Who’s Irish? 1. Discuss the following questions a. Where does the narrator live?
She is a sixty-eight-years old Chinese immigrant, who lives in the US.

b. What is the narrator’s view of the Irish/the Shea family in general?
The narrator is indignant of the Shea family; her son-in-law and the three other brothers are all unemployed, even though they were born white in the USA. But it sounds a bit like the narrator feels sorry for the mother, Bess but on the same time also admire her - Bess have taken care of the four boys all her life, and had a complicated job as a secretary before she got sick.

c. What is her view of her son-in-law?
She doesn’t understand John - her son-in-law. He can’t take care of Sophie, and he doesn’t have a job. She thinks he is so plain, and it’s clear they don’t have a good relationship.

d. What does the narrator say about the mother-daughter relationship in China and in the US?
In China the daughter usually take care of her mother, but in the US it’s the opposite; the mother should take care of her daughter. The mother asks if there’s anything else she can do? Otherwise the daughter will complain about the mother not being supportive.

e. What is the son-in-law’s attitude to the narrator
Not very good, and there are some indications that John wants to send the narrator back to China.

f. Characterize the relationship between the narrator and Bess.
They are both older and they can laugh together. Bess has raised four boys without the father and the narrator admires her. They both love their granddaughter Sophie, maybe for Bess the daughter she never got.

g. How to bring up children: * According to the narrator why was Amy a ‘crazy-person sitter’?
She thought Amy was a crazy person sitter, Amy was to creative – a word they don’t have in China. She was too permissive, for the wild Sophie. * According to the narrator what is the right way to bring up a child?
According to the narrator it sounds like it’s through discipline, she thinks spanking will make Sophie more calm and not so wild and stubborn. One day the narrator spanks Sophie and Sophie starts to cry, but Sophie stops taking her clothes off as the narrator wants. * According to her daughter and son-in-law what is the right way to bring up a child?
They think it’s wrong to spank a child, since spanking will give the children a low self-esteem. They think words and explanation is the way through. They want the narrator to set a good example and use the words.

h. Why does the narrator want to change Sophie’s behavior?
The narrator wants to “help her Chinese side fight against her wild side “ but sometimes she spanks Sophie and by that she learns Sophie to eat food nicely with a fork, spoon or chopsticks and not to play with garbage cans. The narrator maybe believes Sophie will have an easier life if she can learn to behave more “civilized” and calm.

i. What does the narrator do in order to make Sophie come out of the hole? When Sophie isn’t answering the narrator, she gets nervous and starts yelling at Sophie. She tries to beckon with a lollipop, but when she doesn’t answer again she takes a stick and starts poking into the foxhole.

j. Why does the narrator come to live with Bess? Both the narrator and Bess are very lonely. They are both old ad live alone, so Bess suggest that they can live together, and that way have some female company.

k. Does she feel at home? Substantiate your answer by referring to the text.
The narrator is feeling more and more at home, and she is learning to like the Irish people and their ways to live. I believe it must be nice to live around another old lady, especially now when her own daughter doesn’t feel she can trust the narrator any longer, after what happened with Sophie

2. Which of the following world would you use about the narrator?
We would use fierce.

3. Does her character develop through the story?
Yes, I think she develops trough the story. In the beginning she is a fierce and strict lady. Everyone is afraid of her, and she is not afraid to tell her opinion. In the end she is still fierce, but she has learned to understand the Irish people, and now when Bess call her Irish, she can look at the Irish people with a softer view.

4. Does she come to understand more things about life in the USA?
As I wrote before she is more flexible about the Irish people. She lives with Bess who is Irish, and I think she learns to understand Bess and the American life better the more time she spends with her.

5. Correct the errors
She dyes it
My daughter tells me
Everybody chews
I am working hard
She is handling everything
I am not exaggerating
I’m going home now
Bess had a job before she got sick
Since she dyed it, it became black again
I don’t know what happened

6. (11) Which of the following is the most important theme in the story?
We have agreed that the most important theme is ethnic differences.

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