John –In the early stage of their marriage, John’s obligation is to take on his farming duties without any help just to prove his devotion to Ann. John also wanted a mortgage-free farm, a new house and pretty clothes for Ann, but Ann disapproved. John tried his best to keep Ann happy; however, Ann doesn’t seem to appreciate it. Their marriage has neither communication nor happiness. This leaves John bewildered. One day John was to walk five miles just to help his old father, Ann moodily began to act selfish. John wanted to reassure her that she will be fine, but she would lash sarcastic comments and showed no support of his walk. John also wanted to make sure Ann would be safe and have some company while he was out helping his father with chores, so he dropped in at his friend Stevens place on the way to nicely ask him to drop in later in the evening for a…
Theme: John’s father permanently altered John’s mind at a young age, resulting in a John who deceived himself and others because it was the only way for him to feel like he had a normal life.…
John, the narrator's husband, represents society at large. Like society, John controls and determines much of what his wife should or should not do, leaving his wife incapable of making her own decisions. John's domineering…
This is another struggle between John and his father. His father denies John love. John then craves affection from others. On his fourteenth birthday he expects his family members to wish him a happy birthday. At first no one does, but the later his mother does and give him a present. John is excited. Later in the story John gains love of god and the approval of Elisha, a young preacher at the church. Elisha guides John and helps him get salvation.…
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.…
“Who’s Irish” by Gish Jen is a short story about a Chinese grandmother living in America. The grandmother lives with her granddaughter Sophie, her daughter Natalie, and her unemployed, Irish son-in-law John. She describes Sophie as “wild (105)”, and blames her Irish side. She claims: “She is not like any Chinese girl I ever saw (106)”. The grandmother babysits Sophie during the day and believes she should be spanked, even though Natalie and John oppose it. Sophie continues to misbehave and the Grandmother spanks her anyways. One day at the park Sophie climbs into a hole and refuses to get out. The Grandmother pokes her with a stick to try and get her out. When her parents finally get Sophie home they find bruises on her. The grandmother is forbidden to see Sophie after that. The central idea is that being stuck between cultures can be very challenging for a family.…
The first similarity between these two characteristics is that they have limited views of their wives. Throughout the story John constantly thinks of the narrator as a child. First he puts her in a child’s nursery (p. 298). He also calls her by children’s names; for example, he uses the terms “blessed little goose” (p.299) and “little girl” (p.303). Whenever she makes a suggestion, he dismisses it, as he does when she asks him to change the wallpaper (p.299). John also threatens her by saying he may take her to a nerve specialist if she does not get well faster, as if he were a father instilling fear in his child (p.301). At one point John carries her upstairs, lays her in bed, sits by her bedside, and reads to her until she grows tired (p.302). He even comforts her as one does a child when he finds her awake at night, saying to her, “’Don’t go walking about like that, you’ll get a cold’” (p.303). Consequently, John shows that he thinks his wife is not a responsible adult.…
There are many similarities in the relationships between the mothers and daughters in the short stories, "Who's Irish?" and "New York Day Women." One similarity is that there is a foundation of love between the generations. For example, in "Who's Irish?" the mother seems to explain how she feels about her when she was a baby. "A daughter I have, a beautiful daughter. I took care of her when she could not hold her head up." The narrator seems to have much love for her daughter, and she tries to make her life better by taking care of her child. In "New York Day Women" the daughter, Suzette, follows her mother around New York City on her lunch break and comments on what she is doing. In this short story it isn't hard to see that this daughter loves her mother very much. Suzette also appears to know what her mother does in her everyday life, and with this information she embraces her mother with kindness and love. For instance, she knows that her mother shouldn't eat anything with sodium because, "she has to be careful with her heart, this day woman." Another similarity would be that the cultures of both mothers are held strongly with them, but not as strongly with their daughters. For example, in "Who's Irish?" the mother says, "You spank her, she'll stop..." which in Chinese culture it is acceptable to spank your child. However, Natalie replies, "...Oh no. In America, parents not supposed to spank the child. It…
