A Brief Analysis of the Epiphany in “Chang”

In the article “Chang,” the narrator reflects her memories of her father, a shy, silent, and little Chinese man. All her childhood memories related to her father are directing to an irresponsible, motionless, and unpredictable father. His father talks little to the family and has an alienated relationship with every family member. In her word, he is like “a figure in a glass case” (Nuner 382). Due to the lack of communication and the different cultural backgrounds, the narrator never gets the chance to understand her father directly. It is not until other people tell the other side of her father does the author understands a different side of her father. Though her father talks little, he never stops loving his families and offering helps to people in need. Her epiphany of her father’s good characteristics is based on a long-term misunderstanding and other people’s opinions of her father. This paper aims at analyzing the author’s epiphany based on the racial identity and the social status. The analysis shows that in the article “Chang,” the narrator’s misunderstanding of her father is caused by the different cultural backgrounds and enforced by the different experiences of racial and social inferiorities. As the narrator learns more about this racial and social hierarchies, as well as stories of her father from other people, she finally achieves the epiphany that her father is a kind-hearted, responsible, and staunch Chinese man.

To begin with, the narrator’s long-term misunderstanding of her father is based on the cultural clashes, which causes their different expressing ways and different understandings of each other’s cultural backgrounds. In the narrator’s memory, his father is like a mystery, always impossible to understand and hard to predict. She never learns Chinese culture directly from her father and what she has learned from books bring a huge misunderstanding of her father’s cultural background. As she learns on The Good Earth, the births of daughters are seen as evil omens in China (Nuner 380). Thus, in her mind, her father talks little to his families because he is surrounded by a house of women and he doesn’t like her simply because she is not a boy. However, her father’s silence is partly due to his shyness from his cultural nature, also partly from the pain he is suffering, like from the war, from social inequalities, and from his disease. Though born in Panama, the narrator’s father still defines himself as a Chinese due to the 10-year childhood experience. The traditional Chinese men are not quite talkative. They treat silence as a trait of maturity and prudence. They talk little but do a lot. As the narrator’s mother explains, “Silence was golden. It was a cultural thing” (Nuner 370). Also, the language barrier is also a reason for her father’s alienation and silence. As the narrator says, “though we shared the same house for eighteen years, we had little else in common. We had no culture in common” (Nuner 370). Though the narrator is half-Chinese, she doesn’t know how to speak Chinese at all. She doesn’t understand the Chinese culture and treats herself as half-Chinese. She is brought up with the German cultural influence from her mother and receives the American education. She is totally an American without any confusion of racial identity. However, her father never regards himself as an American though he becomes an American citizen after the war. He works in Chinatown and makes Chinese friends. He speaks Chinese sometimes and always hopes to go back to China. The cultural difference causes the misunderstanding and the barrier in communication. The narrator totally accepts the influence of the American culture, but her father denies. The narrator likes to show all her feelings and express frankly while her father stands all the sufferings alone and shoulders the family responsibilities silently. The narrator suffers little due to the racial inequality, but her father does. All these differences lead to the narrator’s impression of her father as a silent, fuddled, timid, motionless, and mysterious man.

In addition, the narrator’s father suffers from his inferiority in racial hierarchy and social power, which is reflected in his marginalization and alienation at home. Though the narrator depicts most of her memories of her father by his behaviors at home, his behaviors indirectly reflect the racial discrimination and social inequality he has suffered. When the narrator keeps asking her father about the Chinese culture in her childhood, her father only replies the same sentence “Chinese just like everybody else” (Nuner 371). In his mind, he doesn’t admit that he is inferior to others simply due to the racial difference. He wants equality and the same opportunity as other Americans. However, the fact is obvious in the opposite way. His inferiority in the family is simply an epitome of the racial inequalities he has suffered. He can not speak English well, so his wife laughs at him and says he is stupid. His wife claims the ownership of everything in the house, including the children. She raises the children in a German way and avoids any Chinese influence from him. As the narrator says, “my father was the only Chinese thing” (Nuner 378). Though the narrator’s mother also suffers racial discrimination due to the defeat of Germany, she is much better than the narrator’s father. The narrator’s father feels insulted whenever his children hate the Chinese food he brings because the culture he is proud of fails to attract his children. In other words, his families are not interested in his culture, even despise his culture and race. Though he has tried to work seven days a week to support the family, his wife still complains about the lack of money and regrets marrying him. His inferiority in finance and social status causes him great pains due to the racial and social inequalities. In this family, he seems to belong in another inferior world in regards to the language and intimacy. Compared with the unfair treatments within the family, what the narrator’s father suffers in the society is not difficult to predict. The language barrier, the identity of another race, and the low financial ability all alienate him from the society and keep reminding him of his inferiority. As a result, he has to work in Chinatown, near a cultural environment that he is familiar with and make Chinese friends who will not look down upon him. The racial hierarchy and social inequality marginalize him not only in the family but also in the society.

Last but not least, other people’s opinions of the narrator’s father brings a totally different perspective of reviewing her father’s strange behaviors and helps her understand her father as she learns more about the racial and social inequalities, which is the key factor for the narrator’s epiphany. As the narrator attends the college and gets a higher education, she could understand her father more due to her increasing understanding of the racial and social inequalities. Her father suffers a lot with all these inequalities but gets no supports and understandings from the family. His wife keeps complaining to him and laughing at his inferiority. His children have little interest in his culture and treat him like a mysterious man. They never try to understand the reason his silence and really care about his work, health, or position in the family. His loneliness is caused by the marginalization of the family and the society. Despite all these sufferings, he still keeps helping people in need, shoulder the family responsibility alone, and enduring the fear of cancer. Other people tell a lot of the narrator’s father’s hard working and generosity to others. He helps those people in need after the war even though they belong to different sides. Her father saves a couple of thousand dollars and sends to her Uncle Mee to pay for the debt even though he also meets difficulty supporting his family (Nuner 377). He wears a suit to work and pay attention to his appearance even though it is not necessary on most occasions. He is kind, unselfish, and strong in mind. Though the society puts a lot of inequalities, he chooses to face with them and work hard for his families. The narrator’s understanding of her father’s sufferings is not enough to achieve the epiphany. It is how his father reacts with these inequalities that make the narrator achieve the epiphany. All those silent behaviors are a man’s fight with the disease, the social inequalities, and others’ misunderstandings.

To sum up, in the article “Chang,” the narrator depicts her epiphany of the true character of her father. Her memories of the childhood show her misunderstandings towards her father due to their different racial and cultural backgrounds, as well as different experiences of social inequalities. From the narrator’s position in the family, the narrator shows how his father suffers from the racial discrimination, the inferior social status, and the low financial ability. These inequalities marginalize the narrator’s father not only in the family but also in the society. However, his father takes a silent and enduring attitude towards all these inequalities and shoulder all the pains and responsibilities alone. When the narrator learns more about these social inequalities and the other side of her father from others, she finally achieve epiphany and realize that her father is a kind-hearted, responsible, and staunch man.