Who Will Light the Incense When Mother’s Gone? & On Going Home
When reading non-fiction we have to think critically about what the writer is trying to convey in their piece. We look at formalist criticism and historical criticism, to see if there is anything that belong in either of those two categories. Writers also can also use different strategies in order to convey their thesis or themes. The non-fiction works that I have chosen are “Who Will Light the Incense When Mother’s Gone?” by Andrew Lam and “On Going Home” by Joan Didion. I will discuss their theme and how Lam and Didion conveyed that theme into their work and for what purpose and to whom it was for. I will also discuss why it is considered a piece of non-fiction and how imagination plays a part in the selected stories.
Who Will Light the Incense when Mothers’ Gone? By Andrew Lam
Summary
The theme that comes out in the short story by Andrew Lam is “tradition.” Lam conveys this theme when his mother asks who will light the incense. In Vietnam, which is Lam’s homeland, he remembers lighting incense but since fleeing to America is has become a distant dream and he no longer knows who to pray to and for what purpose. “Having fled so far from Vietnam, I no longer know to whom I should address my prayers or what promises I could possibly make to the long departed.” (p. 1115). It is a tradition that his mother has kept since moving to the America’s and it is a tradition that could be lost once she is no longer on this earth. But Lam realizes that his mother and he live in two different worlds. His mother still believes in praying to the ancestors every morning, while Lam is too busy living an American life.
Strategy Purpose & Audience Lam conveys this theme by his memories of what it was like growing up with his mother in America. She kept her children’s degrees, trophies from sporting events, just as any loving proud mother would do. But above that shelf, she had her incense that she lit every morning, religiously. “…she climbs a chair and piously lights a few
Who Will Light the Incense when Mothers’ Gone? By Andrew Lam
Summary
The theme that comes out in the short story by Andrew Lam is “tradition.” Lam conveys this theme when his mother asks who will light the incense. In Vietnam, which is Lam’s homeland, he remembers lighting incense but since fleeing to America is has become a distant dream and he no longer knows who to pray to and for what purpose. “Having fled so far from Vietnam, I no longer know to whom I should address my prayers or what promises I could possibly make to the long departed.” (p. 1115). It is a tradition that his mother has kept since moving to the America’s and it is a tradition that could be lost once she is no longer on this earth. But Lam realizes that his mother and he live in two different worlds. His mother still believes in praying to the ancestors every morning, while Lam is too busy living an American life.
Strategy Purpose & Audience Lam conveys this theme by his memories of what it was like growing up with his mother in America. She kept her children’s degrees, trophies from sporting events, just as any loving proud mother would do. But above that shelf, she had her incense that she lit every morning, religiously. “…she climbs a chair and piously lights a few