The Analysis of Jing-mei's Stories

Our lives are never stable, so when we read of characters that evolve and undergo important changes throughout a story they appear to be more real. These types of characters that evolve through the course of a story are known as “dynamic characters.” Chinese American novelist, Amy Tan, has a main character in her story called “A Pair of Tickets” who qualifies as a dynamic character. The dynamic character in, “A Pair of Tickets,” is Jing-Mei who struggles through internal conflict and cannot accept her Chinese identity; she can only deny it. Amy Tan’s short story demonstrates how a dynamic character evolves over the course of the story: from being a character who denies her Chinese identity to a character who can finally say “And now I see where part of me is Chinese. It is so obvious. It is my family. It is in our blood” (Tan 144).

Jing-Mei is a thirty-six-year-old American-Chinese woman who grew up in San Francisco, California. Growing up in San Francisco was something that hugely impacted Jing-Mei. Because she grew up in America, Jing-Mei became accustomed to the American culture and so it was difficult for Jing-Mei to relate to what it means to be Chinese. For this reason, Jing-Mei feels like she has never known what it is like to be Chinese and she denies her Chinese heritage because she feels no connection to it. We get an idea of her denial towards her heritage when Jing-Mei says that her mother once said “Cannot be helped” when Jing-Mei “vigorously denied” that she had any Chinese below her skin (Tan 129). Jing-Mei clearly feels left-out and like she does not belong. It is displayed as if she does not care about her Chinese heritage at all, but in reality, Jing-Mei just feels incomplete. She feels like something is missing. Jing-Mei’s mother named Suyuan, however, believed that “Once you are born Chinese, you cannot help but feel and think Chinese” (Tan 129). Suyuan told Jing-Mei, “Someday you will see, [Your Chinese heritage]... is in your blood waiting to be let go” (Tan 129). The meaning of these words were not understood by Jing-Mei; at least not at first. When Suyuan passes away, Jing-Mei finally gets it. After her mother’s passing Jing-Mei becomes fully aware that she must go to China. She feels an obligation to full-full her mother’s wish to meet her twin step-sisters who were separated by their common mother during the invasion of China and feels like she should ensure if she has any connection to her Chinese heritage. With an incomplete feeling, Jing-Mei travels overseas to China with her father where she is able to understand the importance of her mother’s words and begins to evolve in terms of accepting her Chinese identity.

As Jing-Mei travels to China with her father, she begins to accept the reality of her being Chinese. Jing-Mei, the narrator, says that the minute she enters Shenzhen, China, she feels “different” (Tan 129). She can feel the skin of her forehead tingle, her blood rushing “through a new course,” and her bones “aching with familiar old pain” which makes her think that her mother was right all along because she is “becoming Chinese” (Tan 129). Close to arriving, Jing-Mei begins to feel anxious and makes an effort to fully understand that there is a conflict because her thoughts are changing from thinking of being Chinese to continuously questioning her heritage. It only starts to register in Jing-Mei’s mind that her mother was right and she starts to understand what her mother has tried telling her all those years. As Jing-Mei is on the train to China with her father, she also notices that her father has tears in his eyes as he looks out of the train's window. She admits that she herself has “misty eyes,” as if she had seen what she is seeing outside of the train a long time ago (Tan 130). Jing-Mei surely felt the difference once she entered the city owing to the fact that she did not accept herself as Chinese nor embrace her culture as she was growing up.

The beginning of Jing-Mei’s acceptance of her Chinese identity is marked once she and her father step off the train. She has not reached the place where she fully accepts her heritage, but she is close. Once Jing-Mei and her father are off the train, they await to be processed through customs. As Jing-Mei waits in line, many things go through her head. At first, she is reminded of the feeling in San Francisco when she waits for the bus, but she immediately acknowledges that she is in China and she reminds herself that she is there. This incident shows that Jing-Mei is seeking a feeling of familiarity. Still waiting in line, Jing-Mei starts to question whether the officers will believe that her passport is really hers. In her passport’s picture, Jing-Mei has make-up on whereas on that day she is not wearing any at all. This thought is also dismissed quickly, however, because Jing-Mei rationalizes with her mind that she stands “five-foot-six” and is at “eye level only with other tourists” (Tan 133). Jing-Mei's thoughts show that she is in a complicated situation with her past and present life. It can be seen when she was completely Americanized throughout her life in San Francisco and her mother tried to insist that Jing-Mei was Chinese. Only a couple minutes later, after going through the customs booth, Jing-Mei finally meets her father's relatives. When she introduces herself she does not use her American name June May. She instead decides to introduce herself by her Chinese name Jing-Mei. This shows that she is evolving. She is getting closer to accepting her Chinese identity. Jing-Mei still struggles to accept these unfamiliar experiences, but this marks the beginning of her acceptance of her Chinese identity as she introduces herself by her Chinese name.

