I have not read this book as of yet…I just wanted to get the post up so everyone could start blogging their comments as they read the book. So happy blogging…
At the end of my copy of “Jade Peony” I found a reading group guide I thought some of you might be interested in:
”A Reading Group Guide for The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy”
“We hope that these questions will inspire your reading group to explore new and interesting topics for discussing “The Jade Peony.” This guide is also available on-line at: www.douglas-mcintyre.com.
1.) “The Jade Peony” refers to historical events such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923, the Depression, and the Second World War. How do these events affect the private lives of the characters?
2.) In Part One, Jook-Liang is fascinated by Wong Suk because he reminds her of the Monkey King in Chinese legends as well as Tarzan’s Cheetah. What do the links between these stories from East and West suggest about Jook-Liang’s identity and growing up in a bicultural environment?
3.) Grandmother (Poh-Poh) reminds Jook-Liang repeatedly that a girl-child is mo yung, or useless. How does this kind of traditional Chinese thinking affect the young girl? How is she able to resist the negative view?
4.) Storytelling is an important way of transmitting cultural heritage while entertaining the young. Examine moments in the novel where myths and stories are told. What are their effects on the children?
5.) Poh-Poh remarks that Jung-Sum is “different” and that he is “the moon.” In Part Two, what are some ways in which issues of gender identity and masculinity are questioned or raised? What are the implications of being “different”?
6.) Early Chinese immigrants to Canada were men who came as laborers, mostly by themselves without wives or children. What is the impact of a predominantly male community on the early immigrants’ sense of home and belonging?
7.) Wong Suk has a birth certificate that states that he is seventy-five, and another document that makes him seventy. What is the signifcance of these document, or references to “paper years” and “paper sons”?
8.) “Nothing much happens” in “The Jade Peony,” some readers say. Wayson Choy, like a number of contemporary Canadian authors such as Carol Shields and Alice Munro, focusses on the quotidian and the trivial. What is revealed about the lives of the characters through seemingly small, insignificant details?
9.) In Part Three, what is the effect of telling the “Romeo and Juliet” love story between Meiying and Kazuo through the eyes of a child?
10.) In Chinese culture, as in many Native communities, the elders in the family are revered and respected for their wisdom. What is the function of Poh-Poh or Grandmother in the three sections of the novel?
11.) Sek-Lung thinks, “But even if I was born in Vancouver, even if I should salute the Union Jack a hundred million times, even if I had the cleanest hands in all the Dominion of Canada and prayed forever, I would still be Chinese.” What are some of the pressures of being a racial other at the time the novel took place? Are there differences in the way children of immigrants see themselves today as opposed to fifty years ago?
12.) In Part Two, Jung-Sum says, “Grandmother told that story, and then another, each story brief and sad and marvellous. There were seven pieces of jade, carved the shape of ancient symbols. The one she held most dear, we knew, was a coin-sized one, an exquisitely carved peony of translucent white and pinkish jade; its petals were outlined in a simple, carved relief against a perfect round of stone.” In the light of the quotation, discuss the significance of “the jade peony” as the title of the novel.”
Questions compiled by Eleanor Ty, Professor and Chair, Department of English and Film Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University.
January 26, 2010 at 3:06 pm |
I just wanted to remind everyone to really look at number 8 from the study guide Daria posted. It says NOTHING MUCH HAPPENS.
So just a reminder, you are looking for the story to talk to you through SEEMINGLY SMALL, INSIGNIFICANT DETAILS. So if you find yourself wondering “Where is the author going with this” or “When is the story going to take off”, Just remind yourself that the story is an emotional journey. Really take the time to ponder on what all those little details mean, and what they tell us about the character.
January 29, 2010 at 3:44 pm |
I am just starting my book and loving it. If I could make up my own genre it would be about cultural clashes. I love that we often have such clear cut ideas about who they are and who we are and all the subsequent adjustments.
I would like to write several small posts as I work through the book. It helps me solidify my thoughts.
The epigraph – an epigraph is usally something short extracted from another text and is a connection to the novel.
The author quotes Wing Tek Lum
Tohng Yahn Gaai was what we once called where we lived: “China People Street”. Later we mimicked Demon talk and wrote down only Wah Fauh – “China Town”. The difference is obvious: the people disappeared.
This speaks volumes. Notice that the change is acculturation – they are mimicking “demon talk” – the talk of whites. And what is the slight change between China People Street and China Town? The people disappear.
Disappear – this speaks of losses. We see in this short epigraph: losses, cultural separation and assimilation.
February 3, 2010 at 4:30 am |
Great insights. I loved Jade Peony. I found it interesting that the author began the story in one of his creative writing classes and continued to work on the story over a number of years. There is hope for us yet!!!
January 29, 2010 at 11:42 pm |
Jook Liang – only sister
The two main relationships I see in the first portion are that between Liang and her grandmother Poh-Poh and the relationship between Liang and Wong Suk.
