Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

The Oriental Contingent

Satisfactory Essays
318 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Oriental Contingent
The Story “The Oriental Contingent” by Diana Chang, Lisa Mallory is a major character as important as Connie Sung, although the story is about Connie.
Her personality is exactly like that most Chinese. However she is not a genuine Chinese, she is a Chinese American but she never been to China. As Connie said Lisa is a person inscrutable and mysterious.
At the first meet of them, Lisa is dressed in “one-of-a- kind kimono dress … and her hair was drawn back tightly in a braid which stood out from close to the top of her head horizontally” (329). Connie realizes that Lisa has a Chinese face and an authoritative behavior when Lisa appears saying “well, now, Connie Sung” (329). Also Lisa becomes a little bit repetitive because she loves saying that she has a musician family like Paul Wu, her cousin who studies with two other guys.
The Lisa’s behavior has an extremely influence on Connie’s life. It is possible to see when they become good friends.
Connie has some habit of noticing how people talk, act and dress to try to guess which place the people from. So, Lisa and Connie begin to compare with each other about their histories, such as backgrounds, hometowns and even jobs. Connie however, in the first moment, feels that she is less Chinese than Lisa Mallory. On other hand she started to check all past of Lisa, and find out that... “But now Connie knew only too clearly that her own background made her decidedly inferior. Her father was a second generation gynecologist who spoke hardly any Chinese.” (330).
In fact Lisa’s behavior caused effect on Connie, but in some moment Connie can see that she is more Chinese than Lisa and do not need concern about Lisa’s life.
“I was adopted by Americans. My full name is Lisa Warren Mallory.” (333), “Incredulous, Connie said, “I’m more Chinese than you!”.”(333).

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    By telling a story of Lee’s mother, the author demonstrated that the native people looked down upon foreign people who had difficulties to live in a new circumstance and could not speak English well to express what they wanted and thought. With the discrimination from the native people, Lee’s family struggled a lot in this community. The audience is the people who did not show respect to the foreigners and did not help them overcome the difficulties.…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    b) What does her statement “You’re not Chinese. You don’t even look like them”, suggest about her feeling about her Chinese identity?…

    • 774 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story consists of two primary focus scenes: the world in which Connie flourishes in and the day that everything in Connie’s world changes. The beginning of the story introduces the reader to the protagonist who is young Connie and the central point of the story. Connie is described by Oats as being a…

    • 1034 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Each girl eventually recognizes how the older generation played a significant part in shaping their identities causing them to embrace their Chinese heritage. The short stories focus on the first American mothers and their American Chinese daughters.…

    • 490 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Firstly, the two sides of Connie, Connie’s nightlife and her every day normal life with her family at home, emphasizes her developing sexuality. When Connie goes out with her girlfriends she shows a side of her that she will never show to her family: “Her walk, which could be childlike and bobbing, or languid enough to make anyone think she was hearing music in her head; her mouth, which was pale and smirking most of the time, but bright and pink on these evenings out; her laugh, which was cynical and drawling at home—"Ha, ha, very funny,"—but highpitched and nervous anywhere else, like the jingling of the charms on her bracelet.” (Oates 2) By acting like this she tries to be attractive to boys and in particular older men. This behaviour creates a very distinct contrast that contributes to the story's main idea. Connie hides her sexuality from her family, where she only makes fun of her sister and has fights with her mother. This indicates that she is ashamed by her sexual side, because when going out…

    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    One tragic event in China, which was the Tiananmen square massacre sparked the curiosity of Grace specially for the safety of Chun-mei during that event. For the first time in her life she asked a question to Kevin her adoptive dad about Chun-mei. An example is a scene that happened in the book, ”What about Chun-mei?” I asked. “I’m sure she’s alright,too.” our eyes met briefly. I look away. It was the first time I had said the name Chun-mei without anger. Because of this tragic event, it was the very first time Grace thought about the safety of her mother Chun-mei. It also sparked her interest on what is happening in China even though she hated her cultural heritage when she was a child. A few years have passed, Grace started to learn how to speak and write Mandarin with the help of Mr. Frank. After years of learning she started to appreciate the idea of being able to speak in another language Grace quoted that “Many times, I basked in the sense of superiority it gave me.” (Ting Xing Ye 121). Grace starts to appreciate the beauty and benefit of speaking Mandarin even though she abominated her culture when she was a child. She starts to feel superior of being able to speak Chinese since she is the only person in Milford that can speak it. Grace hated the idea of stereotyping other Asians saying they're all the same and she classifies all of them are different,…

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    China Coin

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Not only does Leah learn to accept her mother, she gradually grows to accept her Chinese heritage and extended Chinese family. In traveling to China, Leah is confronted with the question of her true identity for the first time. However, as she becomes accepted by her extended Chinese family and learns more about their history, she comes to a place of accepting herself. She concludes, ‘No, you’re not Chinese, but you’re not not Chinese either. It doesn’t matter any more.’…

