Monday, May 31, 2010

"A Pair of Tickets"

In “A Pair of Tickets”, Amy Tan explores the themes of self-affirmation/self-identity, ethnic pride and family unity. June-May begins the story in denial of her true family heritage, but in display of her roundness as a character, she evolves to embrace her heritage. It may be the inspiration or motivation given to her by her father Canning Woo, who is physically unattached from his homelands, yet still fully recognizes his heritage; though it is her mother, by no fault of hers, which forms the stereotypical values of being Chinese in June-May’s mind.

Some of the symbols used in the story are very good at subtlety conveying the intended message from Tan. The use of the train as a method of transformation is quite effective in the story; for it is the agent of change that brings about the resolution of the plot. Also very useful as a symbol was the use of the Polaroid photographs, because the way Tan describes the suspense in waiting for the picture to develop relates to the suspense in June-May’s life within the time period of the story. The title itself, “A Pair of Tickets” has important relevance because the story features many pairs of people, including- twins, June & Canning, Aunt & Dad, Mother & June and June & Lilly.

1 comment:

  1. Great catch on the use of symbol in the train. While the use of trains has been mentioned before to symbolize transition, it had slipped my mind in this story. Amy Tan does a remarkable job of dropping subtle symbols into the story, while the tickets would not be as subtle considering the title, the connection still is. There is also some symbolism in the June-May’s name. The tone of June-May’s description of all things related to her Chinese side also make it clear to the reader she would rather not be at all Chinese until the very end. Good analysis

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