Who's Irish? by Gish Jen
"Who's Irish?" by Gish Jen is a collection of stories that explores the complexities of identity and cultural integration experienced by Chinese Americans. The narratives juxtapose traditional values maintained by immigrant parents with the evolving identities of their American-born children, reflecting a dynamic interplay between heritage and contemporary society. One standout story features an elderly Chinese grandmother who grapples with her daughter’s unconventional parenting alongside her Irish American son-in-law, ultimately finding common ground through their cultural differences. The collection includes a mix of humor and poignant reflections on racism, belonging, and family dynamics, as characters navigate the challenges of maintaining their cultural roots while adapting to their new environment. Through these tales, Jen captures the multifaceted experience of immigrant life, portraying both the trials and triumphs that shape the family unit. The stories are characterized by wit and imaginative storytelling, offering a thoughtful examination of the immigrant experience in America.
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Who's Irish? by Gish Jen
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1999
Type of work: Short stories
The Work
Combining a wary respect for the traditional ways of being, which her parents tried to maintain, with a delight in the emerging new identity that second-and third-generation Chinese Americans were developing, Jen’s work examines the ways in which her characters attempt to retain aspects of their Asian heritage while joining and refashioning American society, which for them is a puzzle, a treat, a threat, and ultimately their home ground.
“In the American Society,” published in 1986, isan introduction to the Chang family. Its hilarious conclusion involves the usually reserved Ralph Chang exploding with justified anger—to the delight of his daughters. This offbeat triumph is characteristic of the ways in which Jen’s Chinese Americans retain their dignity in the face of boorish and bigoted oafs. “The Water-Faucet Vision” (1988) offers an earlier version of Callie Chang as a Catholic-school student, mixing a youthful desire for the miraculous with a reflective meditation on the role of religion to provide solace in times of stress.
“Birthmates,” which John Updike included in his collection of The Best American Short Stories of the Century, proceeds from the perspective of omniscient narration, progressively unfolding the layers of Art Woo’s soul, gradually revealing the sources of his sadness. “Chin,” another compressed narrative, is an unusually grim story about a young boy, an outcast at home and in school, who epitomizes the plight of violent rejection which racism engenders.
Two of the stories in the collection are novellas. “Duncan in China,” fifty pages in length, follows a Chinese American man teaching in China in a search for some nebulous idea of “heritage.” He discovers that both he and his idea of a “classic” China are more complicated, interesting, and troubling than he had imagined. “House, House, Home,” more than seventy pages, is like a proto-novel that might either be divided and compressed, or expanded, a mini-family saga somewhat paralleling the narrative structure of Jen’s novels.
The title story is one of Jen’s best, the sustained complaint of an elderly grandmother very displeased with the nontraditional approach to the child-rearing of her daughter and her Irish American son-in-law. Consumed by an almost inchoate anger expressed in an expertly rendered linguistic melange of syntactical distortions, she eventually finds solace in conversation with her Irish counterpart. The collection is strikingly imaginative, informed throughout by Jen’s craft and wit, and—even in what might be regarded as a lesser effort (at least by comparison), “Just Wait”—entertaining and original.
Sources for Further Study
Boston Magazine 91 (June, 1999): 145.
The New York Times Book Review 104 (June 27, 1999): 13.
Newsweek 133 (June 7, 1999): 75.
Publishers Weekly 246 (April 26, 1999): 52.