Essay About Suck-Lung And Stories Of Suck-Lung

The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy – Essay – Habullshit
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The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy
The Jade Peony, by Wayson Choy is the story of a Cantonese Canadian boy, named Suck-lung, who is searching his identity while living with his Cantonese family in the Canadian society during 1940s. By narrating the stories of Suck-lung and his stepmother, Choy expresses the series of loss that Chinese immigrants commonly experienced at the time, which are: the sense of being oneself, collective culture, and death.

The first loss that Suck-lung experiences is the loss of his identity. Including himself, people argued about “what” he is, but no one could tell “who” he really is besides calling him a “Mo no”, which means “no brain” in Cantonese. Therefore, he continues to question himself; “Am I Chinese or Canadian? (133)”. His stepmother, who has been emigrated from China to become a second-wife of Suck-lung’s father, has lost her identity as a human to be accepted as the role of the family; “‘Stepmother’ was a ranking much more respectable than ‘family servant’, more honourable than ‘concubine’, but never equal in honour or respect to the title of First Wife or Mother (131)”. Therefore, stepmother obsesses with the stories of “Chen Suling”, the old friend of hers, because Suling is the only person “who knows her family stories”.

Suck-lung was born with two cultures since he was born in Chinese community of Canada. However, he has never been accepted as ‘Canadian’ or ‘Chinese’ because: he is not “white enough” to be Canadian and he has been mixed too much with “White Demons” to be a true Chinese. Therefore, he has never had a chance to fully understand any culture and language; ”I knew just enough Chinese and English to speak to people, but not always to understand the finer points (133)”. When Suck-lung went to school, his teacher, Ms. MacKinney, used to call him “Sekky” because Sekky sounds “more Canadian” than Suk-lung. Even though he was born in Canada, he isn’t Canadian since he has a Chinese name and heritage, which is the clear evidence of racism at the time. Since he is “neither nor that” he doesn’t have a culture that belongs

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(2018, 01). The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy. EssaysForStudent.com. Retrieved 01, 2018, from
“The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy” EssaysForStudent.com. 01 2018. 2018. 01 2018 < "The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy." EssaysForStudent.com. EssaysForStudent.com, 01 2018. Web. 01 2018. < "The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy." EssaysForStudent.com. 01, 2018. Accessed 01, 2018. Essay Preview By: Habullshit Submitted: January 18, 2018 Essay Length: 583 Words / 3 Pages Paper type: Essay Views: 394 Report this essay Tweet Related Essays Wayson Choy Wayson Choy was born in 1939. He is a Chinese, but born Canadian. He spent his childhood in Vancouver’s Chinatown. Choy is the novelist, memoirist 644 Words  |  3 Pages Writing Styles of Choy and Trimble Mixture of Writing Styles Ў°The trouble with writing is that despite what many handbooks suggest, there are no hard and fast rules, no magic formulas 1,269 Words  |  6 Pages The Jade of Peony PART ONE The book is narrated by a little girl named Jook-Liang (or just Liang). You are introduced to her and her family who live 1,719 Words  |  7 Pages Get Access to 89,000+ Essays and Term Papers Join 209,000+ Other Students High Quality Essays and Documents Sign up © 2008–2020 EssaysForStudent.comFree Essays, Book Reports, Term Papers and Research Papers Essays Sign up Sign in Contact us Site Map Privacy Policy Terms of Service Facebook Twitter