Magpies

“I know this, because I was raised the Chinese way: I was taught to desire nothing, to swallow other people’s misery, to eat my own bitterness. And even though I taught my daughter the opposite, still she came out the same way.” This is an example of irony. An-Mei expects if she teaches her daughter, Rose, in the opposite way she was taught her daughter won’t turn out like her. However, even though she raises her different Rose turns out meek like someone who is raised Chinese.

“Because we both knew this: that on the third day after someone dies, the soul comes back to settle scores. In my mother’s case, this would be the first day of the lunar New Year. And because it is the New Year, all debts must be paid or disaster and misfortune will follow. So on that day, Wu Tsing, fearful of my mother’s vengeful spirit, wore the coarsest white cotton mourning clothes. He promised her visiting ghost that he would raise Syaudi and me as his honored children. He promised to revere her as if she had been First Wife, his only wife.” Before this passage An-Mei’s mother committed suicide. She did this because she could not stand her circumstances and to give her children a better life. She knew that her husband, Wu Tsing was afraid of ghosts haunting him, so she killed herself at a time when he would be most afraid of her spirit. She used his fear and superstition to procure a better life for her children.

This is similar to a scene in the movie and book, Matilda. In the story, the main character Matilda is a genius and has special powers that allow her to move objects with her mind. Matilda’s teacher, Miss Honey, is being mistreated by her aunt, Miss Trunchbull. Matilda uses her powers and Miss Trunchbull’s superstition to make Miss Trunchbull move out of Miss Honey’s house and stop treating her badly.  Both An-Mei’s mother and Matilda play off another’s superstition in order to obtain better circumstances for the ones they love.

    Matilda        Magpie cartoon