IN THE AMERICAN SOCIETY
1. Leaving the old world (mother country)
In this story, the family of Ralph Chang left their mother country; China. They build their own restaurant. It can be seen on page 155 “The cooks and busboys complained that he asked them to fix radiators and trim hedges, not only at the restaurant, but at our house; the waitresses that he sent them on errands and made them chauffeur him around”
2. The exploration of the dominant society and culture.
The dominant society in this story is absolutely American having more modern lifestyle and mind rather than the old one. In this story we have the term of country club. It is a part of American society. Most of American in a certain society gathers in this club. It is to make someone to be acknowledged in their society.
Mona was triumphant. “See, Mom,” she said, waltzing around the kitchen when Mrs. Lardner left. “What did I tell you? ‘I’d just honored and delighted, just honored and delighted.’” She waved her hands in the air.
It shows that what they need is to be delighted and honored. Most of people want to join “country club”, because if they can’t join this, it seems that they don’t want to blend into a certain society in America.
3. Struggle for assimilation, facing trials, test and resistance
Ralph in this story tries to resist the culture of American surrounding him. He insists to join country club. According to him American is selfish. They treat African, for example as a slaver. It is very different with China. Based on the story of Ralph’s grandfather, the grandfather was a person used to care about his surrounding, especially poor man.
4. Severance from the old (traditional)values, cultures and ethnic identity
The person of Ralph’s family who really follows to the culture of America is Mona. Callie and her mother actually don’t really want to join. The culture that Mona gets from the American’s culture is to be more free and more democratic. It can be seen when she joins the Country club, she doesn’t care about her father’s opinion whether he agrees in term of joining such kind of club. Whereas in her culture, it is very important to listen to father’s opinion as the leader of the family. None can’t leave the house if there is any dissent. It is quotes from these sentences:
For in my father’s mind, a family owed its head a degree of loyalty that left no room for dissent. To embrace what he embraced was to love; and to embrace something else was to betray him
5. Assimilation to and acceptance by the dominant society
The assimilation happens when Ralph and his family decides to join country club. The person who invites them, Mrs. Lardner, welcomes them happily. Ralph’s family tries to adapt to this club, even though, it is very difficult for them. It can be seen when Ralph has to wear suit, though, he doesn’t want to wear it because it is very hot. It also happens to the mother who tries to keep herself in her hot dress. Everything is ok before Jeremy Brothers come.
“Ah!” Jeremy bowed a little. “Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. You are not my man, not my man at all.” He bowed again and started to leave, but then circled back. “Viticulture is not your forte, yes I can see that, see that plainly. But may I trouble you on another matter? Forget the damned bottle.” He threw it into the pool, and winked at the people he splashed. “I have another matter. Do you speak Chinese?”
Jeremy is kind of arrogant person. Jeremy guesses that Ralph is a Chinese man but Ralph says that he is not. Jeremy feels that there is something different in Ralph because he thinks that Ralph doesn’t look like a man having in his society. There is something different when Jeremy gets a chat with him.
Some problems happen in term of the strange behavior of Ralph. His own culture who always teaches him to keep his image. He does not want being asked by someone. It can be seen from this quotation:
“I do not take orders like a servant,” announced my father
Jeremy can’t fully accept this behavior. Jeremy, moreover, seems to find something funny when he gets that there is a price label in Ralph’s suit.
From this condition we consider that there is an effort done by Ralph. His big effort, however, can not totally hide his identity as a Chinese man, because he still keeps his principal as a Chinese man.
6. Rediscovery or assertion of the old ethnic identity
As the Chinese, Ralph always tries to be a simple person. He cares about someone else who really needs his help, for example; Booker and Cedric.
“You know, the Chinese have a saying,” said my mother. “To do nothing is better than to overdo….”
It is actually done by Ralph. He doesn’t want to get into American Society but because of his family’s request, he has to blend into the society.
Something bad from Chinese is that they place themselves in the higher position, if they are an owner. It can be seen from :
He demanded a similar sort of loyalty of his workers, whom he treated more like servants than employees. Not in the beginning, of course. In the beginning all he wanted was for them to keep on doing what they used to do, and to that end he concentrated mostly on leaving them alone. As the months passed, thought, he expected more and more of them, with the result that for all this largesse, he began to have trouble keeping help. The cooks and busboys complained that he asked them to fix radiators and trim hedges, not only at the restaurant, but at our house;
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