The novel traces the fate of four mothers — Suyuan Woo, An-mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-ying St. Clair — and their four daughters — Jing-mei “June” Woo, Rose Hsu Jordan, Waverly Jong, and Lena St. Clair. All four mothers fled China in the 1940s and retain much of their […]
Read more Critical Essays Tan’s Women in The Joy Luck ClubSummary and Analysis Sonnet 22
Summary Until now, the poet’s feelings have soared to the level of rapture; in Sonnet 22, he suggests — perhaps deluding himself — that his affections are being returned by the youth. He declares that the youth’s beauty “Is but the seemly raiment of my heart, / Which in thy […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 22Amy Tan Biography
Amy Tan, whose Chinese name, An-mei, means “blessing from America,” was born in 1952 in Oakland, California, the middle child and only daughter of John and Daisy Tan, who came to America from China in the late 1940s. Besides Amy, the Tans also had two sons — Peter, born in […]
Read more Amy Tan BiographyStudy Help Full Glossary for Hemingway’s Short Stories
Anatolia the great plains area of Turkey. the attack The setting of this story is northern Italy during World War I; an Italian town has been attacked by an Austrian military offensive. bal musette a public dance hall. ballet skirts During the time that Hemingway wrote the story, Greek troops […]
Read more Study Help Full Glossary for Hemingway’s Short StoriesSummary and Analysis Sonnet 21
Summary Having explored the nature of his and the young man’s relationship in the previous sonnet, the poet now returns to his theme of immortality. Not only does he grant the youth immortality through his verse, but because the poet’s enduring love is repeatedly stressed as well, the poet himself […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 21Summary and Analysis Jing-Mei Woo: A Pair of Tickets
Jing-mei is on a train to China, traveling with her seventy-two-year-old father, Canning Woo. As the train enters Shenzhen, China, Jing-mei begins to “feel Chinese.” Their first stop will be Guangzhou. Like her father, Jing-mei is weeping for joy. After her mother’s death, a letter arrived from China from her […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Jing-Mei Woo: A Pair of TicketsCritical Essay Hemingway’s Writing Style
A great deal has been written about Hemingway’s distinctive style. In fact, the two great stylists of twentieth-century American literature are William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway, and the styles of the two writers are so vastly different that there can be no comparison. For example, their styles have become so […]
Read more Critical Essay Hemingway’s Writing StyleSummary and Analysis Sonnet 20
Summary In this crucial, sensual sonnet, the young man becomes the “master-mistress” of the poet’s passion. The young man’s double nature and character, however, present a problem of description: Although to the poet he possesses a woman’s gentleness and charm, the youth bears the genitalia (“one thing”) of a man, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 20Summary and Analysis Lindo Jong: Double Face
Waverly wants to go to China for her honeymoon but is afraid that she will blend in so well that she will not be allowed to return to America. Her mother reassures her that there is no chance that she will be mistaken for a Chinese citizen. Waverly is American. […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Lindo Jong: Double FaceErnest Hemingway Biography
Ernest Hemingway’s colorful life as a war correspondent, big game hunter, angler, writer, and world celebrity, as well as winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize in literature, began in quiet Oak Park, Illinois, on July 21, 1899. When Ernest, the first son and second child born to Dr. Ed and […]
Read more Ernest Hemingway Biography