A Clash Between Mother And Son
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Submitted by freefortermpapers on 06/24/2008 03:00 PM
- Category: English
- Words: 1964
- Pages: 8
- Views: 22
- Popularity Rank: 523
A Clash Between Mother And Son
In Laithanh Ha's short story, "The Dill Peddler," we see a struggle occurring between Ba Nam, who clings on to her traditional Vietnamese way of life, and her son, who has conformed to American culture. Even at her old age, Ba Nam would like to preserve her traditional ways by peddling dill on the street, in order to maintain her own independence by asserting her values and beliefs to other people. At the same time, however, Ba Nam's son, Mac, wants to impose his American ways and values on his mother, and seems to go against her efforts of being independent and retaining her Vietnamese heritage. Ba Nam and her son are in a direct clash with each other, with Ba Nam struggling to uphold her traditional Vietnamese way of life as a source of comfort and security in a foreign land, and her son inflicting his own American ways on his mother because he desires to completely assimilate to American culture.
Ha foreshadows the conflict that is about to arise between Ba Nam and her son, Mac. While Ba Nam strides around the yard examining her plants, she mumbles, "The young are fearful of outsiders, but the old must beware of those in their own home" (Ha 61). Ba Nam is essentially referring to her son, since we find out that Mac is embarrassed by his mother and worries about saving face, but Ba Nam is more worried about her son controlling her. Here, "the young are fearful of outsiders" alludes to Mac's concerns over his image. We will see that these concerns cause a clash to arise between him and his mother. There is a definite clash because Ba Nam, who is living in an unfamiliar society, holds on to her Vietnamese traditions. At the same time, she lives with her son who rejects the Vietnamese ways and wants to completely assimilate
into the American culture. "The old must beware of those in their own home" suggests that Ba Nam is concerned that her son's American lifestyle impinges on her own Vietnamese way of life. Ha uses the sentence uttered by Ba Nam...
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