29 pages • 58 minutes read
Gish JenIn the American Society
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1986A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Foreshadowing
Jen uses foreshadowing to build suspense and allow her readers to anticipate the disaster that ultimately occurs at the end of the story. Much of this foreshadowing occurs in the first few paragraphs of the second section. For example, Mr. Chang’s new suit doesn’t fit, foreshadowing how he won’t fit in at Mrs. Lardner’s party. Additionally, Mrs. Lardner talks about how she does not have quality help and how many of her servants are criminals. This is reminiscent of the squabbles at the pancake house right before Booker and Cedric were arrested. The outcomes after these two events illustrate the difficulties the Changs have in understanding their new culture. If the reader views Mrs. Lardner’s comments as foreshadowing because of this parallel, they can anticipate what will happen. A more humorous form of foreshadowing occurs as the narrator says that the party started off “swimmingly,” foreshadowing how the party ultimately ends with the girls having to swim to the bottom of the pool to rescue Mr. Chang’s keys.
Juxtaposition
Jen uses juxtaposition to point out that neither fully assimilating nor staying within the confines of a home culture are sufficient paradigms by which American immigrants can thrive. The juxtaposition occurs between Mrs. Chang, who attempts to adopt American customs, and Mr. Chang, who wishes to hang on to the customs he learned in China. Mr. Chang’s attempts fail as his business loses most of its employees, and two of his best employees run away, not trusting Mr. Chang to protect them legally. Mrs. Chang’s attempts fail as she is not considered for admission into the country club, and she does not understand proper attire for the pool party, inadvertently leading to her husband’s humiliation. By juxtaposing these two attempts, Jen shows how neither is sufficient by itself for gaining security or acceptance in American culture.
Clichés
Jen uses multiple American clichés to show the imprecise way the Changs understand American culture. Their incorrect grammar while using these cliches shows that they are not able to use them proficiently and that language is not a means by which they can fit in. The story opens with Mr. Chang telling his daughters that Americans always say, “Smart guys thinking in advance” (27). He uses this cliche to explain to her daughters why they must start saving for the girls’ college tuition while they are still in junior high, but he uses incorrect grammar by incorrectly conjugating the verb, “thinking.” While this is not a real American saying, it's juxtaposed with Callie using “getting a jump on things” (27) correctly, highlighting the gap between their experiences.
A few paragraphs later, Mrs. Chang says, “But this here is the U-S-of-A” (28). She uses the colloquial phrase “U-S-of-A” like she has heard Americans say to explain to her employees they must arrive to work on time. Here, Mrs. Chang uses her relative fluency to assert her dominant position. Clichés and grammar are apt ways to explain the difficulties of assimilation as people who do not speak English as a first language frequently have difficulties with grammar. Additionally, colloquialisms are markers of cultural fluency, providing a degree of separation between native speakers and otherwise fluent speakers.
Point of View
This short story is told in the first-person point of view from Callie’s perspective. This allows Jen to write from the perspective of someone steeped in both cultures; she is more familiar with American culture than her parents because she grew up in the culture, but she understands her parents’ histories and motivations. This gives her a nearly omniscient role in the text; she can explain things her parents don’t understand. For example, Callie understands that her father exploits his employees and explains why they quit, whereas her father is operating from a different context and cannot understand. In the other direction, Callie understands that her father won’t read the Chinese character on Jeremy’s handkerchief because it doesn’t say anything meaningful; Jeremy doesn’t have access to this knowledge, so he perceives Mr. Chang’s actions as an insult.
Callie is not the story’s main character, and as such, the choice to use her as the narrator is unique. Using the first person, however, gives the story an intimate, familial feeling, which makes sense in a story about a family’s immigrant experience.
Related Titles
By Gish Jen
