Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Post by Audrey Stydinger, guest blogger, on Gish Jen: "The Third Dumpster"

In each of the four stories we read by Gish Jen, the main characters are Chinese-American, and this part of their identity factors into the conflicts of the stories. Jen is Chinese-American herself, and has said of this, “…what I have come to realize is that this business of not being accepted an American does not only affect Asian-Americans, it affects so many people. You sort of wonder who really feels unequivocally American, honestly. You know, it seems that many, many people are subject to this feeling of slight estrangement.” The fact that Jen sees the “Asian-American issue” of being accepted in this country as something that, in some way or other, applies to a large number of people, is reflected in the way she writes. Her main characters don’t identify as either “Chinese” or “American” or even “Chinese-American”; however, they’re surrounded by people who do identify as one of the above and for whom this sense of identity is very important. For example, in the story we’re focusing on, “The Third Dumpster,” Goodwin and Morehouse’s parents are “Chinese, end of story,” but their sons “would never be American, end of story" or anything, end of story.  Nevertheless, they are conscious of their parents’ national consciousness, and find that they have to pick their way around it so as not to offend their parents’ sensibilities. Jen’s characters don’t necessarily long for that kind of powerful identity; instead, they feel estranged by those who possess it.

A noticeable theme in these works is a kind of “doubleness” or duality, and it shows itself in the characters, the plots, and the themes of the stories, as well as the style in which Gish Jen writes. In the introduction written in 3x33, Millicent Dillon discusses Jen’s tendency to contrast humor with dark concepts: “That doubled viewpoint, what she received from her heritage and what she received from the culture she grew up in, permeates her work. You feel the tension, but you also feel reconciliation. You feel the comedy; you also feel the sadness.” In “The Water Faucet Vision,” the narrator’s friend cries about her father leaving her family, and the narrator tries to comfort her, finally, by saying, “Your dad was a jerk anyway.” Other examples of duality are Goodwin’s and Morehouse’s personalities in “The Third Dumpster,” the narrator’s imagined visions and her actual vision in “The Water Faucet Vision,” and the Irish identity versus the Chinese identity in “Who’s Irish?”

There is so much to be taken from Gish Jen’s stories. They deserve far more than one reading each. On the surface, they may be seen as expressions of the difficulties of life as a Chinese-American, but their characters have much more to say about their depth of experience.

14 comments:

  1. I believe it was Pearl Buck who wrote about how Americans are obsessed with ugliness since they are obsessed with individuality. When you go to China, the architecture all looks like it belongs in the same place, but in America people want to put their own print on everything and standout making things ugly. In America we are one big "melting pot" like everyone says, and we all want to have a strong sense of identity and individuality to the point where we are our own people. A big part of being in America is having some sort of rich background of heritage, most of them being a part of more than just one ethnicity. Finding that identity is difficult for some people, especially immigrants such as Gish Jen's parents. Gish Jen is not an immigrant, but her parents are making her a part of two different cultures. Her parents don't identify with being American, just Chinese, and she has trouble deciding which one she is a part of being Asian-American.

    I assume this is the way Gish Jen feels because it is the way all her characters seem to feel. Notably in "The Third Dumpster" which boils down to cultural differences especially between the boys and their parents, but also between the boys and the Hispanic helpers. There is a real sense of distance despite the fact that there shouldn't be much difficulties between these people. The boys have a hard time understanding if they are more Chinese or more American and they are in the same situation as Gish Jen, being an American-born child of Chinese immigrants.

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  2. I agree with what Virginia about the fact that in America we're considered to be part of a "melting pot". But I disagree somewhat with the individuality concept. I think there's a lot of pressure to conform to certain things in American culture. People who don't live in the US think that we're all obsessed with reality TV and love things like McDonald's and being fat or we are thin as heck and conform to what Hollywood has turned into. I feel like people outside the US think that we don't care about people or the elderly, and the elderly aren't as revered as in other cultures. Americans make it hard to immigrants (and even some Americans) to find their niche in the American lifestyle.

    I think that Gish Jen struggled with finding her niche, so I think this is why she had her characters struggling with it because it was something that she knew well. She writes fiction, but she definitely grounds her fiction in the reality that she lived. It's nice to read something like this, where it works because I always go too far in one direction or the other.

