This article examines two accounts from families that seem to be dealing with a variety of issues in their lives. As a result, the piece of writing will concentrate on examining the stories one after the other. It will also define the atmosphere and the themes concerned, among other items. In order to unravel the comparison, the essay would go on to describe a joint critical review of both stories.
Analysis of the Setting and Themes in Amy Tam, a Pair of Tickets
Amy Tam, a Pair of Tickets is about a young lady, although married, who travels with her dad to visit his aunt and get her twin sisters who were left by her mother some time back. She loses her mother after a blood vessel burst in her brain. Their family is also marred with a lot of problems, with suffering penetrating from every corner of life. However, she has other sisters, the twins, who were her mother’s only children when she was married to her first husband (Tan 161). Besides, the four people, some of the characters in this story include Aunt Lindo, who is a very close friend to the lady’s mother, Aiyi, the aunt to the lady’s father, the children to Aiyi and many others. Aiyi lives with her family in Guangzhou and enjoys the life there where at some instance, she throws a joke that they are at times better in businesses compared to their colleagues, the Americans.
Considering this narrative, the setting of this story revolves around several towns, cities and even countries. It starts where the narrator’s mother escapes being killed by the Japanese who were raiding their land. That was the province of Kwangsi which contained the railway that was in need of the raiders. The setting shifts from Kweilin to the town of Chungking where her mother’s first husband lived, but unfortunately, she finds him dead. Additionally, from Chungking, her mother meets her father where they reside in the state of China for some years. However, after the stay in the Hong Kong, the story then shifts its setting to the United States where the family moves to live (Tan 170). Moreover, it is after staying in the United States of America that they decide to go back to Guangzhou to pick the young twins who had been brought up by some well-wishers. The multiple setting in a number of towns reveals the shift in the message portrayed by the author.
Finally, the narrator presents this story in a lower sad tone, following the pain and suffering that she is going through after losing her mother, as the author says, she is crying as though she had gone through a terrible ordeal and were happy it is over (Tan 176). There are several themes evident in this story including the theme of death, where the narrator loses her mother after her mother loses all her family members. Death as a theme is clearly manifested in the manner at which the one of the key person close to the narrator and as a breadwinner passes on. As such, this led to a myriad challenges that are reflected in by the author in the book. These challenges resulted into a series and multiple problems such as physical, mental, psychological, and health to the narrator. Also, the theme of suffering which comes out after the narrator’s mother suffers a lot during the war and then narrator also suffers although psychologically following the sudden death, as the author narrates, Mei Hun, the husband died (Tan 174). As such the narrator was unable to provide or meet the immediate needs such as physical needs like food, clothing, and proper shelter. This compelled her to move away from her home place and be in search of them.
Analysis of the Setting and Themes in Wildwood
Considering the story Wildwood, the story revolves around a young girl who is at her teen age, and who lives with her mother together with her younger brother. This young family goes through a lot of suffering considering there the absence of her father. However, being an adolescent, she feels that she has the right to go out by herself and explore the world. Although her mother is trying to do everything she can to keep her the right way, the girl still feels that she is oppressed by her mother’s poor parenting methods. She is tempted to leave home and one day, she finds a chance and decides to escape (Junot 12). However, before she leaves home, her mother who is the breadwinner in the family becomes a cancer victim. This leads to the doctors conducting several operations on her.
Moreover, basing on the setting of this story, it develops in different places from the town of Paterson to Santo Domingo. This multiple setting makes the story interesting however, with a spark of feelings of sorrow about the condition of the family in every point in setting. The family first lives at Paterson, where they do all their activities and all sorts of businesses. After ups and downs in the city, the story shifts its roots to another town, New Jersey. This is due to the movement of the young girl where she decides to take the responsibility into her hands and starts living with her new boyfriend, Aldo (Junot 26). Lola starts a new life at her boyfriend’s place where she now has the freedom to accomplish her missions. Lola’s father depicted the same character her mother possesses and consequently, she falls a victim of such conditions. Her father treats both of them harshly without really caring if they want to live together for the rest of their lives. Additionally, Lola lands a job in a French-fry palace, which keeps her busy the whole day. However, the job does not last for long where the palace gets closed in the month of October. Besides, issues arise and Lola realizes that her boyfriend is not serious with the relationship and decides to ask for some cash back home. Instead of the cash, her brother sets her up and the story shifts to another city, Santo Domingo where she lands another boyfriend and decides to enroll in some private school. The story focuses on
The theme and the literary devices in this story and the narration of this story apply more of the local dialect. Also, it is narrated using a high and harsh tone, basing in mind that the narrator wants to expose the many problems she is going through. Some of the characters in the narration are chauvinistic to the narrator where they look down upon her at a number of instances, as the author says, "I was a fea, I was a worthless, I was an idiota" (Junot 6). Furthermore, what interests me about this story is the life nature of life of Lola’s father. This was a life of intimate partner violence and irresponsible behavior that psychologically affected Lola and her mother. It beat login when this character is transmitted to Lola to an extent she never settles in her home place.
Combined Analysis
Generally, all the stories revolve around the place of the girl child in the community. They try to expose and show the public the problems that frequently affect them though they do not show out to others. From the beginning of both of the stories, women are seen struggling alone with their families with the absence of their husbands. Although they go through a lot of challenges in their struggles, they finally achieve their goals even if some of them do not manage to live to the end. In conclusion, the two stories share one theme, the theme of suffering, which is dominating everywhere (Junot 15). In the first story, Wildwood, the mother undergoes through suffering which include contracting the cancer disease. She also finds it hard to be both the mother and the father of her family where she has to care for her two children. Also, in Amy Tam a pair of tickets, more suffering is experienced especially by the mother of the narrator. Her suffering begins in China when the Japanese invade their land forcing her to run away leaving her children alone. She then suffers more at her home in the United States where she becomes a victim of some syndrome and finally succumbs to death.
In addition to that, the theme of death is common in both stories. This also narrows down to the theme of suffering which were experienced by the narrators in both stories. This affected the life of a number of characters in the stories. For instance, Lola who ended up suffering as a victim due to the loss of her mother and yet his father was not responsible at all.
Works Cited
Junot, Diaz “Wildwood.” The Goose 13.1 (2007): 31. Retrieved from: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/06/11/wildwood
Tan, Amy. “A Pair of Tickets.” New Worlds of Literature: Writings from America’s Many Cultures (1991)
