"A Pair of Ticket"
The short story 'A Pair of Tickets' is a component of a novel 'The Joy Luck Club' by Amy
Tan which focuses on a woman fulfilling the lifelong wish of her mother. The title symbolizes the
discovery of the narrator's identity, and the soul of her emotional nature and feelings towards her
mother. The setting in this story changes the soul of the narrator as she begins to discover things
about herself and her two different cultures. As the story progresses, she begins to question things
in her life, her identity, her mother's life, and the lives of her newly discovered twin sisters. She
wants to fulfill her mother's wish of seeing the twin daughters once again. At the beginning of the
story, she denies her Chinese culture, but through the trip to China, she matures and begins to realize
her true self.
When the narrator leaves the Hong Kong border to China, she feels the 'familiar old pain'
aching in her bones. This pain comes form her internal conflict between two different culture, her
denial of being Chinese, and the missed opportunity for her to truly know her mother. According
to Stanley L. Fong, ' As Chinese become progressively removed from their ancestral culture and in
greater contact with the dominant American culture, they will show an concurrent increase in their
assimilation-orientation and in their internalization of American cultural norms' (39). As the
narrator was born in America, goes to an American school, and makes friends with Caucasians, she
starts to become part American. She wants to be more associated with her Caucasian friends, and
because she is educated under an American culture, she thinks in an American way. She doesn't
want to be an outsider in a foreign country, she wants to be associated with Americans in an
American culture, she wants to be an American. In order to do so, she must deny her Chinese ways
as taught by her parents.
The characteristics of being a Chinese has embarrassed her enough. She does not want to
Tan which focuses on a woman fulfilling the lifelong wish of her mother. The title symbolizes the
discovery of the narrator's identity, and the soul of her emotional nature and feelings towards her
mother. The setting in this story changes the soul of the narrator as she begins to discover things
about herself and her two different cultures. As the story progresses, she begins to question things
in her life, her identity, her mother's life, and the lives of her newly discovered twin sisters. She
wants to fulfill her mother's wish of seeing the twin daughters once again. At the beginning of the
story, she denies her Chinese culture, but through the trip to China, she matures and begins to realize
her true self.
When the narrator leaves the Hong Kong border to China, she feels the 'familiar old pain'
aching in her bones. This pain comes form her internal conflict between two different culture, her
denial of being Chinese, and the missed opportunity for her to truly know her mother. According
to Stanley L. Fong, ' As Chinese become progressively removed from their ancestral culture and in
greater contact with the dominant American culture, they will show an concurrent increase in their
assimilation-orientation and in their internalization of American cultural norms' (39). As the
narrator was born in America, goes to an American school, and makes friends with Caucasians, she
starts to become part American. She wants to be more associated with her Caucasian friends, and
because she is educated under an American culture, she thinks in an American way. She doesn't
want to be an outsider in a foreign country, she wants to be associated with Americans in an
American culture, she wants to be an American. In order to do so, she must deny her Chinese ways
as taught by her parents.
The characteristics of being a Chinese has embarrassed her enough. She does not want to