The Bridge Healing Mother-Son Relationship in Pangs of Love

李莉莎

Abstract：As the title story of a collection of stories by David Wong Louie， Pangs of Love depicts a story in which almost every character suffers from pangs in their love. By means of text analysis， this paper analyzes the role of Amanda and concludes that Amanda is a symbol of the linguistic and cultural bridge loved by Ah-Vee and Mrs. Pang， the dominant society that despises and abandons Ah-Vee and Mrs. Pang， and the healing of mother-son relationship.

一、Linguistic and Cultural Bridge over Mother and Son

As an immigrant who has lived in America for forty years， Mrs. Pang bounds her lives in China Town and sticks to her Cantonese Chinese， thus “Mrs. Pang is the linguistic dead-end street” （Louie 2008， 257）. And for Ah-Vee’s part， “Once I went to school， my Chinese vocabulary stopped growing; in conversation with my mother， I’m a linguistic dwarf’ （Louie 2008， 250）. Refusing to learn each other’s language， Ah-Vee and Mrs. Pang are living in separate worlds though they share the same apartment. Mrs. Pang refuses to become a member of the mainstream society linguistically and culturally. In fact， she is really a typical China-style mother. In her mind， children should listen to their parents by saying that “How can I be your mother if nobody listens to what say？” （Louie 2008， 271） And she always wants to interfere in her sons’ marriages. Her intention is good since it’s the instinct of maternal love; however， her love cannot be accepted or even understood by her sons because of the language and culture gaps.

Ah-Vee’s ex-girlfriend Amanda seems to be a verbal and cultural bridge over the mother-son relationship Linguistically， “She spoke Chinese， and while that wasn’t my mother’s dialect Mandy picked up enough Cantonese to hold an adult conversation， and what she couldn’t bridge she wrote in notes”（Louie 2008， 253）. Culturally， Amanda and Mrs. Pang has conspired together to celebrate Chinese festivals and holidays， making Chinese food for New Year’s Day. （Louie 2008） Being such a mother who urges her sons to “marry a Chinese girl who will remember my grave and come with food and spirit money”（Louie 2008， 261）， Mrs. Pang appreciates Amanda’s language ability and knowledge of Chinese culture as her best daughter-in-law and still yearns for Amanda even after she has broken up with Ah-Vee.

二、Symbol of Despise and Abandoning from the Dominant Society

The Pang in the title Pangs of Love happens to be Mrs. Pang’s surname， such a coincidence implying that Mrs. Pang’s painful life may be a suffering one for 40 years since she has stepped on the American continent bearing her American Dream. However， as the result of her refusing be a member of the mainstream society， she’s like living in an isolated world due to her ignorance of the outside， thus nobody recognizes her value， even her own sons feel embarrassed in front of their friends by their mother’s behavior so much that Billy “doesn’t want his friend to know he dropped the womb of one who loves something as low as wrestling. “（Louie 2008， 271） Mrs. Pang wants to understand and to be understood. Amanda， the American girl’s ability of Chinese language and her knowledge of Chinese culture means to her that she and the Chinese culture have been accepted by white people and the dominant society for the first time， indicating that she thinks her American Dream has come true. Amanda’s leaving implies not just Mrs. Pang’s loss of a perfect daughter-in-law， but also the rejection and abandoning by the white society， and the disillusion of Mrs. Pang’s American Dream.

Musk 838/Lot No I9144375941-3e reminds Ah-Vee of Amanda who has fallen for a Japanese man Ito. Such a synthetic hybrid scent now needs a change， since “the manly scent of musk is no longer manly enough”（Louie 2008， 255）. As the second generation of Chinese -Americans， Ah-Vee is psychologically American but physically Chinese. He wants to locate his identity as a native American， so he dates with many girls who are all white people. Just like the hybrid musk， however， Ah-Vee is not manly enough in white people’s eyes， thus his girl runs with someone else， implying that the Chinese-American has been marginalized and despised by the dominant society.

三、Healing of Mother-son Relationship

It is Amanda who has bridged Ah-Vee and his mother’s relationship and whose leaving has broken their hearts and disillusioned their American Dream， while at the same time it is also her leaving that heals the mother-son relationship. Perhaps it is the first time that Ah-Vee has born such great patience to piece the English words a word-for-word translation into Chinese and tell his mother that her beloved Amanda is gone for good. （Louie 2008） And for the first time， Ah-Vee puts his hand on Mrs. Pang’s back， and is stunned by his deception of his mother by lying to her that he doesn’t know why there’s no woman in Billy’s house （Louie 2008）， symbolizing Ah-Vee feels the love of his mother and the urge to shield his mother from any harm instead of making her exposed of cruel truth or waving her off with “forget it”.

四、Conclusion

Through the analysis of text， this paper probes into Amanda’s role in Pangs of Love and states that Amanda is a bridge over the mother-son relationship， a symbol of dominant society despising outsiders and a healing of pangs of love between generations.

References

[1]Louie， David Wong. 2008. Pangs of Love. An Anthology of ChineseAmerican Literature， ed. Xu Yingguo， 248-276. Tianjin： Nankai University Press.

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