Where the Gods fly

Moving to foreign country can be extremely difficult. It can be hard to adapt to new surroundings, and in this case adapt to a society that does not value the believe in religion as much as you do yourself. Especially when you come from a country so fundamentally different from the one being in. this is the exact case in the short story “Where the Gods fly” written by Jean Kwok, in 2012, where a small Chinese family moves to USA where they face a lot of difficulties, adapting to the new society.
The structure of the short story, “Where the Gods fly”, is quite significant. The story begins in medias res “I kneel here before the gods and the thought of what I am about to do stings in my eyes like incense”. This beginning is in fact the ending of the story, as the decision, that the mother makes, is going to be irreversible. The rest of the story until the end focusses on how the mother came to this crucial decision. Throughout the story, the narrator goes into details about the struggle Perl’s family faced when they immigrated to the United States of America. The narrator uses Pearl’s life as a timeline. Basically, the short story starts in the present tense in the first couple of lines. (ll. 1-8). After which, the text changes into the past tense, as we are introduced to the struggle the family stumbles upon every day. “Pearl was too young, or so I argued[…]” (l. 9). At the end of the story, we are back in present tense: “The monks are ringing the gong”(l.153), where she prays to Buddha about letting her daughter understand why she will take her greatest passion away. Finally, at the very end, the story turns into the future tense, when the mother decides how Pearl´s future is to come. You could argue that the structure of the short story is a bit complicated compared to other traditional short stories. However, in this context, it contributes to creating an exciting and innovative way of writing. In this short story one of the obvious contrasts that appears are, the difference between the American and the Chinese way of living and how the human being interprets life. The contrast is seen in the text, where the mother does not understand how the Americans can live without “bowing their heads to their gods.” “I understood nothing of these people who did not bow to our gods and ate with sharp knives at the table.” (ll. 37-38). Furthermore, it is obvious that the mother is afraid of anything new, and refuses to adapt to the American society. Another fine example of this contrast between Western and Chinese culture, is when the mother says that the family do not really belong in the United States. “We don’t belong here … what do we simple Chinese know of these inhuman people with their impassive faces and elegant shoulders?” (ll. 137-138). Another contrast in the short story is the difference between old and new, which appears when the mother tells about how it was for her when she was a child, and how the opportunities to get education didn’t exist for her. Compared to what opportunities Pearl has in the USA where they currently live. “When I was a girl in China, I was not permitted to go to classes…the learning I possess, I picked through lingering at the table…as my brother studied”. (ll.77-79). The mother does not approve, that changes is a part of life, and as a believing Buddhist, she is more likely to prefer the old fashion, and traditional.
In this way, the mother is in this contrast, the “old” part, where Pearl appears as the “new” part. Pearl has friends, goes to ballet, attends school, and talks with boys on the phone at night, which is exactly what the mother didn’t experience as a little girl in China.
In this short story “Where the gods fly” the mother plays a very important role, because the readers are presented to her thoughts. Firstly, the short story, “Where the gods fly”, is told from the mother’s point of view. The parents, and especially the mother, struggle to adapt to the American society. This is emphasized through the mother’s actions in the story. One of the most obvious examples is when the mother does not understand how the Americans don’t want to be religious. “I understood nothing of these people who did not bow to our gods”. The quotation illuminates how much religion means to the mother. She simply does not understand why Americans won’t take religion seriously. The mother faces the exact same difficulties, when her daughter, Pearl, according to herself, integrates too well. “When I heard her talking and laughing on the telephone with her American friends, jabbering in English much faster than she could speak Chinese by then, a part of me wanted to run over and wrench the phone from her hands” (ll. 90-93). However, this is not the only problem the mother has. The language is another - to learn a language in a new country is vital, if you have the intention of integrating and adapting. This is the exact problem Pearl’s mother and father face. Furthermore, this is emphasized in the following example. “[…] But English was too hard for me, and her father too”.
In conclusion, it is obvious that the mother struggles to adapt to the American culture. In the future, her struggle will have some vital consequences – especially her relationship with her daughter.
Interpreting this story, the writer might have been trying to put a certain focus on the problem with integrating to new societies. When you come to a new society, with no one else but you and your family it is necessary to adapt. Without social interference, it is very hard to adapt and function properly in a new society, which is a vital component in integration. The mothers daughter, Pearl, integrates well to her new surroundings, and is now a functioning student and a ballet attendant, whereas the mother, doesn’t adapt, and insists on holding on to her old values, that she has arrogated from China and her parents. Jean Kwok’s message is that it is necessary to adapt to your surroundings and integrate well to new societies, and if you do not do that, it can have fatal consequences, such as ruining your child’s life and dreams, broadly speaking.