Wing's Chips By Mavis Gallant
"Wing's Chips" is a short story by Mavis Gallant with a powerful message. The theme of this story is that even though many people have different backgrounds and dissimilar views on what is right and wrong, they want to be respected and accepted for who they are. "Wing's Chips" focuses on three separate cultures, who in the end, learned to respect each other in a subtle way.
A French-Canadian town is the setting for this short story. A river divides this town, with an English community on the opposite side. The town is geographically and psychologically split at the start. The father has much more in common with the English than he does with French. First of all, because he is from England and the other parents had lived there as well. Since …show more content…
He is a caring father and respectable citizen. This is known by him willing to paint in styles that are unusual to him. An example of this is when he is asked to paint the portrait of a girl. The mother, Madame Gravelle, watches him paint and tries to "help him". She insists that he is not focusing enough on certain features of her daughter. Given that he is not a portrait painter, he painted what he saw and what he believed to be significant. Madame Gravelle wants to show off her daughter, but he is going to paint her how he sees fit. When he is asked to paint a sign for the Wings' store, he puts aside his artistic difference by stating that a painter is a painter. They desire the sign to be in English, even though the majority of the village is French. The English citizens are powerful and would put lots of money into the family business. As the Wings' are interested in money, it is a perfect opportunity. The father paints the sign the way the Wings' want it done as does not charge them for it. After the sign is hung above the store it is highly praised. The daughter is proud of her father for once and finally respected him. The French-Canadians agree that the sign is not that bad and the English adults are impressed and believe that he was paid well for his service. Out of so many objects in the world, it is a sign that brought two very diverse cultures and a father and daughter together, at least for the time
A French-Canadian town is the setting for this short story. A river divides this town, with an English community on the opposite side. The town is geographically and psychologically split at the start. The father has much more in common with the English than he does with French. First of all, because he is from England and the other parents had lived there as well. Since …show more content…
He is a caring father and respectable citizen. This is known by him willing to paint in styles that are unusual to him. An example of this is when he is asked to paint the portrait of a girl. The mother, Madame Gravelle, watches him paint and tries to "help him". She insists that he is not focusing enough on certain features of her daughter. Given that he is not a portrait painter, he painted what he saw and what he believed to be significant. Madame Gravelle wants to show off her daughter, but he is going to paint her how he sees fit. When he is asked to paint a sign for the Wings' store, he puts aside his artistic difference by stating that a painter is a painter. They desire the sign to be in English, even though the majority of the village is French. The English citizens are powerful and would put lots of money into the family business. As the Wings' are interested in money, it is a perfect opportunity. The father paints the sign the way the Wings' want it done as does not charge them for it. After the sign is hung above the store it is highly praised. The daughter is proud of her father for once and finally respected him. The French-Canadians agree that the sign is not that bad and the English adults are impressed and believe that he was paid well for his service. Out of so many objects in the world, it is a sign that brought two very diverse cultures and a father and daughter together, at least for the time