    I think her own struggles inspired her to write all four of these stories. They all deal with a similar topic, but from different perspectives, and that's what I liked about her writing. She made the voices different enough that I didn't get bored, and I was kept engaged, but I also got to see the same thing from multiple perspectives. When an author is able to do this in this manner, I always enjoy it because each story gave me a different feeling when I was done.

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  3. I think this story had a lot of different aspects to it that could be missed upon the first reading. The aspect that I think rings true to the whole story is the fact that the character's parents don't actually acknowledge what ethnicity the Guatemalan workers are instead them simply Spanish workers. This incident caught my attention immediately considering that the parents make such a huge deal that they are "Chinese, end of story" and the boys aren't "American, end of story."

    To me, it seems kind of paradoxical that the parents are so oblivious to other people's ethnic struggles while they make a huge deal about their own. You can even see the Guatemalan workers reaction to it when they simply laugh about it. If someone did that to the parents then they would get a rather strong reaction.

    So, whats the big deal about this? The brothers get annoyed when the people in the hospital ask if their father needs a translator while the parents get annoyed everyone not considering they're anything but Chinese. To me, this is story is looking for a third solution that allows the parents to keep their tradition and the brothers to move on and stop living in the past.

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  4. Gish Jen includes her Chinese culture and heritage into all four of the pieces we have read. I think that she wrote what she knew by making heritage as important in her stories as it is. I think that Nick had a great point when he described how the parents simply called the workers “Spanish.” It is similar to how the grandmother in “Who’s Irish?” began the story with many negative comments about the Irish. I think in that story the grandmother began to see how issues transcended race and nationality, but were personal problems. She blamed her son-in-law for her granddaughter’s behavior, but showed the audience how her daughter acted as well. I think that Gish Jen used the Chinese characteristics to describe and explain actions and traditions, but in the end the issues were individual as well as cultural.
    At the end of “The Third Dumpster” Goodwin shares his unhappiness at being so different from his brother, Morehouse. Goodwin wanted to be more confident and self-assured, but he was not. Gish Jen ended the piece by saying that Americans “[d]ump people like garbage” (92). I find this very interesting especially considering their treatment of the Guatemalans. Morehouse did not care that they were illegal and that they were dealing with asbestos. Goodwin did not like it; he gave them more money and a belt, but they continued to work. He knew it was important for them to be working, but he allowed them to work in dangerous conditions. It reminded me of the thousands of Chinese men that built the U.S. railroads for little pay and with horrible conditions. Goodwin and Morehouse did not consider themselves to be Americans, and did not want to. Gish Jen showed the audience a few examples of traditional Americans, including the mean ex-wife. We do not see good Americans, just as we often limit ourselves with preconceived notions and prejudices. Gish Jen shows her audience that the doctor automatically assumed that Goodwin’s father could not speak English. I think that all of Gish Jen’s stories that we read include race. In “The Water Faucet Vision” and “Birthmates” the main characters fit themselves into Western society through religion or work, but I think in “Who’s Irish?” and “The Third Dumpster” the characters must find a balance between two cultures. I think that a part of the issue was the need to hold on to their Chinese identity. The whole reason that Goodwin and Morehouse were building the house was so that the parents did not have to stay in a Home with Western food, but a more traditional Chinese response would have been to take care of them themselves. There is a struggle to be Chinese and not be American.

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  5. I definitely think that Gish Jens reading take awhile to sink in. I read The Water Faucet Vision twice and I still think there are elements that I did not pick up on. For some reason, these stories were not as easy for me to read as other ones that we have read thus far in the class. Heritage obviously plays a key role in all four of these stories but while reading them each individually I am more struck by the characters than the defining parts of their heritage, but then again maybe that’s just me and the way in which I read stories, focusing on the people and their actions and words rather than an underlying idea of where they come from.
    The Third Dumpster was interesting to me because I never would have really picked up on the fact that the character mentioned being “Chinese, end of story” but not “American, end of story”. I wonder if this shows the small fraction of this country that isn’t always as accepting of other heritages than we’d like to think that we are. I think there is also an interesting dynamic in The Third Dumpster because there seems to be this bitterness with the struggles of being Chinese-American but when it comes to the Guatemalans they are less sensitive. They even suspect in the end that the doctor will ask for a translator when they arrive at the hospital telling the nurse to fuck off.
    I definitely think these pieces of writing showed me how much of an element of heritage can be used in a piece. Even simply being American studying in London for three months and traveling to different countries, there is something to be taken from that. Gish Jen paints this image for us in a humorous but serious tone.

