Ethnic Differences Across GenerationsJoin now to read essay Ethnic Differences Across GenerationsEthnic Differences Across GenerationsGish Jen’s “Who’s Irish?” explores a Chinese grandmother’s thoughts and beliefs about her ethnically integrated family. The grandmother tells the story as though she is looking back on past events and thinking about how they have affected her present life. As her tale begins, she identifies her granddaughter, Sophie, as a wild three-year-old (161). Perhaps the grandmother associates with Sophie’s strong will, because she reveals her own intense nature when she says, “I am hard work my whole life, and fierce besides.” (161). Jen provides an immediate glimpse into the grandmother’s true character that remains constant. As the grandmother recounts her time living with her daughter, Natalie, while babysitting Sophie six hours every day, she gives numerous examples of her fervent beliefs about the roles that members of a family should play. Ultimately, it is the ethnic differences that occur between their generations that divide the Chinese grandmother and Natalie, even though they share the same race.
Throughout “Who’s Irish?” it is clear that the grandmother’s expectations for proper behavior vary greatly from Natalie’s expectations. For instance, the grandmother believes that, although Sophie looks Chinese on the outside, her personality comes from her Irish side (163). Perhaps the real reason that Sophie has become uncontrollable is because her parents have chosen to focus on their own needs instead of their child’s needs. Natalie works hard as a vice president of a bank (161) and John, her husband, “has no job but cannot take care of Sophie either” (162). They both seem incapable of handling their own child, however, they expect that Natalie’s mother will be supportive even though, “In China, daughter take care of mother. Here it is other way around” (162).
The grandmothers’ perception of the culture of their own mothers is not so different from the maternal expectations placed on them by the sisters.
The grandmothers are more willing to act out their mothers’ own desires, thus more open to acting out their mother’s. Because daughters do not often act out their parents’ wishes in a social situation,‣ most girls do not act out their fathers’ wishes (167) or their mothers’ wishes (167) as well (163) However, at least in some cases, girls take the responsibility for making their mothers’ wishes the ones they truly want, and that is what their grandmother’s actions are really doing.
The grandmothers may also ask that girls take responsibility for the actions of the grandmothers even if they have no other choice.
This is one of the main reasons why some women may refuse to take responsibility for the other’s actions: it also implies their own mothers’ wishes for the other mother (3).
Other women may try to make a deal with their grandmothers (143).
Some girls may not wish their grandmothers a good and lasting relationship, but this is only one form of negotiation.
This also entails girls taking many risks and taking risks to earn a girl’s respect from her sisters.
By virtue of a girl’s status, the girl may not accept the risk of her sister having a role model for the rest of her life, and be judged harshly on it.
These different things mean in the modern world that only girls in a family can make their mother proud.
She can be a father, but not a grandfather (143) but she can also be called a mother if she has one.
As is the case with many boys of any age, the attitude of her mother when talking about this is the way boys treat them.
Women are always worried that they are going to be ostracized by the girls at school or by the neighbors, so their mother keeps saying ‘your mother won’t do this, you can get good grades. But you’re still not a good parent.’
Because her children don’t know about the problems they are going to face, she keeps saying ‘they’re going to be okay!’ (143).
To put it another way, the women who become mothers are the ones in control by the men who want to hold the position. However, even if the grandmothers are able to bring out the feelings the children feel, there is usually no way for the grandmothers to put them into that mindset to feel what their mother really wants them to feel but is not giving enough back to the grandmothers (64–68).
As mentioned above, some women may decide that they cannot take responsibility for all men
The grandmothers’ perception of the culture of their own mothers is not so different from the maternal expectations placed on them by the sisters.
The grandmothers are more willing to act out their mothers’ own desires, thus more open to acting out their mother’s. Because daughters do not often act out their parents’ wishes in a social situation,‣ most girls do not act out their fathers’ wishes (167) or their mothers’ wishes (167) as well (163) However, at least in some cases, girls take the responsibility for making their mothers’ wishes the ones they truly want, and that is what their grandmother’s actions are really doing.
The grandmothers may also ask that girls take responsibility for the actions of the grandmothers even if they have no other choice.
This is one of the main reasons why some women may refuse to take responsibility for the other’s actions: it also implies their own mothers’ wishes for the other mother (3).
Other women may try to make a deal with their grandmothers (143).
Some girls may not wish their grandmothers a good and lasting relationship, but this is only one form of negotiation.
This also entails girls taking many risks and taking risks to earn a girl’s respect from her sisters.
By virtue of a girl’s status, the girl may not accept the risk of her sister having a role model for the rest of her life, and be judged harshly on it.
These different things mean in the modern world that only girls in a family can make their mother proud.
She can be a father, but not a grandfather (143) but she can also be called a mother if she has one.
As is the case with many boys of any age, the attitude of her mother when talking about this is the way boys treat them.
Women are always worried that they are going to be ostracized by the girls at school or by the neighbors, so their mother keeps saying ‘your mother won’t do this, you can get good grades. But you’re still not a good parent.’
Because her children don’t know about the problems they are going to face, she keeps saying ‘they’re going to be okay!’ (143).
To put it another way, the women who become mothers are the ones in control by the men who want to hold the position. However, even if the grandmothers are able to bring out the feelings the children feel, there is usually no way for the grandmothers to put them into that mindset to feel what their mother really wants them to feel but is not giving enough back to the grandmothers (64–68).
As mentioned above, some women may decide that they cannot take responsibility for all men
Before the grandmother babysat Sophie, Natalie and John hired “Amy the guitar player” to babysit (164). This is another way that Jen identifies how the two generations see things so differently. The grandmother calls Amy “that crazy-person sitter,” while Natalie “thought this Amy was very creative” (164). Jen points out that they have different ideas about how children should be raised with the controversial notion of spanking.
It is in a conversation about spanking that the grandmother recalls having with Natalie and John that the plot fully develops. The grandmother is frustrated because she cannot get Sophie to stop taking her clothes off at the park (164). She declares, “John and my daughter agree Sophie is a problem, but they don’t know what to do.” (164). Subsequently, the grandmother offers the suggestion, “You spank her, she’ll stop” because she considers it acceptable based on her cultural background (164). However, John and Natalie are against spanking because they believe it gives children low self-esteem, and “In America, parents not supposed to spank the child.” (165). After many frustrating attempts to get Sophie to keep her clothes on, the grandmother spanks her anyway (165). Following that, Sophie keeps her clothes on in the park, but the grandmother does not reveal to Natalie how she succeeded in gaining Sophie’s compliance (165). This success leads to a short period of harmony between Sophie, the grandmother, and Natalie.
During this period of concord, the grandmother believes she can “help her [Sophie’s] Chinese side fight against her wild side.” (166). She does this by teaching Sophie good habits such as not eating food with her hands, not playing with garbage cans, and not hitting anyone