Lee+Josephine

Peer Edit by HeeJeong2
 * An-Mei Hsu & Rose Hsu Jordan**

Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. When I look at the story of An-Mei Hsu and Rose Hsu Jordan, these characteristics are not what comes to mind. Both An-Mei and Rose have their lives, wanting to fulfill the American Dream. However, they are unable to find the perfect life that they hope for. Is faith really all that is needed?

The American Dream was what An-mei Hsu had moved to America to try and fulfill the American Dream, to start a new life. From Popo, her grandmother, An-Mei had learned hard emotions of love that were severe and stoic. The main characteristic she learns is to hide her emotions. In the story of Magpies, An-mei’s mother teachers her to swallow her tears, and eat her bitterness. These characteristics follow her when she comes into America. However, she fears that she is acting the exact way against her daughter, Rose. An-Mei was a character of extreme faith. Although, she hides her faith. There are connections between An-Mei’s beliefs and the American Dream. It is that we can fulfill anything if there is only hope, fate, and destiny. An-Mei believes that there is nothing that the family cannot do if they have their own faith. This expresses her will to fulfill the American Dream, because she has so much it in herself and her family to succeed in whatever they hope for. “It had given them the confidence to believe their luck would never run out, that God was on their side” (Tan 129). However, in one moment, her faith is shattered. Bing-Mei, her son, died. No matter how much faith she put into trying to bring him back, it was the hard truth; Bing-Mei was gone. After the incident, An-Mei had lost faith in...faith. I think that this symbolizes how An-Mei cannot fulfill the American Dream, only with hope and faith. Through this incident, it shows that not everything can be achieved through faith.

An-Mei still tries to fulfill her dream through her daughter. When Rose says that she wants a divorce, An-Mei tells her to fight it. It was a shock to her when Rose first started to date and American man, when the rest of the family strictly dated Chinese. This shows that An-Mei still hopes to fulfill the American Dream, warning Rose about the marriage. Rose refuses to listen to her mother, something she regrets later on.

Rose, a Chinese-American, has lived in America for her entire life. Being an ‘American’, it is natural for her to try and fulfill the American Dream. Starting from her marriage, she tries to fulfill it. Similarly to her mother, Rose ‘eats’ her thoughts. She cannot stick up for herself, and does not express her opinions. When Ted first wanted a divorce, she had listened to everyone else except for herself and Ted. Each person gave her a different opinion, a different way to interpret and live her life. Rose had let Ted make all of her decisions, losing her voice during her marriage. At the end of the story, Rose finally finds her voice, and learns to stick up for herself. Although, the way she found her voice is through the help of her mother. When she thought that she could not relate to her mother in a way to take her advice seriously, Rose finds out that her mother’s advice is exactly what she needed to speak.