Stranger or part of them?

I‘ve recently read a story by Gish Jen which I‘d like to present to you. “In the American Society“ is a short story about a Chinese first and second generation immigrant family in the US. The father doesn‘t believe in assimilating into the local society, the mother however tries to persuade him to let the family do so and become the member of a country club. The plot shows the difficulties of being accepted and how to interact with other foreigners. 

Callie, the son, is a static, rather flat character. We don‘t know a lot about him. Mona, his sister, encourages her mother to stand up against her husband‘s strict morals. She is a bright, optimistic girl, who is bursting with energy. His father, who is the main character, is a round character. During the story he changes a lot, but some of his qualities are still the same. At the beginning he is a generous, good-natured person, but then he alters to an ingrate, lacy employer. He is a bit patriarchal and patriotic. For him, there is nothing worse than betrayal. But we also see, how he tries to support Cedric and Booker, his two illegal workers. The mother is browbeaten and demonstrates a lot of respect for her husband. She cares about what people might think of them as immigrants. In addition, she really wants to be accepted as a member in society. 

The story is written in first person, from the point of view of the son who acts as an observer. It shows that they suffer from social marginalization and have to endure a lot of discrimination. The mother is even sometimes scared of the deportation officers. I think the author chose this point of view, because Callie describes everything objectively. He has his own opinions about his father‘s decisions. 

The story is chronologically sequenced. The climax is the last scene, where the family goes to the party of a member of the country club. It ends as a total disaster. Location and time period are important for us to understand the spirit of the age. Back then nationalism and racism were even more widespread than now. 

Teenagers might like the story, because they can see, how time has changed. In former times it was almost impossible to be accepted, when you were no native American. Although I‘m very interested in this theme, I wouldn‘t recommend Gish Jen‘s story. It is neither exciting, nor elaborated. I think there is nothing special about it. If you disagree or can think of anything else I haven‘t mentioned, feel free to comment. 

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