Saving Sourdi

In the story “Saving Sourdi” May-Lee Chai expresses the theme coming of age through the eyes of a young girl Nea who desperately tries to save her older sister as she becomes more mature and grown up. Nea is faced to deal with situations where she feels a need to save her older sister Sourdi from the people around her. As Sourdi begins to distance her self away from the family the differences between the two girls begins to show. Sourdi becomes more mature, gets married and starts her own family. While Nea’s character reveals herself as a selfish immature girl. Chai reveals how the sister’s close relationship changes as the girl’s maturity level changes.
Chai begins the story with a chaotic situation that reveals Nea’s immaturity level. Sourdi and Nea were the only two girls in their families restaurant when a man “staggered up and put his arm across Sourdi’s shoulders” (69). In response to the distress Nea saw her sister in she “grabbed and ran back out to Sourdi. Get away from my sister! I shouted, waving the paring knife. The men were silent for about three seconds, and then they burst in to laughter. I charged and stabbed the man in the sleeve.”(70). By starting the story with Nea’s first pursuit to save her sister Chai defines the main characters immature nature. Nea’s lack of rational thinking and acting on impulse reveals how young she truly is. Even though her sister was the one being harassed, the reacted to the situations very differently. After Nea’s actions she still hopes for some one else to take control of the situation. “I thought Ma would take care of everything now. And I was right she did, but not the way I had imagined”(70). Nea’s immature nature is still prevalent even after she stabbed the man; she believes that her mother would acknowledge that she did the right thing. Chai reveals the difference between the two sisters way of thinking when Sourdi says, “They could take you away. The police, they could put you in a foster home. All of