Following her arrival in China, Jing-Mei yearns to discover more about her family and herself. One thing that is clear though is that Jing-Mei feels isolated. In the text, it says, “Aiyi and my father speak the Mandarin dialect from their childhood, but the rest of the family speaks only the Cantonese of their village. I understand only Mandarin but can’t speak it that well” (Tan 135). It is difficult for Jing-Mei to connect with her family due to the language barrier because her great aunt Aiyi speaks Mandarin dialect and Cantonese while her family only speaks Cantonese. Jing-Mei herself cannot speak either language, so this leaves her disappointed. What this goes to show though is that Jing-Mei is trying to connect and find a place within the family and that she wants to know more.

Jing-Mei’s character can be seen evolving further when she visits the hotel she is staying at. Jing-Mei says, “The taxi stops and I assume we’ve arrived, but then I peer out at what looks like a grander version of the Hyatt Regency. “This is communist China?” I wonder out loud.” (Tan 136). At this moment, Jing-Mei is an example of how American culture establishes a certain mindset about other cultures and how we believe we are the only ones who have certain things. When Jing-Mei notices that things are very similar where in America, she starts to accept what represents Chinese culture entirely. And shockingly, Jing-Mei starts to visualize her first Chinese feast, “.... a big banquet with one of those soups steaming out of a carved winter melon, chicken wrapped in clay, peking duck, the works,” she states (Tan 137). Ironically though, the rooms are stocked with American foods which only leads Jing-Mei to ask “Is this communist China?” again (137).

The point where Jing-Mei discovers more of herself is when her father unfolds the intimate story of her mother and her sisters. Having this desire to connect more with her heritage, Jing-Mei tells her father to tell the story in Chinese (139). Jing-Mei truly craves to connect and find her place within the family. She craves it so much that she tells her dad to tell her story in Chinese even though it was said earlier that she did not understand the language that well. She feels assured enough in herself and her heritage to listen to the story in Chinese. Her father then explains to Jing-Mei that her mother was fleeing from the war with her two twin babies and that it was a painful journey because she walked many miles until she started to feel sick, tired, and starved, and had no other choice but to leave her two babies. After listening to the story Jing-Mei understands her mother and sisters bit by bit. She gains this deep admiration towards her mother as she finds out the struggle her mother has gone through to get to America and she recognizes that it is vital for her to meet her twin half-sisters, so the following day she heads for Shanghai.

At Shanghai, Jing-Mei finally meets her sisters Chwun Yu and Chwun Hwa. What Jing-Mei immediately recognizes when she sees her sisters is their resemblance to their mother. When she gets closer, however, she realizes that the resemblance runs deep through their blood. At this moment, Jing-Mei realizes that the Chinese part of her has always been with her family. Thinking back to the days of her childhood, Jing-Mei finally comprehends what her mother told her. Her mother made it clear, “[Your Chinese heritage]… is in your blood, waiting to be let go” (147). Granted that Jing-Mei denied her heritage for years and even stepped away from her mother, her journey in China allowed her to acknowledge that her family was all she needed to find herself.

In this story, we can see how Jing-Mei evolves throughout the story in the terms of getting to acknowledge her true self. Growing up she denies her Chinese heritage, but at last she recognizes things never had before. All these events, from her mother's passing, to going to China, to meeting her father’s relatives, to being in her hotel, and to finally meeting her sisters, allow Jing-Mei to change so much. In conclusion, Jing-Mei is not the same person she was before leaving for China and she sure isn’t the young girl who denied her Chinese identity. The trip to China changed her and she now accepts her heritage and wants to embrace it.