Gender Discrimination The Jade Peony - 1367 Words

Gender discrimination, such as sexism, are evident in, â€Å"The Jade Peony†. In Chinese cultures, pregnancy is an important but superstitious process in which mothers are fed herbal foods and drinks by their mother-in-laws to aid the pregnancy. Old timers tales describe things which the mother should avoid in order to not have something bad happen to the baby. For instance, rubbing the belly will make the child spoilt. In the beginning of The Jade Peony, Jook-Liang describes touching Stepmother s protruding tummy (6). Later on in the novel, when Sekky is born, he is weak and gets all the attention from Poh-Poh. Furthermore, the importance of having a baby boy is a huge part of the Chinese tradition (hence the enforcement of the†¦show more content†¦It becomes a hobby of his, and he realizes his homosexuality when he starts to have feelings for his coach, Frank. He compares Frank to the sun later in the book, which suggests that he could have feelings for Frank, beca use Jung-Sum is supposedly the moon. Jung- Sum has an internal struggle because he does not want to jeopardize his relationship with his newer family by coming out as being gay, because of the fear that he will not be accepted. Jung-Sum does try to fit the conventional masculinity of his time, most notably in his idolization of both Joe Louis and Frank Yuen.Therefore, in old China, the love between two males was not allow. The most important thing of a man was to continue his family s bloodline and their last name. Two man cannot have babies, and in the elders consideration, that violates the nature fertility rules. Therefore, Jung-Sum s loving was not allowed in old China. Another question arises: what is a â€Å"narrative of ethnicity† in diasporic context? Choy explains how immigrants are to preserve their ethinic identity, yet they adapt to their social context. The children feel the same resentment and distaste for Chinese. Jook-Liang forces herself to speak English at home in her efforts to be more like Shirley Temple. She speaks to herself in English while practicing her dance routine (Choy, 36) and uses it as a tool to feel less Chinese. The children have jarring associations to learning and speakingShow MoreRelatedChinese Traditional Thinking Affect Jook-Liang in the Jade Peony1602 Words   |  7 Pages21 March 2013 Chinese traditional thinking affect Jook-Liang in The Jade Peony Can you imagine that everyone rejects you just because you are a girl? That actually happened universally in the last century, specifically in the old China. The gender discrimination was deeply rooted in people’s minds and became a traditional Chinese thinking. Wayson Choy illustrates this kind of discrimination really well in his novel The Jade Peony. In the novel, Grandmother continually reminds Jook-Liang that girl-child