Pearl’s Culture Winnie’s and Pearl’s Cultures Described in Amy Tan’s The Kitchen God’s
38 having a non-Chinese husband, Pearl introduces the American culture stated in
this novel. The first American culture seen in this novel is equality. A husband’s and
a wife’s positions in a marriage are equal. Americans view women as equal as men in family life. There is no custom which states that wife must obey her
husband in severe ways. American husband cares and respects his wife. It is clearly seen when Pearl tells a story about her habits arguing with her husband
about both small and big issues in their family. Pearl is free to express her opinion without being regarded as a rebellious wife.
These days, we tend to argue about smaller, more specific issues—for example, my giving in to Tessa’s demands to watch another half- hour
television, and not our different attitudes toward discipline as a whole. And in the end, we almost agree—perhaps too readily, because we already
know the outcome of most disagreements 9. In America, children speak with confidence in front of adults. They are not
inhibited by shyness or fear to deliver their opinion. On the other hand, if they do not communicate well with their parents, they may think there is some problem in
their parents-children relationship. Children with passive communication can also be regarded as problematic children.
”I wanna see African elephants,” says Tessa, plopping down on our bed. And then she counts on her fingers, “And koala bears and spiny anteater
and a humpback whale.” I have always wondered where she picked up this trait of listing things—from Phil? From me? From television? “Say
‘Please,’” Phil reminds her, “and I don’t think they have whales at the zoo.” I turn to Cleo. I sometimes worry she will become too passive in the
shadow of her confident big sister. “And what do you want to see?” I ask her gently. She looks at her feet, searching for an answer. “Dingbats,” she
finally says 12. American children are aware of the custom of freedom. They tend to speak
freely with their parents. They have no shyness or fear of expressing their PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
39 thoughts and opinions. Even though they do not obey their parents, they do not
think that it is a big mistake. It is a trivial thing for them. A contrastive situation happens in China. Parents’ words are important orders for the children so that they
must obey whatever their parents say. Pearl fought me. “Why can’t I ask a boy to Sadie Hawkins? Jeanette’s
going. Jeanette’s mother is letting her go.” “You want to follow a girl who has no sense? You want to listen to her mother? That mother doesn’t even
have concern for her own daughter” 97. American families hug and kiss their relatives when they meet them after a
very long time to show how close their relationships are. It is the way they show affection to one another. People in China do not do such a thing. Therefore,
Winnie finds it very awkward to hug or kiss her relatives. Although we have not seen each other since Christmas, almost a month
ago, we do none of the casual hugs and kisses Phil and I exchange when we see his parents and friends 16.
Phil offers my mother a good- night kiss, which she cautiously accepts with a stiff upturned cheek 38.
My mother is not the cheek-kissing type, but she knows we have taught the girls to do that with Phil’s parents 55.
Of course, he did not hug me and kiss me, not the way you Americans do when you have been reunited after five minutes separation 176.
Most of the Chinese first generation still use Chinese as their first
language. Their descendants, American-born Chinese people who are considered as the second and the third generations, use English as their first language. Pearl is
a member of the second generation whose husband is a non-Chinese man, thus she uses English in her everyday life. She is not accustomed to use Chinese in her
daily conversation. Consequently, she does not really understand every time Winnie speaks or reads in Chinese. Her finger moves slowly down the red banner,
40 as she reads in a formal Chinese I can’t understand 20. I can’t understand all the
Mandarin words, only the gist of them 52. Pearl is also not accustomed to Chinese rituals. For that reason, when Phil
asks her about the rituals in Grand Auntie Du’s funeral, she cannot explain the meaning of the rituals to him.
”What are we supposed to do with these?” Phil whispers. “Offer them to Grand Auntie Du?” He pulls out a quarter from the lucky envelope. “How
should I know?” I whisper back. ”I’ve never been to a Buddhist funeral, or whatever this is.” 40.
One of the characteristics of the Chinese-Americans in the United States is
modern thoughts. It is difficult for them to accept something that is too abstract to be described. Therefore, everything should be explained scientifically and can be
thought logically. They do not believe in superstitions or bad and good luck. They believe that everything that happens can be explained logically. When Pearl gets
scared of ghosts, her father, Jimmy, convinces her that it is just a smoky fume. Winnie, on the other hand, believes that it is a ghost.
Of course, my father later assured me that the only ghost was the Holy Ghost, and He would never try to scare me. And then he demonstrated in
a scientific way that what I must have seen were smoky fumes created when the candle inside the pumpkin burned too low and extinguished
itself 43. Because of the modern thoughts the Americans believe in, they do not
believe in fate. They tend to believe in destiny instead. That’s what I said to your father many years later, after we were married.
How lucky we were that fate brought us together. But your father did not think it was fate, at least not the Chinese idea of ming yuan. “Fate,” he
told me, “is somebody else deciding your life for you. Our love is greater than that.” And here he used the American word “destiny,” something that
could not be prevented 435. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
41 America is called The Land of Dream. American history says that America
is a country to which people escaped from their country to seek freedom and escape from control of governments, churches, noblemen, and aristocrats. They
come to America to establish new colonies with freedom as the basis of their living values. It gives people autonomy to make their own decision even though
they have to oppose the society where they live. When Winnie comes to America, she believes that her life will be better. She will not be worry about her bad past
and then begin a new life safely in America. When I came to this country, I told myself: I can think a new way. Now I
can forget my tragedies, put all my secret behind a door that will never be opened, never seen by American eyes. I was thinking my past was closed
forever and all I had to remember was to call Formosa “China,” to shrink all of China into one little island I had never seen before. I was thinking,
nobody can chase me here. I could hide mistakes, my regrets, all my sorrows. I could change my fate 81.
Individualism in America is broadly felt. When Winnie wants to teach
Pearl how to cook, Pearl refuses to be taught. She would rather go alone to McDonald and eat alone.
I learned all those lessons for my future. Oh, I tried to teach you these same things when you were growing up. But you never listened. You said,
“It’s boring. Too much trouble. I’d rather eat McDonald hamburgers instead.” 137.
The freedom of getting education can be seen in America. Sex education is
commonly found in elementary and secondary levels. In America, sex is not a taboo, while in China, on the contrary, sex is unmentionable. It is not a polite
issue to be talked about among Chinese people. Many Chinese women know very little about sex before they get married. Most of them talk about sex secretly.
I was very naïve back then, more so than most Chinese girls. I was not like you, watching movies in school about your body, dating at sixteen,
42 falling in love with someone your first year of college, that Randy boy.
You were naughty with him, weren’t you? 194. I thought of sex as something mysterious, like going to a remote place in
China. Sometimes it was a cold, dark forest. Sometimes it was a temple in the sky. That was my feeling about sex 194.
New Year’s in the United States is different with the one in China. When
New Year’s is coming, American people will celebrate it with parades, firecrackers, and many else. For Americans, New Year’s means fun. They also
believe that when New Year’s come, it is a good time to make resolutions for the following year.
Our New Year celebration was not like what you have in the United States today—parades and firecrackers, lucky money for children, only fun, fun,
fun 135. She frowns. “We don’t make resolutions on Chinese New Year,” she says.
“That’s an American custom.” 523.
American marriages mostly happen because of love. Everyone is free to choose his own ma te. The arrangement is between the couple themselves. Parents
usually have no right to mess about the marriage arrangement unless they are asked to. In American weddings, it is commonly the bride’s side that pays for the
bills. “Mimi’s parents, this is their fault. They insisted we have twelve courses.
Plus soup Plus cake I said, Too much, too much. They said, We are doing this the American way, girl’s side pays.” 521.