Poem Analysis: Legal Alien By Pat Mora

Daughter named Jing Mei was born Chinese prodigy with an high expectation from her mother. "America was where all my mother's hope lay" (18). The mother viewed her daughter with an high hope of prosperous. Seeking only through her own thought, it started to become transparent of mother's cultural identity on having a thriving child for her generation. "Only two kinds of daughters.. those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind" (24).

Both Jing-mei and her mother faces each form of conflict and they are revealed throughout the story. Jing-mei and her mother have some very good examples of internal conflicts. It was one part of the story when Jing-mei feels sad that she couldn’t live up to be that person that her mother wants her to be. It is showing that Jing-mei feels bad. She’s not living up to the dream that her mother thought up for

This disagreement quickly became a source of resentment and anger for both of them, but Jing-Mei and her mother were unable to resolve this conflict because of their different backgrounds and experiences. The story showcases how relationships between mothers and daughters can be strained because of differences in culture and a lack of communication. One of the difficulties between Jing-Mei and her mother is their different cultural backgrounds, which is supported by two points from the story. Firstly, Jing-Mei and her mother both disagreed on the opportunities that existed in America. According to Singer, Amy Tan uses “two entirely

In The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan, we are introduced to Suyuan and her daughter Jing-Mei “June” Woo. As with any relationship, there is conflict between Suyuan Woo and her daughter, as it seems that Jing-Mei doesn’t understand her mother’s Chinese culture and ambitions. In the Chinese culture, women are seen as inferior and often lack basic rights such as the right to marriage or financial holdings, thus deprived of their potential. This is why the rights in the U.S. are seen as privileges to Chinese women, among other minorities, and why Suyuan endeavored for her daughter to become a prodigy and excel in anything and everything. Yet as Jing-Mei was forced into this ideal, and the more her mother tried to enforce this idea, the further she begun to despise her mother for attempting to turn her into a “fraud”.

On the other hand, being born into this country, Jing-mei is against wanting to live up to the expectations her mother sets on her. Two kinds reveal two different sides of the cultural spectrum, and their opposing view towards their values. Jing-mei 's mother felt like an outcast existing in a dominate population. Grasping the same idea, she held onto her hard time back in her home. Jing-mei is her last hope to prove that her homeland can be just as talented as Americans.

Jing-Mei comes from China and Chinese background has to adapt comfortably with being in American culture. “Only two kinds of daughters, those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind; only one kind of daughter can live in this house, obedient daughter.” What I interpret from this text is that the obedient daughter in Jing-Mei's mother’s case is the Chinese daughter, while the daughter who follows their own mind is the American daughter. The mother wants Jing-Mei to be the obedient daughter. Culture can detrimentally change a

Both her and her mom want her to be a prodigy of Beyonce. Both of their parents want them to become a prodigy of somebody. Jing-Mei’s mom wants her to be a prodigy of Shirley Temple. One other allusion in “Two Kinds” and modern day society is Peter Pan. Peter Pan never wants to grow up and neither does Jing-Mei.

Jing-Mei has this mother who lost her husband and twins back in China and is now trying very hard to get a fresh and better start on her new life with her child. Now this could mean many different things to different people, but

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.

Jing-mei alludes to the future life and memories the sisters and she will form as a result of this overdue family reunion. In addition to completing her own journey, Jing-mei also completes her mother’s journey. By sharing all the stories and memories from her mother’s life in China, her mother was in a sense, right aside her in

An-Mei’s mother taught her that she has to swallow her tears, to conceal her pain, and distrust others. After An-Mei’s mother’s death, she learned to stand up for what is right. During the funeral, An-Mei crushed the fake pearls that the Second Wife gave to An-Mei’s mother. Ying-Ying lost the control on her life when she married an American man. She redeemed her control of life after talking to Lena.

The poem fully develops the idea of the limited of privileges that some might have according to the their races and the racial division. The “borderlands” is the division of a place, but in the eyes of Gloria she makes the character grow up in a place where there is a racial division. The character is in the middle of how of her race is important as her cultural ways get in the way of trying to practice each one of them. The poet writes in both english and spanish to explain how she speaks to the different races she carries. As you read the poem you can feel how the tone changes as the author is speaking of the different events that she goes through in her life. The poet uses visual imagery to illustrate to the reader how tough it is for a young person to pursue a specific tradition or religion without upsetting someone of their family.

They decided to marry but faced to the disapproval of Toula’s family about the cultural differences. Firstly, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” illustrates the conflict between members of two different cultural groups in terms of communication style: low context culture and high context culture. In theory, a low context culture tends to “uses language primarily to express thoughts, feelings, and ideas as clearly and logically as possible... The meaning of a statement is in the words spoken”; in contrast, a high context culture “relies heavily on subtle, often nonverbal cues to convey meaning, save face, and maintaining social harmony.

The film , My Big Fat Greek Wedding, portrays a clear conceptual view of intercultural communication between families by focusing on two cultures, White-American, and Greek, and making a mockery out of the cultural stereotypes within these cultures. The film follows the story of Toula Portokalos, a 30 year old American-Greek woman working as a waitress in her family’s greek restaurant. The movie shows a strong but stereotypical representation of what a greek family is like; some stereotypes, focused on in the film, are that Greek heritage is highly honored, Greeks are very emotional and clingy, family to Greeks is very important, and strong reliance on parental figures, both financially, and instructionally, is typical and supported in a

At first Jing-Mei grew in her dreams and desirers to be perfect for her family; “In all of my imaginings