• Bright Thursdays
  
  
• The Pitfalls of the Images of a "Model Minority" in a Chinese-American Family
  
  
• Prize Stock

            In short story “Bright Thursdays” written by Oliver Senior, the transactions in life of a young girl named Laura who illegitimate daughter of American father and Jamaican mother. Her mother, Myrtle is a single women struggling to survive in the Jamaican poverty in order to improve life for her daughter she tries to get attention from Miss Christie(Laura’s grandmother) to adopt Laura and support her in America. In the second part, Laura will have a chance to see her father who she hasn’t seen since she was born hopefully this father who she longs for will provide her bright Thursdays. Throughout the story reflects the sense of alienation of the mixed race girl in a new society as well as the ideal of colonialism. 

            In the beginning of the story, Laura expresses the sense of alienation and displacement in the new house where she feels of the strangeness. The writer narrates to Laura’s feeling “Please please take me home for I cannot stand the clouds”(pp.1) the use of word ‘clouds’ foreshadows significantly as it symbolizes of confusion, disoriented and unclear situation of Laura who seemingly is influenced by two conflicting cultures. According to her background ancestry’s culture, she lives in poor and basic condition everything seems to be less formal on the contrary, Miss Christie treats and trains her in very different way that she used to be at home the result of that she is confused of her self-identity. ‘Meal time’ is the crucial conflict of two cultures where in Jamaica ‘A meal was something as natural as breathing’(pp.1) the setting of the kitchen reflects the native African’s heritage that no rules or regulations for eating so she is quite free to enjoy her meal whereas on Miss Christie’s dinning table ‘Table Manners’ where the writer symbolized as ‘cultural identity’ for Westerners. Miss Christie tells Laura “Now sit up straight, child. Don’t slump so” by the time Laura was served, her throat was already full and she got so confused that she would forget the knife and start to eat with her fork.(pp.2) the writer suggests the problematic of cultural confusion of Laura leading her to the loss of self identity and self confident.

            Laura many times feels alienated and displaced from where she is and struggle between social obligation and personal freedom thus leading to the sense of alienated both from herself and from society. Laura looked at herself in the mirror and tried to smile with the confidence of those in the photograph, but all she saw was a being so strange, so far removed from those in the pictures, that she knew that she could never be like them (pp.1) “She sometimes felt that Life had played her tricks, and there was, after all, no space allotted for her”(pp.1) even in the dinning table, where she tries to imagine all of children in the family seated everyone seems to have their own proper spot but for her “there was no place left for her”(pp.1) the writer uses the symbolic of  the table as a dominant society that somehow she doesn’t belong to because her difference from the other so no one accept her to be part of. Thus she talks to herself “silently be pardon for being there”(pp.6).The word “empty or emptiness”, however, continues to persist “leaving her standing there alone in the emptiness”(pp.6), “the road swayed white in an empty world”(pp.7), “she would have to walk alone the three miles to school in a world that was empty of people”(pp.7) and “the road curved white and lonely in the empty morning”(pp.9) all these statements the writer exemplifies the sense of loss in this society everywhere seems to have no hope for her. It reflects that she lives in the life of solitude.

            The story also exhibits how colonialism influences the Jamaican culture and how they feel to be under the subjugation by dominant culture so the writer echoes through Laura’s of Laura as her Sunday school that she has to go to church where Jesus coming to earth with white clouds(pp.6) so Sunday for Laura is the day she finds her life is lacking of freedom as the writer uses the symbolic of wearing shoes in order to go to church implies how colonized people feel when they were subjugated from Westerner culture. Furthermore, in America her life is controlled by Miss Christie who plans to ‘polish’ by getting her into decent clothes, correcting her speech, erasing her country accent and teaching her table manner(pp.5) the attitude of Miss Christie is not far from colonial culture contributes to native habitants.

                        Racism causes Laura to be a victim of loss of her identity as Laura’s mother interpretation that it would be impossible for Laura to be accepted into white society if her skin was too dark. This is the belief of ‘white’ is superior so Myrtle does her best to improve the color of her skin by using coconut oil rubbing it in everyday(pp.2) all these suggest that the skins color is a majority concerned in being part of the dominant culture or to be accepted in society when Laura arrives to miss Christie’s house she is very gland that she is lighter than the photograph. Because Myrtle wants her daughter to have a golden future she isolates her from natural child behavior until she becomes artificial like the writer portrays in the scene that Myrtle takes Laura to take a photo to send to Miss Christie. Laura’s hand poses to touch an ‘artificial rose in a vase’ as if this young girl is an artificial rose, beautiful but unnatural who loses her normal childhood unlike the rest of children in Jamaica because of her mother’s strictures the child soon felt alienated from other(pp.3) reflects the loss of identity as she becomes an outsider even in her hometown.

