Where The Gods Fly Short Story

Moving from another city or country can be quite a special experience. You do not always know what to expect and it can be a tough time. Often times you do not speak the native language and you do not know anybody in your new place. Sometimes it is even harder if your new place has another set of rules and norms. It can be especially hard if you bring younger children as you cannot raise them the same way you would have otherwise raised them in your old place. This is the case in the short story “Where the Gods fly” which was written by Jean Kwok and released in 2012. In the short story a mother desperately tries to do what she thinks is best for her daughter, but her daughter does not seem to appreciate the same kind of values as her mother. The short story begins in media res with “I kneel here before the gods and the thought of what I am about to do stings my eyes like incense.” (L. 1-2). But this is also the end of the story as this is the decision that is going to put an end to the daughter’s dearest hobby; ballet. The rest of the story is build up tells how it ends the way it does through a lot of memories. It starts off with the daughter being home alone at the age of five and the mother simply cannot take the fact that her little daughter is bored at home and therefor brings her daughter to the facto-ry where she works. The

The author uses a lot of contrasts as there is a big difference be-tween America and China. The text begins in media res as the beginning of the story is actually the end of the story. After the beginning, the narrator explains how it got to the point where she had to stop her daughter from going to ballet. The text also contains a lot of themes a few of which is religion, mother-daughter relationships and