Bila Lee
English 48B
January 30, 2009
Journal #8 Sui Sin Far
Quote
“After my son was born my mother fell sick and my wife nursed and cared for her; then my father, too, fell sick, and my wife also nursed and cared for him. For twenty moons my wife care for and nurse the old people, and when they die they bless her and my son, and I send for her to return to me” (Sui Sin Far 881).
Summary
The quote was extracted from the conversation between Hom Hing and the customs officers. I found this quote portrayed the central idea of the whole story because it precisely addressed to the maternal love of Lae Choo, whereas the reply of the officers reflected their indifference towards aliens. The story was a tearjerker one in the sense that it cruelly depicted how Lae Choo suffered when she gave birth to Little One, when Little One was held by the U.S. government, and when Little One did not recognize her at last.
Responses
Sui Sin Far, as her pseudonym suggests, was closely related to the Chinese culture. In fact, her mother was a Chinese but raised in England, and her father was a British businessman. As stated in Wikipedia, the couple met during a business trip in Shanghai (Wikipedia). Sui Sin Far was renowned for her courage to depict the sufferings of Chinese immigrants – our story “In the Land of the Free” is an eminent example to demonstrate the dark side of them.
Hom Hing and Lae Choo were attempting to build a sweet family: Hom Hing was making a fortune in the United States as a businessman, Lae Choo recently gave birth to Little One in China and they were supposed to reunite. However, all in a sudden, the happiness and hope were switched into sadness and tears because they
could not provide official documents to prove the identity of Little One. The story disclosed the altruistic maternal love of Lae Choo and how the stubborn U.S. government endeavored to make the life of Chinese immigrants difficult. Lae Choo was a great mother who could sacrifice everything for her child – she suffered all the painfulness on her own, she nursed and cared her parents-in-law, and paid all her precious jewelries to the lawyer. All her sacrifices were converted into tears, tears for her beloved Little One. It was not difficult to imagine how desperate a woman felt when she was forced to depart from her biological children, and how despair when her child did not recognize her and bade, “Go ‘way, go ‘way!” (Sui Sin Far 886). Sui Sin Far skillfully to put Little One into the missionary school for 10 months, as 10 months were also the duration for a pregnancy. It deepened the wound of Lae Choo.
On another hand, the story also displayed both indifference and inefficiency of the U.S. government. The extracted quote touchingly described the situation of the Chinese family, but the customs officers coldly replied, “Very good. Nevertheless, we [have to] take your son,” (Sui Sin Far 881). It was also somehow corruptive to approve the paperwork for Little One because the young lawyer could solve the issue by some of his simple trick. Even today, I still suspect the U.S. government treats me as an alien to the country. Last September, I applied for a social security card for an on-campus employment; but I was frustrated to have notified that my birth date is shown as “01/01/1900” in the database, hence I was not allowed to apply for an official social security card until the issue was fixed (like the Little One story.) It took me three months to have that little problem fixed, and the worst was the officers in the Social Security Department were ignorant, like the customs officers in the story.
English 48B
January 30, 2009
Journal #8 Sui Sin Far
Quote
“After my son was born my mother fell sick and my wife nursed and cared for her; then my father, too, fell sick, and my wife also nursed and cared for him. For twenty moons my wife care for and nurse the old people, and when they die they bless her and my son, and I send for her to return to me” (Sui Sin Far 881).
Summary
The quote was extracted from the conversation between Hom Hing and the customs officers. I found this quote portrayed the central idea of the whole story because it precisely addressed to the maternal love of Lae Choo, whereas the reply of the officers reflected their indifference towards aliens. The story was a tearjerker one in the sense that it cruelly depicted how Lae Choo suffered when she gave birth to Little One, when Little One was held by the U.S. government, and when Little One did not recognize her at last.Responses
Sui Sin Far, as her pseudonym suggests, was closely related to the Chinese culture. In fact, her mother was a Chinese but raised in England, and her father was a British businessman. As stated in Wikipedia, the couple met during a business trip in Shanghai (Wikipedia). Sui Sin Far was renowned for her courage to depict the sufferings of Chinese immigrants – our story “In the Land of the Free” is an eminent example to demonstrate the dark side of them.
Hom Hing and Lae Choo were attempting to build a sweet family: Hom Hing was making a fortune in the United States as a businessman, Lae Choo recently gave birth to Little One in China and they were supposed to reunite. However, all in a sudden, the happiness and hope were switched into sadness and tears because they
could not provide official documents to prove the identity of Little One. The story disclosed the altruistic maternal love of Lae Choo and how the stubborn U.S. government endeavored to make the life of Chinese immigrants difficult. Lae Choo was a great mother who could sacrifice everything for her child – she suffered all the painfulness on her own, she nursed and cared her parents-in-law, and paid all her precious jewelries to the lawyer. All her sacrifices were converted into tears, tears for her beloved Little One. It was not difficult to imagine how desperate a woman felt when she was forced to depart from her biological children, and how despair when her child did not recognize her and bade, “Go ‘way, go ‘way!” (Sui Sin Far 886). Sui Sin Far skillfully to put Little One into the missionary school for 10 months, as 10 months were also the duration for a pregnancy. It deepened the wound of Lae Choo.On another hand, the story also displayed both indifference and inefficiency of the U.S. government. The extracted quote touchingly described the situation of the Chinese family, but the customs officers coldly replied, “Very good. Nevertheless, we [have to] take your son,” (Sui Sin Far 881). It was also somehow corruptive to approve the paperwork for Little One because the young lawyer could solve the issue by some of his simple trick. Even today, I still suspect the U.S. government treats me as an alien to the country. Last September, I applied for a social security card for an on-campus employment; but I was frustrated to have notified that my birth date is shown as “01/01/1900” in the database, hence I was not allowed to apply for an official social security card until the issue was fixed (like the Little One story.) It took me three months to have that little problem fixed, and the worst was the officers in the Social Security Department were ignorant, like the customs officers in the story.
20 points. "but I was frustrated to have notified that my birth date is shown as “01/01/1900” in the database, hence I was not allowed to apply for an official social security card until the issue was fixed (like the Little One story." How bizarre. Welcome to the land of the fee!
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