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  6. One thing that stuck with me from “The Third Dumpster” was the repeated italicized phrase “end of story” To me this shows how these character’s are seemingly stuck, how their families are stuck in this limbo of transitions. Going off of Virginia and some other’s posts, I can see this limbo the characters are in as the struggle to hold onto culture or for parents to enforce that culture on their children in a place where that culture has much less significance. This contrasts with how America, despite seemingly accepting of its citizens’ cultures, has this way of demanding conform, to create a society that is equal and the same all around. With these characters, they have grown up in two worlds, one at home where their Chinese culture is prominent and the outside world, such as school and sports, which pushes for conforming to American culture. From this these characters are disconnected and constantly drawn from one perspective to the other.

    The brothers buying the house for their parents is their way to appease both their desire to find a concrete place in American society and their parents’ desire to avoid the aspects of American society they have not accepted or will not accept since immigrating fifty years prior. They buy the house as a way to combine the two cultures they experience without altering their parents’ perspective. From this we can see how these brothers, as second-generation immigrants, cannot change their situation. They can only create something for their parents. This ties back to the repeated line “end of story” These brothers, as well as Jen’s other characters have this poignant awareness of who they are and how they are not quite hidden within society. This definite statement shows the characters knowledge of how they won’t be able to change themselves or change people’s minds. I wouldn’t say they are accepting of their situation, but rather they are highly aware of the dual perspectives they experience everyday. In a way, this dual perspective makes them want to protect their parents. They want their parents to see American culture, but they know that their parents have stuck with their culture for so long. The brothers see they rather have to protect their parents in a way and let them live in their bubble. Conforming to the American culture is not instantaneous. Immigrants, regardless of from where they emigrated, infuse themselves in new culture over generations. Jen focuses on the first step toward cultural immersion and assimilation. While she does not claim that it is right to assimilate, Jen defines the struggle created by a generational and cultural gap of second-generation Asian Americans.

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  7. One of the most intriguing elements of “The Third Dumpster” seemed to rest on the hypocrisy that was so layered throughout the entirety of the piece. Gish Jen is observing a family thoroughly disturbed by the lack of cultural appreciation shown by Americans. It boils down to these little moments of “Lamb chops! Salad!” and “If they ask whether Dad needs a translator, tell them to fuck off.” There’s this definite attitude that seems to suggest that Americans are making themselves oblivious to cultural differences. Yet, as Nick pointed out, the parents exhibit these same characteristics themselves, just without noting their presence in their own personalities. It is interesting the way that they totally disregarded the individual ethnicities of the Guatemalan workers, even as they become disgruntled at the American lack of appreciation for their own distinctiveness. Perhaps it says something about the difference between generations that the sons, at least, attempt to appreciate the workers and understand them, incorporating a few spanish terms into their own vocabularies, no matter how simple.
    This whole notion is complicated, however, by the way that the brothers insist on allowing the Guatemalans to continue clearing the asbestos. Existing within a family that expresses itself as culturally under-appreciated, it is fascinating to note such a blatant disregard for the wellbeing of other culturally different groups. In many ways, these characters become an example of the lack of cultural appreciation that they so violently resent.
    Though Goodwin is presented as a character that feels incredibly self-aware, I was fascinated by his very blatant lack of worldly awareness. He hyper analyzes so many aspects of life, as made the most obvious by his obsession with which dumpster will provide most for his needs, and the possibility of which bags of materials that contain asbestos have been dumped in which containers. Yet he is so much more oblivious to the more layered workings of the world. He seems to view things in terms that appear as black or white, aware of his beliefs but not necessarily understanding what exists behind them. In some ways, Goodwin’s potential to speak out is indicative of a level of American acceptance, especially as it relates to speaking against certain ideals expressed by his brother. “Fuck off!” he would want to say to his mother, the way Morehouse would. Yet this would be done in defense of an American ideal, especially the American complexities of his life with his ex-wife. Even as he seems to want to stay rooted in Chinese sensibilities, he partly seems to hope for finding his voice to act as an avenue that will take him towards an slightly more American identity.