We are able to see John’s perceptions on many class, race, and gender matters when he says, “they have no rights that we are bound to respect, and were made only for man to be petted, spoiled, slaughtered, or enslaved”. When John and his family migrated over to Wisconsin, they had servants who worked on the farm for them. This was not uncommon as to slavery was legal during this time period and no one questioned this. John, his father, and brothers traveled first to make sure they had a house to stay in. Before winter came, the house was ready for occupancy, and in November, Mrs. Muir and the rest of the family arrived from Scotland. Gender differences were very common and John understood this. John was surrounded by the males everyday doing farming activities, while the women stayed inside cooking and…
The narrator clearly feels imprisoned in her own life. The most evident example of specifically, her imprisonment of her marriage, is within the text of the first page. “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage” (76). This is when the reader is first presented with the character of John, her…
The narrators husband John first demonstrated his insensitivity to his wives's feelings as they were moving in the house. While selecting a bedroom, she had wanted one downstairs. "I don't like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings! But wall paper and slept on a bed that was nailed to the floor.…
Ann is a negative person who is trying to fill her emptiness with constant wants and desires. Ann desires a perfect house, clothes, social life and husband. Ann explains how John wants to pay off their mortgage before he makes anymore investments on things like a new house and clothes (370). John is doing what is best for them financially and all Ann can do is complain about it. Ann wants John to work hard to supply her with all her wants and needs, she wants him home more to keep her occupied, wants him to dance with her and socialize with others and she wants him to keep his appearance up. Ann asks too much of John. Ann states, “Maybe he’ll come again, and some other young people too. It’s what we need, both of us, to help keep ourselves young...” (370). Ann doesn’t like the thought of growing older; she is focused on staying and feeling young. Since Ann feels this way she presumes John does too, that John is as miserable as her. Instead John is very happy and content with his life. The story explains, “He was a slow, unambitious man, content with his farm and cattle, naively proud of Ann” (367). Clearly John is happy with how he is living and if Ann wants to feel younger then she should be out with other women making friends to keep her feeling younger, not dancing with other men. Ann is so selfish to the point of where she is jealous of John spending time with his own father and not her. “It isn’t right for you to leave me here alone. Surly I’m as important as your father” (366). Ann snaps at John, John cares about his father and wants to stop into his house to make sure he is okay and has all the supplies he needs before the storm. For Ann to make a statement like that to John about his father is ignorant. The worst act of selfishness through the entire parable is Ann not thinking about John’s feelings. Ann says multiple times through the story about how she feels but does not once mention…
Being disconnected from the civilized world, except for what his mother can remember and shares with him, shapes John into a very unique individual in the minds of the civilized citizens of the Brave New World. John learned to value personal relationships that are non-existent in the utopian society, such as the relationship between a mother and her child. We are shown by the narrator early in the story that these types of relationships not only do not exist but are laughable to even think of. During a tour of the Hatchery and Conditioning Center of London students are granted a glimpse into the past, a life none of them have ever known and some even guessed to be almost some sort of fiction, not truth. The students respond to the Director’s story very uneasily, as if they don’t want to confirm that humans used to behave in such a manner, almost like they are ashamed of the past. ““In brief,” the Director summed up, “the parents were the father and mother.” The smut that was really science fell with a crash into the boys’ eye-avoiding silence. “Mother,”…
Another quote I found interesting in this passage is when she says “I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus—but John says the very worst thing I can do is think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad. So I will let it alone and talk about the house.” Which means that while she was having her own intuition about he illness Johns instructions from previously has come back into her mind, and kind of stops her from thinking her own thoughts, and makes her focus on another subject. Which shows the control that John has over not just the physical aspects of her life but has also put a…
The writers talk about how in order to write a really good summary you must put yourself in someone else’s shoes and to not loose your focus while stating the opposing view. It also says for a good summary you must use signal verbs that fit the action.…