A Pair Of Tickets Analysis

"Everyday Use" and "A Pair of Tickets"

In "Everyday Use," Alice Walker writes about a black mother and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee. Both the mother and Maggie are traditional characters, who are proud of their black heritage. However, Dee is the opposite of her mother and sister. She has false thoughts of her heritage. In "A Pair of Tickets," the author, Amy Tan, describes Jing Mei's change in her view of her Chinese heritage during her travel to China. Although both of the authors write about the differences between genuine heritage and false ideas of heritage, Alice Walker conveys the differences characters by mainly describing what the three main characters do, say and think, while Amy Tan handles this material by mostly portraying
In the story, there are many situations which show that Jing Mei has a bad impression of China and does not want to admit her heritage of being Chinese. For example, she hates certain behavior of her mother, such as haggling with storeowner, picking her teeth with a toothpick in public, and combining odd colors for winter clothes (Par4). Her mother's behavior embarrasses her and makes her think that she herself is nothing like a Chinese woman. In addition, what she sees during her trip to China also gives her a bad impression of China, but she begins to change her view gradually. When she is in a taxi in Guangzhou, the taxi driver dodges between trucks and buses, honking his horn constantly (Par59), and she sees workers work on scaffolding without safety straps or helmets. Also, when she arrives in Guangzhou, the station is so crowded that she and her father are constantly being pushed and shoved; however, when she reminds herself that she is in China, she feels right and starts pushing, too (Par33). The reader can see that she is a little accustomed to China and its environment. Later, when she stands in the shower in the hotel, she feels forlorn instead of relieved, since she would like to be a member of Chinese people and to get along with people. Later on, what she experiences changes her mind about her heritage more thoroughly. Before she arrives in Shanghai, she often images that her two sisters will be disappointed when they see she comes along without their mother; and they will not accept her or like her. She thinks so because she does not regard her two sisters as her family members at the beginning, but when she finally meets them, she almost mistakes them for her mother and they warmly and amicably