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  8. In Gish Jen's "The Third Dumpster", I felt as if the two brothers had become "Americanized" over the years they had lived in America. Their parents had not made a transition to Western culture nor wanted to, so this alone divided the family up. The reluctance to accept the Western culture is visible when Goodwin and Morehouse's mother says, "That's what American people are. Dump people like garbage. That's what they are"(92). Even in broken English, her message is clear. Essentially, she refuses to take in American culture, sticking to what she knows best: her Chinese roots. I found myself almost a little distraught about the distance between the sons and their parents, because the cultural differences were driving a family apart. The brothers continue to "Americanize" as the story goes on, whether it is eating Oreo cookies in their car or trying to defy the garbage system. I was left feeling cold, and frankly upset, by the end of the story.

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  9. Upon reading "The Third Dumpster" the first time it certainly didn't stick and I had a difficult time understanding the point Gish Jen was trying to make. After reading some of these comments I understand the story a little more now.
    I can see how the parents were very set in their way and did not want anything to do with becoming "Americanized". I found that interesting because if they were so set in their Chinese ways why did they bother coming to America? It seemed they didn't even like it very much. So why not leave?
    I noticed the brothers tried very hard to sort of ease their parents into "Americanizing" -even a little, but they were not very pleased in the house that was built for them. I agree with what Aubrey said about cultural immersion and assimilation and I'm glad she pointed out the "struggle" of second generation Asian Americans because I did not see that when I first read through the story.
    I'm glad Gish Jen is writing her stories off of her experiences. It never occurred to me the struggle any immigrant would go through in terms of the cultural change, and the best way to learn about something like that is to read something by someone who has gone through it.
    What really stuck out to me at the end of the story though were all the doctors asking if the father needed a translator. I find this almost as a reoccurring thing in America-we see someone who is a foreigner to our country and we automatically assume they cannot speak our language. And it's not just one person who assumes this it is many-as shown by all the doctors.
    Identity is not something I ever really thought about and I'm glad Gish Jen has decided to write about it. It is certainly something to consider. As a reader I am glad she has shared with us her stories as a Chinese American.

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  10. This was my first exposure to Gish Jen, and after reading all four of her stories, I can say that I thoroughly appreciate her voice because of its searing honesty. All of the stories play on cultural stereotypes, but The Third Dumpster most thoroughly uses the duality of identity, place, and character to explore and complicate what it means to be Chinese, or American, or Chinese-American. There is the obvious duality: the brothers and their parents. Although neither would call themselves "American" in the sense that they don't want to stand for the American ideals, we have too men who are lazy and cheap ("Asbestos! [...] Their lungs! [...] We paid them extra. They've got it half in the bags already") -- a generally held American stereotype. Then there are their parents, who even after fifty years of living in the US hold firmly to their Chinese values, and only want to live in a place that matches their high standards for living, not in the luxury of the facilities (they turned down the very nice assisted living home), but because it didn't serve their food, which is just another way of saying it didn't hold up to their way of life.

    There is also the duality of the brothers themselves, Goodwin, whose wife left him and who wishes he hadn't ended up like "Moorehouse turned inside out," vs Moorehouse, who is confident and willing to do whatever it takes to get his parents situated (despite the inherent irony in the entire situation). When their mother says Chinese people do not live by themselves, perhaps she is implying that not even her sons are the same -- one less Chinese than the other.

    These stories are so complex and wonderful and ironic; they made me want to laugh when I knew the situation wasn't funny, and it's because of the honest voice that complicates the stereotypes we too often base our assumptions on. It was Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who said, "The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” I would say that Gish Jen completes the story through her use of duality and irony and complex characters, all the while using a voice that never makes any of it too much to swallow.


