Realization Has Dawned

“And then it occurs to me. They are frightened. In me, they see their own daughters, just as ignorant, just as unmindful of all the truths and hopes they have brought to America. They see daughters who grow impatient when their mothers talk in Chinese . . . They see that joy and luck do not mean the same to their daughters...[that] "joy luck" is not a word...They see daughters who will bear grandchildren born without any connecting hope passed from generation to generation."

That excerpt was taken from pg. 31 on Jing-Mei. That paragraph really got to me somehow. It's almost like it hit something deep down in me that had not been awaken for years. June is obviously of the lesser generation, representing the child born in America amongst others that were born in China. She seems to realize that she is no longer close to her Chinese identity, that her mother, who has died, had been there all along yet she had paid little attention to her. Realization has dawned upon June.

You can tell she’s feeling sympathy toward her aunts- understanding that their fear of their daughters was evident in June’s lack of information on her mom (her stories, proverbs, etc.) June gives the impression that she comprehends that these older and wiser women had dreams and hopes of coming into America but that their daughters have little respect toward them. These hopes and dreams of her elders surrounding her mean nothing in modern time America.

But what I can’t understand is why June says “What will I say…I don’t know anything.” (p. 31) when she tells the stories that her mother told her at the beginning of the chapter. It’s almost as if you’re looking into June’s fears as well- that she’s been sitting and listening but with little or no comprehension at all.

What would June know about the war? Their [her mother and others] little streak of hope and joy during those times that seemed virtuously impossible? The babies? She doesn’t. And that’s what she has come to realize. And as they say, you don’t know what you have, until you lose it.

But I’ll tell you something- She feels guilty. And that’s not an assumption. It’s a fact.

P.S. Good book so far...wonder what's in store for me in the future chapters....