Chin by Gish Jen: Lack of Communication - Essay Example

Maria Mellisa Randing Prof. Stephen Aldred Engl 2 - # 1833 October 2 , 2006 “Chin Lack of Communication If we meet a family that comes from a different nation, we may be eager to know all about that family. In the short story “Chin” by Gish Jen, the narrator tells about what he knew about Chin from watching him from day to day because he was eager to know about Chin. This story is narrated by a man, who tells about his neighbor when he was a child. In the story he tells, Chin was a Chinese boy who also was a neighbor and a schoolmate of the narrator and his family was quite closed from socialization with people outside their household. The narrator’s family and The Chins had different cultures and their own household problems. The point of view illustrates the core theme in “Chin” through how the narrator always watched and evaluated Chin and his family, how the two families communicated with themselves and society, and their social status. The narrator lacked communication with the Chins which is obvious from the way he told about Chin and his family. In this part, the point of view illustrates the story through how the narrator watched and evaluated about Chin and his family. This point is very important since most of the story is about the narrator analysis and information that he got from watching the Chins. This relationship is established in the first paragraph when he told the reader he was not Chin’s friend and no one befriended Chin (237). Chin did not socialize with his schoolmates, not even with the narrator who was both his neighbor and schoolmate. This caused the narrator to think Chin was different from the other kids and the idea that Chin did not befriend anyone made him conclude that Chin was a weird boy. Chin’s family also did not communicate with their neighbors and this is shown in how the Chins always kept their windows closed (239). Those facts made the narrator eager to know more about Chin and his family and looked for the information about them through watching them everyday. This is why most of the story contained the information about the Chins that the narrator got through watching him. He also watched about how the Chins communicated to each other. In the story, the outsider point of view illustrates how communication took place within the Chin family themselves. The Chins have different ways of interacting with each other since they came from a Chinese culture. In this family Mr. Chin seems as the number one and the most important member. He always hit his son in educating him to indicate every time Chin made mistakes. He could use belt or garden stake, but his wife or his daughter did not stop him while he did it as if they did not have any power to stop him (240). His wife and his children were afraid of him and no one wanted to oppose him whatever he said or whatever he used to hit Chin. Chin had never moved or said anything and let his father do it. Mr. Chin also kept his family from socialization with other people a lot. As a result, Mrs. Chin wasn’t seen to communicate with the narrator’s family either. Chin’s sister was also pretty closed, quiet, and weak as if she was afraid to befriend anybody (241). It was like Mr. Chin did not use verbal communication to interact with his family, but power and harshness. In this part, it is a little bit different from the narrator’s family who did not use harshness. The point of view also provides a comparison with the communication in the narrator’s family, which was more liberal and had an American culture. They had better interaction and had more freedom in communication between parents and children. The only problem was the narrator’s father had miscommunication with his wife. His wife used to complain that her husband did not give her happiness enough as a woman (239). He did not speak about this problem with his wife to solve or discuss about what she wanted or how to make her happy. Although both of them had that problem, the communication between them and their children seemed fine. This communication is obvious from the way the narrator’s mother talked to the narrator about Chinese things, about the Chins (238), about her feelings toward her husband, and also from the way she gave her daughter attention. The narrator’s father also seemed to talk a lot with his son as father and son, showing that the narrator did not have a problem in sharing his thoughts with his father. The narrator’s family also did not have problems with socializing with other people except the Chins. Even though both the Chins and the narrator’s family were different, they had similarity in social status. From the way the two families lived, the story illustrates the specific view of their social status. They were an average family and lived in the usual way like the other families who are not rich. The narrator’s mother’s complaint was about how she felt like a shit (239). That means she did all the household chores and did not have enough time and money to take care about her appearance. She also complained because her husband had never taken her to a hair dresser (239) or how Ray, her daughter’s husband was more of a gentleman and could do anything without anybody’s consultation (241). It happened because the narrator’s father did not have a lot of money to waste for a hairdo or any beautiful clothes for her so she felt like a shit. In the Chins family, Mr. Chin was a cab driver and never went to the doctor for his face infections. He and his daughter were used to mosey down (241). From their attitude, this proves they were not from a high class family who would have an elegant manner. The fathers had more relaxing jobs and spent their time at home after work without doing anything that was related to their job at home. Everything in their life style and their activities show that they were not from high class family nor from middle class family, but from lower class family. In the story, the point of view illustrates the theme of the story from several ways. From the narrator’s way that always watched the Chins at school and at home because he lacked verbal communication with the Chins we can see one way the point of view affects the story. The narrator’s point of view also shows how the Chins and the narrator’s family communicate and interact with themselves and society which is also an important idea in this story since the problem in those families was about miscommunication. Later the point of view illustrates the social status which shows the way they lived their lives daily at home. No matter from which class your family is, the most important thing in a family is communication within family members and tolerance for more freedom in expressing our mind. Read More