How Diasporas Appear, Culture of Diaspora Essay

Introduction

Diaspora occurs as the result of an exodus or individual movement of people from one country to other parts of the world. Such people who have undertaken the move is referred to as Diaspora. It can also mean “the movement, migration, or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland” (Hu-Dehart). When used as a verb “It is astounding that the word and concept of “Diaspora”, which until a few years ago was unknown even to many academics and which was certainly unheard of among the general reading public, has taken hold in the popular imagination” (Hu-Dehart). But once this became popular, a plethora of diasporic writing and literature from authors like Amy Tan and Jhumpa Lahiri began to appear on the literary scene. One notable universal feature among diaspora worldwide is the inner urge to go back to their roots. This is an indication of a natural or inborn bonding that exists with their homeland, its people and culture. This urge manifests itself in many ways. For some, the need will be to go back when they have become old so that they can die peacefully in their original homeland. For some others, it is enough that their ashes or even their bodies be sent to the final resting place in the land of their forefathers. But for generation that came later who has no physical or emotional roots, the need may not manifest itself so clearly. Even the bonding may be totally absent on the surface will exist deep down within them.

Main Text

This is what Tan states in her extremely sweet and fairy tale like short story ‘A pair of tickets’. A Chinese immigrant and his American born daughter, Jing-mei Woo are going to China to meet the latter’s two twin half-sisters for the first time. Her mother Suyuan had to abandon the twins from an earlier marriage when she fled her hometown because of an impending Japanese invasion. It was also Jing-mei’s first visit to the country which for her, was purely to fulfill the wish of her dead mother to see her abandoned children. She had agreed to the visit only after much persuasion from her father. Jing-mei wrongly believed that she was totally American in culture and attitudes until she made the visit to China. But her attitude towards her original homeland changes dramatically by the time she arrives here. The end of the story depicts Jing-mei’s apprehensive wait to meet her half sisters and the eventual joyous reunion. Tan has authored many books and short stories and they include The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God’s Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter’s Daughter and Saving Fish from Drowning. The Joy Luck Club, a collection of short stories, includes ‘A Pair of Tickets’. She has won or nominated for many awards and prizes. She and her husband Lou DeMattei, shuttle between their homes in San Francisco and New York.

Tan believes from her own experience that the urge to have an emotional (and probably physical) bond with one’s original homeland exists and is latent in every person. The fact is that it does not manifest itself in some and will only be triggered by an experience like visiting the country. The author, like her protagonist, was also born in the USA to immigrant Chinese parents. She too had twin sisters and did make a visit to China to meet them. It is this experience that led her to write The Joy Luck Club in which this short story appears.

What is interesting is that this admittance (of her wrong perception) is evident from the first paragraph of the story. – “The minute our train leaves the Hong Kong border and enters Shenzhen, China, I feel different. I can feel the skin on my forehead tingling, my blood rushing through a new course, my bones aching with a familiar old pain. And I think, My mother was right. I am becoming Chinese” (Tan, 204). Her previous attitude only comes later in the story when she is shown to have regular arguments with her mother regarding this. This is evident from her thoughts at age fifteen when she reminisces that her Caucasian friends used to see her as a typical American and not as a Chinese immigrant. But her mother had always insisted that “Once you are born Chinese, you cannot help but feel and think Chinese. “Someday you will see” (Tan 205) and the mother continues, “It’s in your blood, waiting to let go” (Tan, 205). She refuses to believe this until her visit to her parent’s country and later to the town where her half-sisters lived. In the end Tan again reiterates the sentiment seen in the first paragraph when they pose together for a photograph taken by her father. Tan describes Jing-mei’s feelings as the three wait for the snap to develop. “And although we don’t speak, I know we all see it: Together we look like our mother. Her same eyes, her same mouth, open in surprise to see, at last, her long-cherished wish” (Tan, 217). The emotional bond between them is emphasized by the fact that ‘together they look like their mother’. This feeling which manifested within such a short time (of meeting the twins) is indicative that such a bond exists within the protagonist’s mind.

There are elements of symbolism especially in the names given to some of the main actors in the story. Suyuan in Chinese means ‘long cherished dream’ and the story is exactly that even though the mother was not physically present to experience it. The dream had to be fulfilled by her daughter and husband. Jing-mei has two interpretations. One interpretation stands for purity or pure essence and the second and relevant one stands for ‘younger sister’. She is a younger sister to the twins. The story has a fairy tale like ending because the indication at the end is that everyone lived happily ever after. The fact that the twin sisters were identified by the friend while they were shopping for shoes denotes a connection with the classic fairy tale, Cinderella.

Conclusion

The author states that there exists an inherent connection between an individual and his or her roots even if the point is denied. Jing-mei feels this even as she enters her country. This feeling is intensified when she hears the story of her mother after her arrival in China. She also feels that many of the cultures and habits seen here are identical to the ones she is used to in her home in the States. The feeling of bonding is strongly presented both at the very beginning and the end of the story. The diaspora, especially the first generation ones, will have a strong need to return to their roots, either physically when they are alive or symbolically after their death, because of the inherent bonding that exists. Tan believes that this feeling exists in everyone, including those who belong to later generations. It is something that will lie hidden until an experience comes along resulting in that feeling ‘to let go’.

Works Cited

Evelyn Hu Hart. “Evelyn Hu Hart’s Brief Meditation on Diaspora Studies.” Web.

Tan, Amy. “A Pair of Tickets.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Shorter Ninth Edition. Ed. Alison Booth et al. New York: Norton, 2006.