Diana Chang
“Are you Chinese?”
“Yes.”
“American?”
“Yes.”
“Really Chinese?”
“No... not quite.”
“Really American?”
“Well, actually, you see ...”
But I would rather say
Yes
Not neither-nor,
Not maybe,
But both, and not only
The homes I’ve had,
The ways I am
I’d rather say it
Twice,
Yes
Discuss the following questions.
1) Who are Pat Mora and Diana Chang? How do their backgrounds influence their writing?
2) What is the theme of “Immigrants”? What is the theme of “Saying Yes”? Do the two poems have anything in common?
3) What are some images in “Immigrants”? What is the significance of them?
4) Is there any dilemma or hope reflected in both poems? What are they?
5) Which poem do you like better? Explain your choice.
Notes
1.Amy Tan (1952-): She is a Chinese-American writer whose works explore culture clash and mother-daughter relationships. Her most well-known work is The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into 35 languages. In 1993, the book was adapted into a commercially successful film.
2.Life Savers: It is an American brand of ring-shaped mints and artificially fruit-flavored hard candy.
3.Chess: Chess is a game played by two people on a chessboard, with sixteen pieces (of six different types — one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns) for each player. Each type of piece moves in a distinct way. The goal of the game is to checkmate, i.e. to threaten the opponent’s king with inevitable capture. Games do not necessarily end with checkmate — players often resign if they believe they will lose. In addition, there are several ways that a game can end in a draw.
4.Alice Walker (1944-): She is an African American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender. She is best-known for the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple (1982) for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.