A Pair of Tickets

A Dream Come True

The short story “A Pair of Tickets” written by Amy Tan is the representation of liminal characters between two cultures. When talking about Liminal character, it means the characters that are in battle in searching for their true identity. People have to search for their true identity because of the difference of cultures they are raised in; being part of two different cultures makes it hard for someone to identify themselves. Therefore, the feeling of being confused and lost will always be around. In this case, Tan introduces the main character, Jing-mei, as the daughter of a Chinese woman who immigrated to the United States because of the war there was “when the Japanese took over Kweilin” (212). Consequently, Jing-mei was raised in the United States. All she wanted to be was American, but she never understood her mom’s culture until she met with her relatives.

Tan wrote this short story to explain how hard it was for her, as an adolescent, to be raised with a mix of cultures and the relationship that there is between mother and daughter. Tan identifies herself with the protagonist of the story sharing with the readers her mixed feelings and her relationship with her mother. After the death of Jing-mei’s mother, she went to China with her father to meet her family and her twin sisters. Jing-mei met her family for the first time while arriving to China. Because of the family reunion, Jing-mei’s father talks about her mother and the story about how she left her twin sisters behind. He also explained the power she put in to look for the twins, and how she never gave up. Therefore, Jing-mei realizes she is fulfilling her mother’s dream; she is meeting up with her sisters after many years. When meeting with her sisters, she finally understands why her mother always said she had Chinese in her. Tan uses photographs as a symbolism, Jing-mei takes pictures of the family and later of her sister making her realize the three of them made her mother.

The beginning of the story, Tan states that Jing-mei denied her Chinese culture; she always wanted to be American even though all her Caucasian friends said she was Chinese. “All my Caucasian friends agreed: I was about as Chinese as they were” (205). Jing-mei was embarrassed by the Chinese culture because of her mother’s way of acting and living. “All those things my mother did to embarrassed me- haggling with stores owners, pecking her mouth with a tooth pick in public, being color-blind to the fact that lemon yellow and pale pink are not good combinations for winter clothes” (205).

The trip that Jing-mei made to China was helpful for her to understand her mother’s culture. While