Differences Between The Chinese Sisters In America

The life experiences of the sisters are different in the sense that in China, she had no freedom, but was strongly tied to her Chinese identity, while in America, she traded her culture for her freedom. However, they are similar in how they were still tied to their origins as a Chinese woman.
A difference between the life experiences of the sisters is that the sister in America had more freedom. The Chinese culture had great limitations on women’s freedom. The sister that left for America did not need to be confined to those restrictions on women, she was free from it. In the Chinese culture, women were expected to learn “to stretch the family rice”. They were expected to know how to look after her family, it was her duty as a woman. They …show more content…
However, the sister in America had the opportunity to “stride along with men” as a woman, it was her choice, she did not need to stay at home and just look after her family. Also, in China, “to move freely was a luxury stolen from them at birth”, they had no freedom at all, they had to listen to the men, unlike the sister in America who escaped from all these restrictions to gain freedom as an equal to men in America, where “women can stride along with men”. In the Chinese culture, women would never stand as equals with men but in America the sister got a taste of freedom and equality she would have never experienced in China. The poet effectively presents this by imagery, using literary devices such as similes. The poet talks about the way women are supposed to be in the Chinese culture using similes, “as dormant as the rooted willow, as redundant as the farmyard hens”. This helps us picture the expectations of women in the Chinese culture. The poet also uses connotation by saying that “there are any roads and women can stride along with men”, using the phrase “stride along” to symbolise how in America, there was equality for men and women, women were not considered inferior to men and could walk