Why_I_Live_at_the_P.O._vs._a_Pair_of_Tickets

Why I Live at the P.O. vs. A Pair of Tickets Victor Thompson Rasmussen College James Fleming Introduction to Literature September 13, 2010 When it come to comparing and contrasting stories you have to pick the right stories and making sure you pick the important facts from both stories. I am going to compare and contrast the characters, and symbols that are represented in "Why I Live at the P.O." and “A Pair of Tickets.” You are going to get an insight on how these two stories are alike and different for one another. Characters play an important role in stories that how you get hook to the story and keep on reading the story. In the story "Why I Live at the P.O." there are six character that interact with one another, Sister (the narrator), Stella-Rondo (sister rival also younger sister), Mama (who believe every Stella-Ronda say), Papa-Daddy (the granddad), Uncle Rondo (a mentally and emotionally scarred World War I veteran), and Shirley-T (Stella-Ronda adopted daughter as she say). “A Pair of Tickets” the characters in the story are Jing-mei (the narrator), Aiyi (her auntie and father sister), Canning Woo (her father), and Chwun Yu and Chwun Hwa (her half sisters). Even though these are two completely different stories the two main characters in the stories share some common traits. For instances Sisters is trying to find accepted with her family and why her sister moved back with them, while Jing-mei is discovers the Chinese essence within herself while going to China meet her long lost twins sisters. However, there are some different because Sister is outraged narrator of “Why I Live at the P.O.,” also a complex mixture of sorely used scapegoat and self-deluded, unreliable. On the other hand Jing-mei is a humble person narrator of “A Pair of Tickets” also a person who is looking to discover thing about her mother life and why she a banded her twin sisters. While both character have a big family Sisters family treated her with disrespect and cruelty, when Jing-mei family treat her with respect and kindness even her sisters when meet for the first time. Not all the characters are talk about or speak a line, so I am going to compare the family as a whole. When you think of a family that live together you think of playful and kind toward each other, but not the case with Sister family everybody get mad at her and do things to her. For instance when her sister Stella-Rondo lie to Uncle Rondo about what Sister did not say while he Sister was sleep he put a pack of firecracker in her room to scare her, because she terribly susceptible to noise of any kind. While on the other hand Jing-mei family are joyful, laughing, and can not let each go when they meet it as if they have been with each other for a long time even though it been a while since they saw each other. When Sister moved out and takes everything, she put in the house because she got tired of everyone been cruel; the family did not care just told her they would not write her. However, Jing-mei family wanted her and her father to stay longer because they only came for one day. What you have here is two completely different family with different moral and values. In each stories there are item in them that represent as symbols for a certain situation for instance in “Why I Live at the P.O.” throughout the story, they had a radio that radio represents the contentious or flawed communication between the family members. Nevertheless, once Sister takes the radio when she moved out she also takes one of the only connections the family has to the world beyond their home. This removal represents a new low in the family’s communication problems. In the story “A Pair of Tickets” when Jing-mei and her father make it to China she take a Polaroid picture of her father and aunt Aiyi, they hold the picture and looking at the picture with amazement this shows how even though they haven’t seen each in a while the picture so the closeness of the family. The father so the same thing at the end when he takes a picture of the three sisters each one knowing that they look likes their mother. When Sister moved to the post office, the post office represents both independence and entrapment. On one hand, it is an escape for Sister, a haven from her family. At the same time when Jing-mei goes to China, it shows her independence and her accepting her Chinese roots. To conclude “A Pair of Tickets” and “Why I Live at the P.O.” both the stories had their up and down. For Jing-mei through her spiritual journey, Jing-mei, clarifies her identity, the struggles of trying to accept her Chinese roots, and the misunderstandings she had of her mother. She gains respect towards her mother as she learns the battle her mother has fought to get to America. In the course of this journey, Jing-mei has learned to understand and respect her family. However, as for Sisters you cannot say the same she will still have her dysfunctional family even if she come back to her family. She is always the one that is going to get pick on. References Tan, A. (2006). A Pair of Tickets. In A. Booth, J. P. Hunter, & K. J. Mays, The Norton Introduction to Literature (pp. 166-180). Welty, E. (2006). Why I Live at the P.O. In A. Booth, J. P. Hunter, & K. J. Mays, The Norton Introduction Literature (pp. 123-132).