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Belonging Trial Paper

    • 1206 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Belonging to culture and place is often the most complex battle; the inability to be compatible with ones ethnicity and area of habitual residence causes the belonging experience to be limited. This is highlighted in The Joy Luck Club, where June struggles to communicate with her mother, disassociating herself from her upbringing. The rhetorical question “these kinds of explanations made me feel my mother and I spoke two different languages, which we did. I talked to her in English, she answered back in Chinese” emphasizes the juxtaposing ideas of two different languages. This clearly depicts the lack of understanding and the cultural barrier, separating mother and daughter.…

    • 1206 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    My Fathers Chinese Wives

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Cited: Loh, Sandra T. "My Chinese Fathers Wives" The St. Martin 's Guide to Writing. Ed. Rise B. Axelrod and Charles R. Cooper. Massachusetts: Boston, 2004. 509-511…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Where Are You Going

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages

    she was pretty and that was everything” (323). This captivation with herself along with the constant looking in the mirrors and thinking her mother was only pestering her all the time because her mother’s own good looks were long gone by now (323) shows a sign of immaturity because she believes everything revolves around whether or not someone is beautiful. Connie had two sides to her, which is most personified in her clothing and the way she makes it look one way at home and a different way when she is out (324).…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Connie knew she was pretty, and that’s why she had a “giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right” (752). Her beauty brought power over boys. She chose to talk to only the ones that she thought were cute or popular, and she made a point of ignoring the more common ones. “It was just a boy from high school they didn't like. It made them feel good to be able to ignore him” (753). The narrator observes that the world she lived in was a familiar one. Everything was safe, but one single day made her it all…

    • 694 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Connie is fifteen years old and obviously self-conscious because of the love that she never receives at home. Her whole life revolves around attention from boys since she does not feel loved at home. Her sister June appears to be the favorite in the family, as she receives all of the positive attention. Connie's mother doesn’t speak kindly to Connie or about Connie, and Connie doesn't think well of her mother either. Her father does whatever he can to please Connie but doesn’t seek for a good father-daughter relationship. They never talk about what is happening in their lives and act as if they are only acquaintances. Connie wants to appear older and wiser than she actually is and her head is always full of meaningless daydreams to help her cope. Her promiscuity leads to attraction from boys and older men where she becomes terrified and realizes that she is not as grown up as she thought. Connie comes face to face with the harshreality of being forced into adulthood at the age of fifteen because of the special attention of Arnold Friend.…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Living within a different culture to our roots can enforce changes on our lives. Migrating to Australia has affected a lot of authors from Alice Pung’s vignettes of Growing up Asian in Australia. Michele Law displays her exclusion from the Australian culture with her “exotic lunches” prepared by her mother as well as her “hairless” Chinese body compared to other school girls. Being seen as an outsider to the Australian Culture can influence one to change their way of life to fit in and form friendships. Sunil an Indian schoolboy was faced with the choice of constantly being bullied over his differences or adapting to the more “Anglo-Australian” way by altering his name to Neil. Changing for others can lose your place in your original identity and culture. After visiting Honk Kong, Michelle momentarily feels identical to her surroundings with her Chinese ethnicity. After mispronouncing words when ordering at a Cantonese McDonalds, Michele comes to realise that she feels just as excluded in Hong Kong as she did in Australia. This sense of displacement caused by multiple cultures can question Michele’s judgment, “Am I more Asian or more Australian?”…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oates demonstrates how Connie’s life can be seen in two different lights or two sides, “everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home” (408). Her life at home was unusual, Connie’s mother is jealous of her beauty and always scalding her about everything. Though Connie’s mother once encompassed external beauty, her looks had dissipated over time.. Her mother finds anyway possible to negatively comment about her, always using her older sister June as an example of how she should live her life.…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Joy Luck Club Identity

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Suyuan had to make the hard decision to leave her twin babies on the side of the road in hopes some kind stranger would take them in, that way she would not have to see them die. Suyuan searches for her babies all through her life in America, sending multitudes of letters; they finally get in touch with her two months after she has died. Because her mother is not alive to meet her children, Jing Mei takes her place and the trip enables her to finally recognize her Chinese ancestry. The minute she enters China she "feels different" and can realize that she is "becoming Chinese" (306). At fifteen Jing Mei believed she was only as Chinese as her "Caucasian friends" (306). Yet her mother counters thoughts, telling her: "Once you are born Chinese, you cannot help but feel and think Chinese" (306). Once in China Jing Mei decides her mother was right and she "has never really known what it meant to be Chinese" (307). She has never understood her mother or her heritage. This trip is the connecting link to understanding her life. She begins to feel natural in China, thinking to herself on the train: "I am in China… It feels right" (312). Jing Mei sees the landscape, the people, the histories, and the families in China and sees where her mother was speaking from all of those years. She knows a "little percent" of her mother know (15). It becomes "obvious" to Jing Mei to see what "part of [her] is Chinese"; it is "in her family, in her blood"…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays