Who's Irish?

The dramatic present of Art Woo’s conflict in “Birthmates” is his stay at the “welfare hotel” for the conference of the dying business he is in while preparing to see his perceived competitor in the insurance industry, Billy. Art is fixated on Billy and how he moves through the world with a carelessness that is exhibited in his language. Art himself is logical and precise with his language, and when he remembers him and his wife losing their unborn child, he recalls refusing to call it a baby. While Art is navigating the conference and the hotel and anticipating seeing Billy, he is, more importantly, moving through his grief and loss—including the grief from losing his wife and baby and the even bigger grief of realizing that it is too late to set these things right. Art’s epiphany comes when he imagines telling his ex-wife that what they lost was indeed a baby.

The adult protagonist of “The Water Faucet Vision'' is telling her coming-of-age story. She is experiencing the death and aging of her parents, and this present-day crisis prompts her to recall the crisis that caused her to lose her innocence, or grow up and abandon her faith and belief in God and miracles during her first step into adulthood. The narrator in the present is in another stage of growing up, or loss of innocence, as she is losing her parents. At the end of the story, the narrator longs for the days of her childhood, when belief in God was what could ward off life and make things right.

The title character of “Duncan in China” begins his hero’s journey with the belief that going to China will change him, connect him with the integrity of his heritage, and perhaps even offer him the chance at love. Duncan does not leave China with any of these things, although there is the possibility that he takes his love interest’s daughter back to America as his wife. Instead, the naïve Duncan who left America for China realizes that he is not really any different from Professor Mo, the man whom he earlier criticized for being overly concerned with his own comfort. Duncan ends the story not feeling any more connected to his Chinese heritage but instead labels himself as very American in his hope for the future, for this new possible love, and for himself.

Addie Wing, the protagonist in “Just Wait,” is anticipating the arrival of her baby at the beginning of the story. At her baby shower, she acts as an observer, roaming through the rooms with a camera. When her mother reveals that she is being left by her stepfather, Addie is more hesitant than her guests about the idea of her mother moving in with her. By the end of the story, Addie is anticipating the change that will come with her mother moving in. There are two arrivals in this story for Addie, and in the final scene, when she chooses not to tell anyone that she has gone into labor, she is hoping to hold off both of them.

The narrator of “Chin” is a classmate and neighbor of a boy named Chin. While the narrator is piecing together a story of Chin and his family based on interactions at school and his observations of what happens in Chin’s kitchen (Chin stays up late doing homework and is frequently beaten by his father), the narrator is also revealing a story of himself and his family. The narrator sets up his family in comparison to Chin’s family and says they, his family, are “vanilla…nothing.” The narrator comments on his sister’s upcoming wedding to Ray and his mother’s infatuation with Ray, but he doesn’t offer any commentary on this being a source of tension in his family until the very end, when he describes his father blowing up at the mother. As the narrator’s family is moving through their own possible upcoming crisis, they are completely absorbed in watching the crisis next door play out. The narrator ends the story with the image of his father watching the neighbors.

“In the American Society” is told by the daughter of the protagonist, Ralph Chang. Ralph initially has certain ideas about what it means to be American, like taking over the pancake house because he is planning ahead for his daughter’s futures (something Americans do). While Ralph is following one aspect of the American dream, the mother critiques him for treating his business as if he were still in China by being lenient with employees and helping them out with extra cash when they need it. Ralph’s construction of what it means to be American is challenged when his employees don’t behave the way he wants them to. Ralph ends up confessing to his wife that he has been knowingly hiring men who are hiding from immigration, and she in turn confesses that she has applied for them to join the country club. Ralph’s ideas of what it means to be American are tied up in success and an innovative spirit, while the mother’s are tied to outward comforts and appearances. These ideals come to a climactic head when Ralph is harassed by the drunk guest of honor at the country club party the family is attending. Ralph throws his expensive and ill-fitting suit jacket in the pool—literally and symbolically casting off the dress-up clothing of “American society.”