I find the role of females very interesting. Girls are considered Mo yung, worthless. Poh-Poh as a young girl is pronounced worthless by the midwife, and it is explained that although she grew up to be pretty, the midwife’s pronouncement is upheld. She is later sold as a slave to a wealthy family where she is beaten and mistreated. When the family aquires a new slave, Poh-Poh maltreats the new slave as she herself was mistreated. As an old woman, Poh-poh wields great power. She assignes the concubine wife the title of Stepmother and although she is the true mother of both Liang and Sekky, the woman is again treated as she has been titled. Poh-Poh constantly speaks in a negative way so as not to tempt the Gods to punish her. If she wishes to live a long and hearty life, she clutches her breast and complains she will surely die soon. Just so in her treatment of Liang. She continually calls her Mo Yung, spoiled and refuses the physical closeness that Liang so wishes. She refuses to teach Liang any of the special weaving or other skills that she, Poh-Poh learned as a servant girl. On one of the few occasions she attempts to show Liang how to weave, she catches herself raising her hand to strike at Liang when Liang fails to catch on quickly and in this moment withdraws again from Liang. There will be no more lessons.
Poh-Poh loves her granddaughter but is unable to physically or verbally demonstrate it.
This is further contrasted by the tenderness she shows towards Sekky. Poor Liang. She doesn’t seem to feel the connection to anyone in her home. And her identity is very much in jeopardy. She dreams of being Shirley Temple and stares at her “moon face and slit eyes” and it makes her feel sick in her stomach.
All the stronger the bond she feels for Wong Suk. She calls him her family. She feels that he is the one who knows her worth and that he will not desert her. Wong Suk coddles her and bathes her in adulation as no one has. At the end, Choy tells us that once he had asked her what the prince should give to his princess. She in her childlike way, replies “everything”. Wong has given her close to everything. When at last he must leave, she withdraws and in the end only his cloak is waving goodbye. She stands on the heaving dock, representative of her heaving emotions. Later she will understand that bones must come to rest where they most belong.
February 3, 2010 at 4:26 am |
Great summation of Liang’s portion of “Jade Peony.” She was lucky to have her friendship with Wong Suk. It saddened me when he followed the bones back to China…
February 2, 2010 at 4:52 pm |
My copy finally arrived!!! Starting it today!
February 9, 2010 at 10:47 pm |
Part two, Jung Sum
Jung Sum means loyalty. His might better have been named “Acceptance”. He accepts what comes along in his life. As his life takes horrible turns, he says to himself “This is the way things are” “This is the way the world is”. He accepts his lot in life.
When adopted into the family, he feels that he belongs, that he has a place. Interestingly, he does not seem to develop a strong bond with any one person. Perhaps more than with anyone else, he feels he “belongs to the Old One” but this is not a special role just for him. He is not the chosen one of Poh-Poh. He states that Kiam belongs to the world of father and Uncle but he, Sekky and Liang belong to the world of grandmother and stepmother.
In the family, he is accepted and treated fairly. Even when Stepmother’s baby is stillborn, PohPoh brings him to Stepmother and says that although they have lost the new baby, this is why they were given Jung Sum. Stepmother hugs him close and we know that he is loved. And yet…and yet he never is particularly attached to anyone.
Jung Sum is the moon. He is the feminine. The Old One says he is different, unusual, different inside. She also explains that the moon is the sign of the dark storyteller – Moon people feel things – and we hear that Jung Sum and the Old One have this in common.
It is obvious as we read about Frank, that it will be he that Jung Sum is attracted to. And as Frank rocks him, held close, Jung Sum sees Frank as the Sun, whereas he is the Moon.
I was wondering as I read the part about Gee Sook if the author was hinting that perhaps this bachelor was gay. I still don’t know…but I think so. As if Jung Sum was noticing somewhere on the edge of his consciousness. I was particularly pleased that Choy chose to present to us Jung Sum as a strong, active, athletic gay man/boy. Personally I have had enough of seeing gay persons as simpering, swishing, falsettos.
This portion of the story is told through the eyes of Jung Sum – and much as we saw a facet of “PohPoh” as Liang saw her, we see another facet of her personality through the eyes of Jung Sum. For him she is not called PohPoh but rather “the Old One”. Each child calls her by a different name, showing the distinct relationship they have with her and the distinctly different raising they all received although they were raised by the same people in the same house. Grandmother understands that although Jung Sum might be different, he has worth. She shows them all the pieces of jade – each piece is different she says, each piece is precious.
Grandmother says that life itself is loss, pain and suffering. Jung Sum experiences much loss pain and suffering. But because of his nature, we know that he will be okay. He accepts changes and faces life with the attitude that “It is what it is”.
At the end of JungSum’s section, I get the feeling that this book is about many things. It is about each of us seeing life differently, it is about finding our place in life be that sexually, or culturally or in our family. More and more, I get that this book is showing us not the children only, but the grandmother – she is the center of the story. She is the beating red heart, like the pink center of the jade peony. The pink center is a shifting swirl…we cannot clearly see its edges – we cannot clearly define it. Grandmother is this blurry edged center of the family – she appears differently to each one.