            In the second part, we see the comparison between black woman identity and white woman identity who give the definition of self image to Laura. Laura herself feels ashamed of her mother when she sees her father’s new wife even though Laura could hardly understand anything the woman said, but was impressed at how trim and neat she was, at the endless fascination of her clothes, her jewelry, her laughter, her accent, her perfume, her assurance. Looking at her long polished nails, Laura had a picture of her mother’s hands, the nails cracked and broken like a man’s from her work in the fields.(pp.9).The writers portrays the two examples of women from different society and culture one supposes to be from superior racial  as the ‘polished nails’ whereas the other comes from a backward society. Thus, this is the first time that Laura sees the difference of self image of people they call ‘civilized’ and ‘uncivilized’ countries and she finds out the answer of her father ignorant toward her, she now understand that her mother has nothing to compare to this lady. We also see the character develop of perspective to the world.

            At the end of the story, we see that Laura discovers her own identity and has the answer about her life. Since she arrives to stay with Miss Christie she chose to alienate herself even though she is accepted by society for example she can go to school, but is not necessarily happy unless she finally find her true identity so at the end she resolves her individual quest for self-definition thereby after she hears her father call her “Oh, for chrissake. Why don’t you stop fussing so much about the bloody little bastard” she had made herself an orphan and there were no more clouds(pp.9). She finally discovers herself as when there are no clouds the sky is bright her life won’t be confuse anymore.

            “Bright Thursday”  Senior uses the young girl to reflect the life of solitude and displacement that she has to encounter in both the past and the present society. Besides being alienated, she exemplifies the theme of colonialism that Jamaican people have to suffer and struggle to survive in the world. By following the situation that Laura has to cope with all the way through the story, we learn that how ones life is worthless than the other. Who has the right to decide one’s destiny?

     The relationship between Chinese-born mother and American-born daughter as is portrayed in ‘Two Kinds’ one of  the vignettes from the Joy Luck Club written by Amy Tan. For Woo’s mother, America is the land of opportunity as she is full of hopes for Woo to be a great success as a prodigy. One day after Woo’s mother watches an American talent show program as a result she is inspired by this The Ed Sullivan Show. Since then at the age of nine, Woo has to be burdened with her parents expectations to succeed as a pianist. “Why don’t you like me the way I am?” I’m not a genius! I can’t play the piano. My mother slapped me. “Who ask you be genius? She shouted. “Only ask you be your best. On the surface, it seems the conflict between this mother-daughter problem is purely a domestic problem within the family. Actually, it is beyond that the real problem lies in immigrant family under a threat to be ‘model minority’ notion leads to the conflict between them. In ‘Two Kinds’, it shows how the stereotype of Chinese-American as a ‘model minority’, the myth of the modern continuation of the standard that the Asian has been forced into by this society puts them under pressure in life and keeps their relationships at a distances.

            In the beginning of ‘Two Kinds’, Tan starts with the   American dream in Woo’s mother way of thinking.

   My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. You could open a restaurant. You could work for the government and get good retirement. You could buy a house with almost no money down. You could become rich. You could become instantly famous.(132)

     This statement reflects the belief of most Chinese immigrants where America can bring them a better life resulting in why she puts pressure on Woo to be a successful actress like Shirley Temple. Her mother tries to mold her into a goal-oriented American idea of making Woo to be as same as Shirley Temple as she believes that there is nothing beyond her daughter talent.

            American popular culture plays a very crucial part on both mother and daughter ‘We’d watch Shirley’s old movies on TV as though they were training films.(132) Woo’s mother is attempting to "Americanize" her daughter in a way in order to achieve her American dream. Most of her ideas that wants Woo to be a pianist comes from ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ on TV. Woo herself, also definitely harbors tendencies of the desire of her mother who clings to the American ideal. In her own imagination ‘I was a dainty ballerina girl standing by the curtains’ and ‘I was Cinderella stepping from her pumpkin carriage with sparkly cartoon music filling the air’(133). It reflects that actually mother and Woo adopt American cultural tradition.

            By living under the image of ‘model minority’ being smart stereotyped by American society can lead to many pitfalls. Undoubtedly, Woo’s mother passes her expectations to her daughter to be a remarkable child as she searches for stories from magazines to test her intelligence. When the test gets harder and Woo fails to meet to her mother high degree of expectation ‘And after seeing my mother’s disappointed face once again, something inside of me began to die’(134). Since the Asian belief in the value of education dating back to Confucian times, parents also place large amounts of pressure on children to succeed without knowing that how much Woo desires to satisfy her mother. When she can’t reach her mother’s expectation it creates a depression, metal health which can low her self-esteem as well.

