In the Land of the Free, by Edith Maud Eaton, takes place in San Francisco. A Chinese couple were living in the San Francisco, the wife, Lae Choo, returned to China to give birth to their child, The Little One. Her husband, Hom Hing stayed in San Francisco and continued to work as a merchant, he owned a store and they lived above it. Lae Choo and her son had stayed in China longer than they expected because Hom Hing’s parents were ill and she needed to take care of them. Hom Hing had never met his son, who was 20 months old. Lae Choo and The Little One arrived under the Golden Gate bridge aboard, Easter Queen. Hom Hing met his son and as they were leaving the ship the family was stopped by two men with the intials U.S.C. on their caps. The Little One did not have any papers and none of the papers about Lae Choo had mentioned anything about a child, because he was not born when the papers were filed. Against the parents will they had to hand their son over to the men, until they could get approval from the government to let the child in to the US.
The next day Hom Hing when to get his son, when he returned home,
he did not have his child. Lae Choo was devastated.
One literary device used was suspense, Easton had me wanting to
read faster to see how and when was Lae Choo, going to get her son back. This
is shown in the story with the following quote. “Her food she takes only when I
bed her and her tears fall continually. She finds no pleasure in dress or
flowers and cares not to see her friends. He eyes stare all night. I think
before another moon she will pass into the land of spirits.” pg 326. As a
mother I cannot even imagaine having my baby taken from me for so long, from
what started as a day turned into 5 months and then 10 months.
The second literary device used was tragedy, this is shown when
after 10 long months Lae Choo was able to get her son from the missionary where
he was taken care of. She was so happy to see him but he did not know who she
was when he saw her. “But the Little One shrunk from her and tried to hide
himself in the folds of the white woman’s skirt. “Go ‘way, go ‘way!” he bade
his mother.”pg 329
Hi Amber, good job on your analysis. The suspense was definitely apparent in this text, leaving the reader to want to continue reading to find out what happens. There is definitely the use of emotion in this text whether the reader can relate to this situation or not I think this text can evoke many different emotions and feelings.
ReplyDeleteHello Amber. I am a Pastor from Mumbai, India. I am glad to stop by your profile on the blogger and the blog post. I am also blessed and feel privileged and honoured to get connected with you as well as know you and about your interest in camping. It was interesting to go through your post and I do have similar impressions which Grace Carcot has expressed in her comment. I love getting connected with the people of God around the globe to be encouraged, strengthened and praying for one another. I have been in the Pastoral ministry for last 39 yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with a great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. We reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the brokenhearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west to come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have you come to Mumbai to work with us during your vacation time. I am sure you will have a life changing experience. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you, your family and friends. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede
ReplyDeleteAmber,
ReplyDeleteI read this story too and was heartbroken for the mother. I could not help but to think about current U.S. policy with regards to family separation on the Mexican border. You did a fine job of determining the literary devices used as suspense, I too wanted to see how this turned out, and tragedy. Will we ever learn that children should not be used as pawns in grownup games of control.
Hi Amber. I really enjoyed reading your analysis. It is so lovely that in the Chinese culture they should take care of their elders. It is sad that in America a lot of people forget about their elders. I really respect that the wife took care of her husband's parents. That is very considerate. It is so sad that the Chinese parents had to leave their child behind. Great job pointed out the literary device "suspense". I really enjoyed reading your analysis. Keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteHi Amber,
ReplyDeleteYour post was enjoyable and very informative. I like how you added in the literary devices and how it affected you as a reader. Analyzing the literary devices is important because it helps us better understand what the author is trying to get us to understand as well as feel what the author is feeling.