The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy
The Jade Peony, by Wayson Choy is the story of a Cantonese Canadian boy, named Suck-lung, who is searching his identity while living with his Cantonese family in the Canadian society during 1940s. By narrating the stories of Suck-lung and his stepmother, Choy expresses the series of loss that Chinese immigrants commonly experienced at the time, which are: the sense of being oneself, collective culture, and death.
The first loss that Suck-lung experiences is the loss of his identity. Including himself, people argued about “what” he is, but no one could tell “who” he really is besides calling him a “Mo no”, which means “no brain” in Cantonese. Therefore, he continues to question himself; “Am I Chinese or Canadian? (133)”. His stepmother, who has been emigrated from China to become a second-wife of Suck-lung’s father, has lost her identity as a human to be accepted as the role of the family; “‘Stepmother’ was a ranking much more respectable than ‘family servant’, more honourable than ‘concubine’, but never equal in honour or respect to the title of First Wife or Mother (131)”. Therefore, stepmother obsesses with the stories of “Chen Suling”, the old friend of hers, because Suling is the only person “who knows her family stories”.
Suck-lung was born with two cultures since he was born in Chinese community of Canada. However, he has never been accepted as ‘Canadian’ or ‘Chinese’ because: he is not “white enough” to be Canadian and he has been mixed too much with “White Demons” to be a true Chinese. Therefore, he has never had a chance to fully understand any culture and language; ”I knew just enough Chinese and English to speak to people, but not always to understand the finer points (133)”. When Suck-lung went to school, his teacher, Ms. MacKinney, used to call him “Sekky” because Sekky sounds “more Canadian” than Suk-lung. Even though he was born in Canada, he isn’t Canadian since he has a Chinese name and heritage, which is the clear evidence of racism at the time. Since he is “neither nor that” he doesn’t have a culture that belongs