            Consequently, Woo resists herself against her mother and also the dominant society that puts the pressure on her and rebels against the image of a model minority. She resists by letting herself down as she doesn’t get straight As, class president, study in Stanford and finally drops out of college.(142)

            Moreover, Chinese American children face even more pressure to be the model minority from other Chinese Americans as they are constantly compared with other Chinese American kids. For instance, at the beginning of the story Woo’s mother says ‘What does Auntie Lindo know? Her daughter, she is only best tricky.’(132) and then it was after church Woo is standing farther down the wall about five feet away.  Waverly is her friend they grow up together.

                        [W]averly Jong had gained a certain amount of fame as “Chinatown’s Littlest Chinese Chess Champion” “She brings home too many trophys.”… “You lucky you don’t have this problem,” said Auntie Lindo with a sigh to my mother.

           It clearly shows us that within their own groups they also compete to each other, so the pressure for these Chinese-Americans are not only from outside society but also among themselves. Why they compete with each other is because it is a result as the stereotype of the model minority who having a reputation for being so smart. Therefore, this dilemma stereotype can cause Woo to rebel against society.

            On Woo’s thirtieth birthday, she discovers that on the left-hand side of the page of the exercise notes ‘Pleading Child’ and on the right-hand side is called ‘Perfectly Contented’ two halves of these are the same song. It suggests the combination of the two which is the relationship between her and her mother. The writer uses this symbol to points out the separation between both of them, the conflict that cause them to be far apart due to her mother experience, expectation and culture. Because from her mother’s own experience in American society of being a cleaner so she wants the daughter to be better than herself. Unfortunately the more she pushes her it likes she push the relationship away at the same time.

            Woo also encounters an identity crisis as she has no idea what she really wants to be in life due to the expectations from her parents hopes to be successful in the future.

      I looked  at my reflection, blinking so I could see more clearly. The girl staring back at me was angry, powerful. This girl and I were the same. I had new thoughts, willful thoughts, or rather thoughts filled with lost of won’ts.

     Even in her innerself, it portrays the sense of loss and confusion to accept her mother dreams and follow her guidance or rebelling.

            All of the conflicts between mother and daughter as Chinese-American family resulting in a  dominant society that molds their prosperities toward an achievement in life. The ideology of ‘model minority’ pressures them in order to be accepted in the society they have to be perfect and be the best. Sometimes, to get to the goal we fail to be aware what we have lost in life. Like ‘Two Kinds’, throughout the story we sense a  broken relationship between this mother and daughter who seem to be victims of a ‘model minority’.

References: 

Tan Amy. “Two Kinds.” The Joy Luck Club. London 1989.132-144.
www.modelminority.com

     In Prize Stock, the short story is set in the period of War narrated by a young Japanese village boy who is also the main character. This story portrays the conflict within the Japanese society itself between village and town children where the value of humans are treated unequally. Later on, the story develops to the circumstance when  a black solider is caught from the plane crashed  to  how  these villagers respond to another mankind who has an  unfamiliar appearance at the same time they become now more powerful over him.  

    On the first page, the writer obviously shows the conflict relationship of children in the same society. What village children receive from town people are treated as nobody but  dirty animals. In this point it reflects the social structure and the value of marginal people who also human beings. The atmosphere creates a term of Us and Them. “Not only Were we treated like dirty animal in the town…”(p.1) it reflects self-inferior and dehumanized feeling from people in the same society. At the same time, this young boy himself rebels against children in the town calling them weird, treacherous and unfamiliar. Once the story continues until adults caught a black solider, soon he becomes a victim of dehumanization, kept  in an underground cellar and controlled by villagers who now receive an authority over him. In this particularly point, I think the way these villagers treat him not far from an animal. The writer indicates many times how a young boy and the rest of children feel about him. Even though children seem to have a wonderful relationship with the black solider, on the other hand in the eyes of them, he is not much far from an animal or an unfamiliar object that  is new to them “Harelip had already reserved the right to decide who should look at the black solider through the skylight” (p.14) the writer describes which remind me of an animal in a zoo. Later on even  the relationship between the children and the black solider develop, the young boy still thinks of him as “I began to perceive him as a gentle animal, an obedient animal”(p.14-15) and “To us the black soldier was a rare and wonderful domestic animal, an animal of genius”(p.19). I think the writer tries to show us that how villagers are looked down from town people at the same time, villagers themselves also react to another human badly as well. Throughout this story the question occur to me what is the value of a human life?