhood experiences as a migrant from Hong Kong, Jean Kwok tells the story of young and exceptionally intelligent Kimberly Chang who finds herself doing the splits between a life in Chinatown, wasting away as a sweatshop worker and living in a run-down apartment, and striving for a successful career at a fancy private school. Kimberly translates herself back and forth between a world where she can barely afford clothes and a world where, in spite of her intelligence, she 's supposed to look the part as she reaches for higher education. It is a tale of survival and beating the odds, but ultimately, it is also a fragile love story in an unforgiving environment. The narration is raw, honest, and authentic, with the Chinese culture being cleverly woven into the storyline.

    Read More

  • Study 6: Erikson's Theory

    1142 Words  | 5 Pages

    She continues to have feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt about what to do about staying with her husband. Her entire life, Betty has “settled” for the good of everyone else. Now, at 68, her desire to move forward with her life is in conflict with normal course of action. 3. What is the crisis experienced in Erikson’s fifth stage of psychosocial development?

    Read More

  • Two Kinds Character Analysis

    937 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jing Mei, while portrayed as an obedient child, is only willing to listen to her mother to a certain extent. Throughout the story, it is consistently hinted that Jing Mei would eventually explode against her mother as an attempt to free herself from her mother’s chains. In addition, after the fiasco at the piano recital, she eventually derives further from her mother’s wishes as she “didn 't get straight A...didn 't become class president...didn 't get into Stanford...dropped out of college.” (54). On the flip side, Jing Mei’s mother is a stereotypical Chinese parent who is fully determined to ensure her daughter’s success in a new environment.

    Read More

  • Ruan Lingyu Analysis

    1464 Words  | 6 Pages

    Often referred to as the “Chinese Garbo” and “generally regarded as the greatest actress China has produced”, Ruan Lingyu (1910-1935) is one of the icons of early Chinese cinema (Stokes and Hoover, 92). In addition to being recognized for her “soulful characterizations” of “tragic roles”, Ruan was also representative of a “new, modern woman” (Stokes and Hoover, 92; The Chinese Mirror, 2011). This essay will examine and show how the “Ruan Lingyu” that both the viewers of her own era and today know is ultimately just the constructed visual persona of her – a mythologized figure that transcends even her own life. Using The Goddess (1934) and Centre Stage (1992) as case studies, I argue that the multi-faceted onscreen and off-screen image of Ruan is transformed into a vehicle through which Chinese cinema engages with its society’s particular time and space in the films’ moments of production. An examination of Ruan Lingyu’s career would reveal that “in general, Ruan’s persona is not a “type” character” but rather a “fate persona” who “encounters tragedy in her life” regardless of “her social background or her age” (Kerlan, 2011).

    Read More

More about Memoir Bound & Western Dress

Open Document