Madiara Bane
Pr. Chandler.
Eng 102
Essay 3
My identity.
In “ A pair of Tickets,” the American writer, Amy tan, chooses the main character Meimei, an American whose parents are from China. In fact, Meimei’s mother has two missing twin daughters in China before moving to the United States; she hopes find them alive. Because she cannot any new from them, she suffers a lot and dies later. On her meeting with her two half-sisters who live in Shanghai, Meimei not only accomplishes her mother's dream but she also realizes that her Chinese identity is a part of her, inner, indelible as well. She, finally, understand that what her mother said is true.
On her way Shanghai, the narrator, Meimei feels like she is pulling out back something dormant inside her. She feels an emotion when she says " the minute our train…….enters Shenzhen ,China, I feel different;"(Tan 127) this explains clearly that she is touched and amazed by the fact that she is coming for her first time to her parents' origin. Although she denied her Chinese below the skin, she, now, that she is embracing something that is familiar to her. By saying "I'm becoming chemises,"(127) makes her feel that she is within a familiar and authentic society. Also the facts that her father and she take a train to Guangzhou give them the chance to discover the geographic beauty of Chine with its villages and forests and meet some relatives. In addition, she describes the landscape with "low flat cement buildings, old factories…" "With spot of bright colors", "soldiers in olive green and red "(130) . Here she is comparing the communist environment to the capitalist American.
After her mother dies, her sisters write a letter hoping they will see again their dear mother. She supplies her mother's Lido to write to them in order to clarify that their mother passes away. According to her they will blame her for not taking care their mother. This explains that she is not able to write in Chinese. Moreover, she barely speaks her father' s language. In some passages she talks about crowd in public that is not really unfamiliar to her but it reveals a bit that there is a good amount of people, a characteristic of China.
Furthermore, she learns that there are apparent differences between the western culture where she is from and the Chinese culture. For instance, she point it out when she say "little wild Goose" must be baby milk name(132), also when she says that "they clasp each other's hands but –they do not hug" .These differences are very important to because she is trying to learns the china culture. Of course, she goes to china to meet her sisters but she also willing to learn about China like a tourist. In the taxi she says "Aiyi talks nonstop, so I have no chance to ask her about the difference sights we are passing" in order to express her attachment to know about her Chinese part.
Finally Meimei meet her sisters with vive emotion. She is nervous when she says "I cannot feel my feet". Their meeting is exciting and amazing. In fact she realizes that what her mother says is true," Once you born Chinese, you cannot help but feel and think Chinese"(127). She finally knows that there is nothing important than family, which covers you original identity.