Ruth Young as a Second Generation Daughter
humiliating letter to the minister Tan, 2004: 43. As stated in the second chapter, the way to describe the character can be done through the thoughts.
‘Lootie give me so much trouble,’ LuLing dictated, as if Ruth were invisible, ‘maybe I send her go Taiwan, school for bad children. What you
think?’ Ruth
revised that to: ‘Perhaps Ruth might attend a finishing school in Taiwan where she can learn the manners and customs of a young lady.
What is your opinion?’ In an odd way, she now thought, her mother was the one who had taught
her to become a book doctor. Ruth had to make life better by revising it Tan, 2004: 43.
The quotation shows the direct knowledge of what Ruth is thinking about. Ruth who has a job as a ghostwriter has realized that she already becomes a
ghostwriter ever since she was a twelve years old child. Then, as a freelancer ghostwriter, Ruth is smart, responsible yet busy.
“‘You are. You’re terrific. You’re honest and funny. Smart, interested.’ ‘Don’t forget responsible’” Tan,
2004: 29. Firstly, her characteristics can be seen through the conversation of Art and
Ruth as quoted above. The quotation above shows that Ruth is a terrific, honest, funny, smart, interested and responsible. Art has known Ruth for several months
and he observes the way Ruth talks and her work ethic. Ruth also shares story with Art, talks about her past. The way Ruth talks and socialites with new people
make Art conclude that Ruth is a terrific person. Secondly, a
nother quotation as following will strengthen Ruth’s characteristic as being a smart woman.
The most popular books were Defeat Depression with Dogs, Procrastinate to Your Advantage
, and To Hell with Guilt. The last book had become a controversial bestseller. It had even been translated into German and
Hebrew.
… In bookstores, most of her clients’ words of wisdom were placed in the light or popular sections
– Self-Help, Wellness, Inspirational, New Age Tan, 2004: 37.
From the quotation above, Ruth’s works with her clients become bestseller.
Between her busy times with her new family, she can manage her time to do her job. She can understand her clients, she knows the best stuff, what readers want,
she can put herself as reader’s position, and her works with the clients always turn out to be bestseller. Her working experiences for fifteen years lead Ruth to be a
professional. Several of her works even had been translated into some languages. She has wide background knowledge. She has worked with several themes, like
self-help, wellness, inspirational, new age, and she proves she can do it all. Ruth’s
excellent work and her intelligence in her field show that she is a smart and terrific woman.
On the other hand, Ruth’s professionalism in work drags her to become so busy.
“After that, whenever her mother asked whether she had finished her story, Ruth answer
ed, ‘I was just about to, but something came up with a client’ Tan, 2004: 13.
The quotation shows that she postpones reading about her mother’s story because of her work with client. It shows that she is too busy with her client
and job. She puts her client as her priority and shows her less concern in reading her mother’s memoir. She is so busy and has no time to take care of her mother.
Ruth looked up from her notes on her phone conference with the Internet Spirituality
author and reminded herself of all the ways she was lucky. She worked at home, was paid decent money, and at least the publishers
appreciated her, as did the publicists, who called her for talking points when booking radio interviews for the author. She was always busy,
unlike some freelancer writers who fretted over the trickle of jobs in the pipeline.
‘So busy, so success,’ her mother had said recently when Ruth told her she didn’t have any free time to see her. Tan, 2004: 38.
The citation above emphasizes that Ruth is so busy with her work and put it as her priority in the first place. As a professional and successful ghostwriter, Ruth is
described as a smart, responsible, and busy woman.