Textual Background and Context:
For this post I'd like to discuss Bich's "mother" theme
Bich's relationship with her mother has many meanings within the text. I believe it not only represents her relationship to her physical biological mother, however, it also symbolizes her relationship to her Vietnamese roots.
This story is all about where she has come from, and what that actually means.
A parallel is drawn in the memoir between Rosa, America, Bich's biological mother, and Vietnam culture.
Who is she? Can she be Vietnamese AND American? Who does she REALLY belong to?
Bich attempts to answer these questions, as she observes her daily life.
Rosa:
"My stepmother stood apart from from the women in the kitchen. She didn't know how to speak Vietnamese or cook Vietnamese food...They smiled at her, spoke a little English-How are you?-then went back to their own conversations."(47)
Rosa is an outsider, she wasn't born into the culture, but chose to be a part of it as much as she could. While Bich was "born" into the culture, she also is an outsider.
"With one fingertip I touched the stem of a plum, whose violet skin always looked dusty. For just a moment, I hovered over it. Then the fruit was lying in the flat of my hand"(195)
As the memoir goes on, I believe Rosa teaches Bich that who you are is who you choose to be, not what is chosen for you. This is what bonds Bich and Rosa.
"Rosa later told me, no one thought about Mexicans going to college. The goal after high school, was to get married"
Rosa teaches Bich to be a trail blazer.
Bich and Rosa's relationship also connects in that she acts as a fill in for her relationship with her biological mother. She helps her cross bridges, so to speak. Rosa is a main component within the story. Flip to any page, this fact doesn't need a quote.
Rosa is essentially the glue that helps bond Bich to her familial heritage and her "new" American life. So everything that is supposed to have a connection to Bich becomes her choice. If Bich feel's that that something should be a part of her then it is...and if it's not..
"In the end, I left my questions unanswered. I couldn't comprehend the loss, the nearly twenty years' absence, the silence and unknowing...I didn't know what to say to make anything different"(237)
Things became the way they were. Bich decided that she already knew who she was, or at least how to continue to figure out who she was. Nothing defined her until she decided it did.
Sources:
For this post I'd like to discuss Bich's "mother" theme
Bich's relationship with her mother has many meanings within the text. I believe it not only represents her relationship to her physical biological mother, however, it also symbolizes her relationship to her Vietnamese roots.
This story is all about where she has come from, and what that actually means.
A parallel is drawn in the memoir between Rosa, America, Bich's biological mother, and Vietnam culture.
Who is she? Can she be Vietnamese AND American? Who does she REALLY belong to?
Bich attempts to answer these questions, as she observes her daily life.
Rosa:
"My stepmother stood apart from from the women in the kitchen. She didn't know how to speak Vietnamese or cook Vietnamese food...They smiled at her, spoke a little English-How are you?-then went back to their own conversations."(47)
Rosa is an outsider, she wasn't born into the culture, but chose to be a part of it as much as she could. While Bich was "born" into the culture, she also is an outsider.
"With one fingertip I touched the stem of a plum, whose violet skin always looked dusty. For just a moment, I hovered over it. Then the fruit was lying in the flat of my hand"(195)
As the memoir goes on, I believe Rosa teaches Bich that who you are is who you choose to be, not what is chosen for you. This is what bonds Bich and Rosa.
"Rosa later told me, no one thought about Mexicans going to college. The goal after high school, was to get married"
Rosa teaches Bich to be a trail blazer.
Bich and Rosa's relationship also connects in that she acts as a fill in for her relationship with her biological mother. She helps her cross bridges, so to speak. Rosa is a main component within the story. Flip to any page, this fact doesn't need a quote.
Rosa is essentially the glue that helps bond Bich to her familial heritage and her "new" American life. So everything that is supposed to have a connection to Bich becomes her choice. If Bich feel's that that something should be a part of her then it is...and if it's not..
"In the end, I left my questions unanswered. I couldn't comprehend the loss, the nearly twenty years' absence, the silence and unknowing...I didn't know what to say to make anything different"(237)
Things became the way they were. Bich decided that she already knew who she was, or at least how to continue to figure out who she was. Nothing defined her until she decided it did.
Sources:
I wonder how Rosa's influence throughout Bich's life shapes Bich's relationship (or lack thereof) with her biological mother--could Rosa's influence be part of the reason she doesn't pursue more of a connection with her biological mother?
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