Who's Irish literary analysis The short story Who's Irish written by Gish Jen is a story with lots of conflict.
This story is written in first person in the eyes of a Chinese grandmother who has her traditional views on raising her granddaughter Sophie. She has her expectations, and she wants her granddaughter to live up to them in order to achieve these expectations, she feels the granddaughter should be raised in the Chinese cultural way. However, the daughter of the granddaughter Natalie has different views on how the daughter Sophia should be raised. Considering they are in America, Natalie feels she does not have to be as strict and more lenient when introducing Sophie. On top of this conflict of raising the child, Natalie needs help raising the child, and her husband John, who is an Irish man, has very little contribution towards Sophie. He feels it is not a man's role to raise a child. In my opinion, this is very selfish of John, yet in his culture, it might not be viewed as selfish.
A lot of this story is based on viewpoints because everything might seem different coming from different cultural backgrounds. Cultural differences are one of the key reasons why everyone is in conflict with each other. One of the conflicts that the grandmother and Natalie disagree on raising the child is disciplinary action. The grandmother feels strongly about this action being taken as she knows this is the way in the Chinese culture. In order to have a successful child discipline is a major aspect of shaping a child's success. Natalie, on the other hand, wants to take a different approach, for example, rather than hitting the child as a disciplinary action, use other methods that don't involve shooting. Throughout the short story, the grandmother realizes that her daughter Natalie has lost her connection with the Chinese cultural ways of raising the child and instead raised the child in a more Americanized way. Although the family lives in America, the grandmother still believes that the daughter should be raised the Chinese way. "In China, the daughter takes care of the mother. Here it is the other way around. Mother help daughter; mother asks, Anything else I can do? Otherwise, the daughter complains mother is not supportive. I tell daughter, We do not have this word in Chinese, supportive" (Jen 366). Here we see in Chinese culture, the mother is supposed to help the grandmother with anything she needs, but in this situation, Natalie is asking her mother for help. This is also not part of the Chinese culture. In the Chinese culture, Natalie is supposed to help her mother with things she needs. Even though this is not the Chinese way, the grandmother does not mind helping baby-sit Sophie. However, she is not happy that Natalie's husband John never helps w...
