The thematic similarity is very candid in the three literary works; power struggle seems to be the “pinhole” through which the three writers based their writings. The central characters are used as symbols to advance the theme of a power struggle in the stories. In “LengLui is for Pretty Lady” by Elaine Chiew, the young lady, Alina, who works for a rich couple in Asia sets a stage for a non-conventional power struggle in Mr. Kong’s family. Mr. Kong’s family is seen as a disjointed family, staring at an imminent crumble since the couple has practically “switched” off their emotional attachment from each other.
Chiew intelligibly demonstrates a shift in the balance of power in the Kong’s family when the despised and contemned house girl, Alina is “enthroned” as the “queen of the house.” The writer tilts the equilibrium of power and authority to tAlina. The consistency of the three works in addressing power struggles within the family as a social unit is a lesson to the society of the urgent need to restructure the family as the basic social unit.
In Ramos’ “The Way of the Machete,” the writer draws very similar parallelism to Chiew’s “LengLui is for Pretty Lady.” Ramos highlights the struggle for power and influence in society just like Chiew and Chimamanda in the books “LengLui is for Pretty Lady” and “My mother, the crazy African woman” respectively. The story revolves around Juanito, who receives a shocker when the village bully, Scipo, challenges Juanito’s, father, Josue, to a machete dwell. The book displays the power struggle between the ruffian Scipo and Josue, Juanito’s father. Neither of these two opponents is willing to “relinquish” supremacy and authority since they both want to win the dwell. With a shade of fear to accredit both of them for their resilience, the author indicates that they both died in the dwell. This leaves the readers with a philosophical question regarding power struggles; who actually wins in a power duel?
Chimamanda’s “My Mother, a crazy African woman,” narrates the identity crisis that Lin undergoes. Her case is a description of an intrinsic identity war. Chimamanda, through the main character,Lin, predicates that nothing should steal our identity; it is our congenital asset. Lin’s case is a war of conscience, her struggle for her identity is similar to Alina’s struggle in Chiew’s work. The same struggle has been witnessed in Ramos’ “The Way of the Machete.” It is a duel between her identity as a Nigerian and her silhouette as an American. The identity crisis is tearing the young girl apart; her mother, who is adamant that Lin must not “betray” her homeland Nigeria for America, worsens the simmering war within Lin. Critical analyses of these three works indicate the penchant of the writers to highlight issues of struggle in society. Some characters are struggling for power; others are focused on maintaining their “influential” positions in the society, while others are dealing with the subtle war of conscience.
Despite the egregious similarity in their thematic content, these stories are fundamentally different in many ways. The approach given by these three writers are quite alienable. For instance, the focus of Chiew’s work may be to indicate shift of power in the society, but the salient theme in the story is the plight of the immigrant female workers. The reader may be tempted to push the theme of power struggle to the periphery if the plight of Alina is brought into sharp focus. Alina is forced to work under very difficult circumstances; she is faced with very hard choices to make regarding employment.
The dilemma of the little girl is evident when she rules out the thought of quitting her job since she is concerned about her family welfare back at home yet Mr. Kong is making titillating advances to her. In relation to Ramos’ “The Way of the Machete,” a clear-cut variance is witnessed, the duel between the two protagonists in “The Way of the Machete” is about their ego. Their desire for power and self-importance drives their actions. This is a very crucial departing point for these two stories. The “literary environment” of these three works is quite different.
In Lin’s case, there is even a more pronounced deviation in the literary approach used by Chimamanda. She brings forth a controversy that is “within” the main character. The two stories discussed earlier, directly pit the protagonists against the antagonists. However, Lin faces a battle within herself, both the protagonist and the antagonist is within her. Her own mother, who insists that her identity lies with Nigeria, fuels the flames of controversy within her. Lin is experiencing a confrontation very dissimilar to Alina’s. Her case is quite unlike the two fighters as expressed in Ramos’ story “The Way of the Machete,” the battle is within her, and whoever wins the battle, the consequences stay with Lin since the fight is within her conscious.