#1

Blog #1, discussion question #1

              The limitations of the traditional expectations placed upon May and Pearl as daughters in Chinese culture limited their understanding of morality and fragility of the world. While they looked at the socioeconomic elements of their world from the artist and the Japanese student, to the night-soil men and wheel barrel pullers they failed to see how these things affected them. In the beginning of the story the girls have no real concerns in life, only fashion and the fantasies of how they might fall in love with the boy of the dreams. May and Pearl have the same job and make the same money, despite the fact that Peal is far more educated and older. Reading how the two basically lived the same life despite being so different established a limitation on the ability of a female to thrive in a male dominated system. They saw their looks as the only means of survival. They though by being beautiful that they were making the world a better place. They just though that this was the order of things in their society and everyone is doomed to play their role and stay in their place. The arranged marriages demonstrated that they did not have complete control of their lives. Their fate seemed to be only to wait to be arranged for a marriage or wait for their own version of prince charming to rescue them.

              The girls where not complete prudes because in their work they would posed in sexy paintings that are questionable by the traditional standards of the Chinese culture at the time. Still, their beauty seemed to be the only thing they were concerned with. They often shopped to be fashionable whether it be conceptually Chinese or westernized. They saw their lives as a happy fantasy of beauty and high fashion mobilized by the poor ricksaw puller. As seen in the development of the story the two young ladies never acquire any real skills outside of fashion and modeling. I can’t imagine how they felt going from being models and the desires of socialites to prisoners in a foreign country.

              Cultural and social expectations that limit my associations are very complex. For example, I live in Watts which is the polar opposite of Beverly Hills. What is expected of me as a man from Watts? What is assumed about me? What are the expectations by the people I live around as well as the ones I only come in contact with when I am outside of my home turf? Those expectations are far ranging but they are not mine. The expectations belong to outside forces. I never limit my social or cultural experience and the people that I associate with symbolize that. My group of friends and associates are diverse economically and culturally; as a result, my experiences are as equally diverse. I can only conclude that the cultural and social expectations of today’s society only limit the people that are bound by them and I am not.