Why does his mother regret allowing him to attend boarding school?
There are a few reasons why his mom regrets sending him to boarding school. One of the main reason why his mom regrets sending him to boarding school its because she found out that she had cancer in her stomach and that she was going to die. In this case it limits her the ability to spend quality time with him and showing or doing things that she didn't have the opportunity to do with him when he was home. The other reasons why she regret sending him to boarding school is that he's her only son and he's the one that spends time with her in the kitchen when she's cooking. In an Asian family its important to have a male child. They only want a baby boy so when he gets older and have his own family he can carry on the last name. But with a female they would take over their husband's last name.
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I liked the way you pointed out that her illness limited the time she could spend with Chang. Maybe being the only son she also wanted to nurture him more. I wonder if his mother felt lonely without him? He would talk to her it seems more than other family members.
ReplyDeleteYou’re raising a great point about the importance of a male heir and the ways this reading explores gender and culture. The narrator says himself that he would have left for college anyway, but somehow these two years become crucial to his mother. It’s telling too that he says it was a “private quarrel” she had at the end of her life; this suggests that there was much more going on in his mother’s mind than he even knew.
ReplyDeleteLauren :)
I wonder what kind of relationship they would have developed if she never sent him away. Would he continue his love for cooking, would he have grown up and moved away. Would they become closer or grow apart. If he did grow up and move into an education or career would he return home to care for his ill mother?
ReplyDeleteI never even thought about the male importance. Very good point there. Its just said that it took her getting cancer to regret sending him.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you too. I also beleive that she regrets sending him to school because she could of had more time with him if he wasn't at school. Being away for school for some time wouldnt let them see eachother as much anymore. Now that she has cancer, she realizes this and really regrets it.
ReplyDeleteI also think that the male son is very important to various cultures. I do agree that she regretts letting him go to school and being so far away from the family. Maybe she wonders if he was still at home , could she had nutured him more then the little time she had with him.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. It must of been hard sending him to boarding school, but to find out that you have cancer, I could understand why she would start regretting it. She realizes now that she lost so much time in her sons life.
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