Struggle with Cultural Identity Crisis in Jade Peony by Wayson Choy (Essay Sample)

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Struggle with Cultural Identity Crisis in The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy
The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy explores the themes of cultural alienation and culture clash for Canadian-born Chinese children whose parents immigrated into Canada between the two world wars. While the older generation is able to adapt into the new culture and at the same time keep their Chinese heritage, the new generation, born in a foreign country, struggles to develop a distinct cultural identity. These children of Chinese immigrants are neither true Canadians nor true Chinese because despite inheriting the Chinese bloodline from their parents, they are brought up in a foreign (Canadian culture). Born to Chinese parents, they are taught Chinese culture and customs at home and in the Chinese schools they attend. At the same time, they attend English schools where they interact with Canadian friends and get assimilated into the western lifestyle. Consequently, the characters in the novel experience an identity crisis as they struggle to develop a cultural identity that will help them, as Chinese Canadians, to fit and function in their new culture. In their own ways, the characters resolve their identity crisis by rebelling against the ancestral culture their parents (Chinese culture) and embracing a new/Canadian culture.
Jook-Liang, the family’s only daughter, has rebelled against the Chinese culture because it values boys more than girls, and she sees it as an obstacle in her dream to become a Hollywood movie star. Poh-Poh, Liang’s grandmother, nicknamed the Old One, keeps reminding her that in the Chinese culture, the girl-child is ‘mo yong’, or useless. This Chinese’ low regard for girls acts as a catalyst in Liang’s desire to embrace the Canadian culture since it does not despise the girl-child. Poh-Poh tells Liang that if she ever wants to be valued in this world, she should not “be born a girl-child” (Choy 27). This assertion from her grandmother makes Liang to hate the Chinese culture because she realizes that it not only despises the girl-child as a person, but also promotes the culture of male domination, which will deny her equal opportunities as the boy-child in life. She embraces the Canadian culture because given its emphasis on equal opportunities for both girls and boys, it promises the freedom to become what she aspires to be in life (a movie star), instead of being destined to become a housewife as is expected of women in the Chinese culture. Liang demonstrates her belief in the Canadian culture because she defies what the Chinese culture has assigned her on the basis of her gender (becoming a housewife). She tells her grandma that “I’m not mo yung, Poh-Poh… even though I am a girl!” (p. 49). This self-assurance suggests her conviction that she will be better off as a Canadian woman than a Chinese one.
Liang’s rebellion against the Chinese culture is also evident in her lack of interest in what is going on in China. When the older family members talk about an ongoing war in their motherland, Liang feels that they have no reason to care about Chinese affairs because they are in Canada, and “there is no war in Canada” (p. 34). Her insistence that “this is Canada” and not “Old China” suggests her conscious attempt to see herself as a Canadian rather than a Chinese, despite her parents being Chinese. Her grandmother is relentless in reminding her that she is not Canadian; “you not Canada, Liang; you China” (p. 34). Liang says that “I hated the Old One” because she never let her get on with her movie-star daydreams” (p. 34). Her hatred of Poh-Poh for disrupting her daydreams about being a movie star is symbolic of her hatred for the Chinese culture, because it stands between her and her career dreams. Moreover, Liang’s clear disinterest in Chinese affairs portrays her desire to forget everything about her ancestral country and concern herself with her country of birth. This decision suggests that she has consciously developed a Canadian national identity for herself, and in effect, turned her back on the old/Chinese culture. Despite Poh-Poh’s attempts to cultivate a Chinese identity in her, Liang has resolved to adopt a Canadian national identity, portrayed in her love for tap-dance, and admiration for Shirley Temple, a Hollywood movie star she wants to emulate. By adopting a western lifestyle (tap-dance) and choosing a non-Chinese as her hero and role model, Liang demonstrates her rebellion against the Chinese culture and embrace of a western/Canadian one. She regards the Canadian culture as an escape from the rigid Chinese traditions, which cannot allow a girl to pursue her career without bogging her down with marriage and family responsibilities.
Jung Sum, the second son, experiences an identity crisis in understanding what it means to be a man. In the context of Jung’s new (Canadian) culture, boys are not expected to work to earn a living for their families. This is partly because of the Canadian culture’s emphasis on education in the formative years, and partly due to its opposition to child labor. Jung portrays the Chinese’ emphasis on work when he says that all the old Chinese men who visited their home considered him a “weak and spoiled” kid because he did not do any work” (p. 91). These are men who, in their childhood, worked in the fields from the age of six and seven, as evidenced by their scarred and rough hands. Yet, Jung observes, here he was, at the age of ten, “with hands like silk” (p. 92). The emphasis on work as initiation into manhood is portrayed by Kiam, the firstborn son, who at 8 years is already helping at his uncle’s warehouse. Jung finds it hard to reconcile with the idea that he must prove his manhood through work, given his frail and weak body. The emphasis on physical strength in the Chinese culture makes Jung to feel “unfit” to be a man, and consequently, alienated from the old culture. Jung attempts to prove his manhood by attending boxing lessons to learn fighting as all Chinese men must. However, he still feels inadequate after Fra