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Who's Irish Gish Jen Analysis

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In this story by Gish Jen's called “Who’s Irish?" it tells a story about an elderly Chinese woman living in America as she and her family struggle with issues concerning the correct way to raise a child, and cultural differences between the two families. She is an old fashion elderly lady who migrated from China. When she came to America she had a hard time and struggled to adapt to the new lifestyle. Having a daughter that's married to an man who is not Chinese and having a mixed granddaughter made it more complicated for her to adapt emotionally as well.
Gish Jen shows readers, that this elderly women had a round and flat personality. For example, throughout the story the elderly woman always criticized, being very blunt towards other people, …show more content…

The elderly woman claims that spanking a child is for their own good while her daughter does not agree. The climax of the story is when the elderly women claims that she can't reach for her or bend down as she is old and fragile, so she pokes her granddaughter with a stick a couple of times to assist her. When the elder daughter and son in law arrive, her son in law grabs his daughter out and sees bruises that were caused by the poking of the stick by the elderly women. They soon come to realize after a short discussion that this was not the only time the elderly woman disciplined her granddaughter causing physical abuse, as a result of this they both decide it's time for her mother to leave the home. The protagonist in this story which is the elder lady doesn’t change at all. No matter what circumstances she was stubborn and never changed. Her values and strong minded opinions kept her from changing. As a result this did more damage as she failed to enforce her views to her daughter and son in law. Although she felt she was doing the right thing in her opinion she did not succeed and was forced to move with another

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