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  11. The great recession of 2007 and 2008 heavily influenced this story, and Gish Jen has done an excellent job of writing from the viewpoint of someone heavily affected by this economic disaster. From the parent's refusal of food stamps to the way the brothers cut out safety precautions for a cheaper way of doing their renovations, even scrounging all over town for a dumpster Gish Jen is able to put you in a situation you are incredibly uncomfortable with but also feel like you can relate to it in some way. My family's (already falling apart) shore house was hit hard by Sandy, so cutting corners to stay on budget is something I am far too familiar with. I personally did not have a problem with, as Gabby puts it in her post, "their defiance of the garbage system". You do what you can in those kinds of situations and while I'm not promoting dumping asbestos, to someone who doesn't have another option, that far away dumpster seems like a far better alternative to your current situation. I mean the metaphorical implications of American's as dumpster-people and as second generation American's the brother's struggle to find a dumpster, however much they may grow to hate it, may still be a better option than not having one at all.

    What I found most interesting about the piece was the polar opposite personalities of the two brothers. Morehouse refuses responsibility he does not want, and is more prone to breaking the rules (if not the law). On the other hand, Goodwin seems like the more sympathetic and moral of the two. Although, Goodwin lacks the initiative to follow through with what he believes and blames this fault on others. The parent's aversion to Americans as well as those of other races and ethnicities heavily influenced the ways in which their children behaved and interacted with those not of Chinese descent. From the look on his brother's face when he told him they should take in their parents to their parent's clinging to their roots, everything was "end of story".

    Honor played a huge role in 'The Third Dumpster' from the parent's unwillingness to comply with American culture to family honor itself. When Gish Jen writes: "Morehouse, though, gave him the look of a man whose wife brought home the bacon now. It was the look of a man who knew what would fly in his house, end of story" I really wanted to know more about how far this family would go to stick out their necks for their cultural background. In the ending I was disgusted by the insistence of the medical personnel on asking again and again whether the father needed a translator. Normally I would point out that they are only doing their job, and are most likely supposed to ask these questions, but Gish Jen really put me on the parent's side this time.

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  12. The thing, at the beginning, that made me want to keep reading, was the interesting names of the two brothers. If I had picked this up a read that Tom and Jack were doing renovations on a house for their elderly parents, I would have been like, “yeah, been there done that. What is so special about it?” But the fact that this story is about two Chinese-American brothers during the recession, makes it so much more interesting and complex. It introduces so many more elements of the story that make it different from the usual American-Dream type of story.
    I think another interesting aspect of this story is the lack of quotation marks. I’ve tried reading books like Requiem for a Dream and I found it impossible to read because of the way that the dialogue was structured, but Gish Jen does this marvelously. I actually didn’t realize until about four pages in, that that was what she was doing. I think it works well for the flow of the story.
    The part of the story that I found rather interesting was the end, because we see this relationship between Morehouse and Goodwin and how Goodwin disapproves of so much that Morehouse does, like with the two Guatemalan men, Jose and Ovidio working on the house with them. Goodwin doesn’t like it because it’s illegal and there is asbestos. Morehouse just nonchalantly replies, “They want to do it. And: They have a choice. They don’t have to say yes. They can say no.” Although, the two brothers seem to get along fine they have these little tensions between the two of them like when Goodwin is trying to assure their parents that the house will be a good place to live. But at the end when Goodwin is sitting in the hospital waiting room, he kind of goes through this little thing in his mind where he wanted to say something to his mother, but he thinks that Morehouse would or wouldn’t say something. On page 92, it says, “How Goodwin wished he had said that! And how much he wished he ended up like Morehouse instead of like Morehouse turned inside out.” Which is kind of funny because on page 90 Morehouse has a similar thought about his brother and the way he is talking to their parents about the house.
    I think each of these things creates an interesting tone in the story. You get these few different aspects that change the way that you read the story, like the face that the family is Chinese-American but have been in America for fifty years already. There is this kind of give and take thing going on where the parents and event he two brothers will never be considered “real” Americans, but at the same time the parents look down on American things (especially the food) and they say that Jeannie is “completely American”. So, I feel like it creates this double standard where neither will be accepting of the other. The American society will not accept them because they will not accept the American society.

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  13. All that I understood about this story was that Hispanics work harder than asians

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  14. Thanks for give me information on this topic. you have sharing very nice post.
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