Summary: The story “A Pair of Tickets”, an Asian-American woman goes to China to visit her half-sisters with her father. Her half-sisters are twins from their mothers first marriage, and the Asian-American daughter is from the second marriage. The twins were left by their mother on the side of the road in order to give them any chance of survival during a Japanese invasion. After the war the mother tried desperately to find the twins, but eventually gave up hope after moving to America with her new husband. It was then that she had a new daughter. Throughout her life this daughter was embarrassed by her Asian mother’s ways. The daughter did not even accept herself as an Asian. She also never showed much interest in her mother’s past. It wasn’t until her mother died of a brain aneurysm that the daughter finally realized her ignorance, and began to feel bad. Her negative feelings towards her actions of the past got even worse when she gained knowledge that the twin daughters were still alive. The daughter began to think about how she had got to spend so much time with her mother, and she took it for granted, while the twins never saw their mother and now would never get to. It was decided that the daughter and her father would go to China to visit the twins. The daughter was very stressed about meeting the twins as she thought the twins would blame her for the mother’s death. This guilt however lead to good things as it resulted in her finally showing some interest for her Asian side. She asked her father all about the story of her mother and the twins, and about the meaning of her and her mother’s Chinese names. This was one big step in accepting the Chinese inside of her. Also, simply being in China made her understand her mother’s ways, and even recognize that she herself fit in in China as well. In the end of the story she finally meets her half-sisters and they act just like family. They have no anger towards her. After a photo of them is taken, the daughter sees that she and the twins all resemble her mother.
Jan 25, 2017 The video lecture looks at Tan's biography, characteristics of literature on the Diaspora, and the short story, 'A Pair of Tickets'.
My interpretation of the meaning: The outstanding meaning of this story to me is don’t take anything for granted. The daughter took her mother for granted, and even dreaded her presence at times. She showed no interest in the mothers past, or anything to do with her Chinese culture, until it was too late. When she finally embraced her Chinese roots learned about her mother she became a happier person, because she had a better understanding of who she was. If she had only showed interest in her mother long ago she would have been happier for much longer.
A Pair of Tickets Ppt - Free download as Powerpoint Presentation (.ppt), PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or view presentation slides online. Analysis-a pair of ticket by shirley lim. The Army Tan’s is popularly known as the 1998 novel, ‘The Joy Luck Club’ which comprises of several short stories. “A Pair of Tickets” emerges as the final story in the novel. Initially, Jing-Mei was not aware of her identity until when she goes on a trip to China and acquires the story about her.
Character: The main character in this story is the daughter, Jing-mei. She is the protagonist in the story, and the antagonist is her internal conflict regarding her dead mother, and her regret for how she treated her mother. Throughout the story Jing-mei changes from thinking she is not Chinese, to really understanding the Chinese way and coming to accept herself. Due to this change she is classified as a dynamic character.
Setting: The setting of the story is in the late 1980’s in various parts of communist China. In certain ways China was akin to San Francisco, and other busy American cities. There were crowded busses with people shoving, and even the same food. China and America may not have always been socially the same like this, so it was essential to the story that it be set at this time, otherwise Jing-mei may not have felt so at home in China.
Style: The style of this book involves sentences of average length, composed of basic vocabulary. It is quite easy to read. The story line moves forward with time but includes descriptions of things from the past to enhance the story.
Tone: The author wrote this book using Ying-mei as the narrator. First Ying-mei gives readers a reason to slightly dislike her, but as she changes as a character readers begin to like her more. Ying-mei’s mother however was a character who was developed to be pitied and give the story more emotion.
Symbolism: The symbol in this story was the travelling. As the location changed, Ying-mei changed with it. I also thought the polaroid camera was a symbol for her change, because as she watched the photos develop she was developing connections with her Asian family, and turning from a from a blank sheet to the Asian who she really was.
Theme: Accept, and show interest in yourself and your family.