The story ‘The White Umbrella’ was written by Gish Jen, the story happened in a Chinese American family, due to the Chinese tradition, women should be housewives, but the author’s mother chose to work, which made her embarrassed. The narrator and her sister Mona arrived wet to their piano lesson, their piano teacher Ms. Crossman asked about their mother. The narrator lied to her so she wouldn't know their mother was at work. Another girl Eugenie was having the lesson, she was talented at piano, the narrator admired her. She noticed the white umbrella left by Eugenie and she liked it. After the class, Mona was trying to tell the truth that their mother was working, but the narrator was embarrassed to say it. Ms. Crossman gave the umbrella to the narrator, the narrator said she wanted Ms. Crossman to be her mother. After mother came and picked them up, they experienced a car accident that made the narrator believe her mother was dead. Then she realized how much she loved her mother, so she threw away that white umbrella.
The misunderstanding and rejection towards parents is a part of the process of growing up. People gradually developed their own thoughts about things during the process of growing up that might be contrasting with parents. In the story ‘The White Umbrella’, unlike other families, the narrator’s mother went to work, which made her embarrassed and ashamed. She didn’t understand why her mother had to go to work, and she hoped her mother would quit. She has to support the family with their father. Also, our thoughts were not fully developed, so it was hard for teenagers who were still in the growing stages to understand some of the actions of adults. Parents should lend them space to become more mature by themselves, but it is also necessary for the parents to show them what are the considerations of adults.
People are often used to the things that are important while close to them, they barely notice those things until they disappear. There is a kind of love that is easily and often ignored by people, that is the love of our parents. In the story ‘The White Umbrella’, the narrator felt embarrassed and ashamed for her mother after her mom went to work, this conflict made the narrator feel that her love towards her mother was weakened. But when the car accident occurred, the narrator was worried if her mother was dead. Fortunately her mother was unharmed. The narrator finally realized how much she loved her mother and how valuable she meant to her. In our daily life, we barely treat our love to parents seriously because we admit it is essential. But we always realized that we needed to cherish this love when we were about to lose it, and it was too late for us to feel guilty and regretful. Nothing was born to be given, we have to cherish every piece of love, orelse it will be late to remorse.
The need to belong often occurs on people who were new or unique to a certain environment, for example immigrant families. It is hard for them to maintain their original culture, because the environment forced or motivated them to conform to a new culture. In the story ‘The White Umbrella’, the narrator was a Chinese American, but she wasn’t confident of her identity of being a Chinese American, so she tried to conform and imitate the American girls. She wondered if she could hang the white umbrella on her wrist, just like other American girls at school. The narrator considered to ingratiate Eugenie, so she would be accepted to join the group of American girls. Even though belonging to a certain group of people can bring us courage and hope, the need to belong often makes people miserable in the way of conforming and imitating others. We could easily lose ourselves and our self - confidence, which means sometimes, the sense of belonging might not be necessarily helpful.
In conclusion, the story ‘The White Umbrella’ written by Gish Jen included complicated themes and symbolizations. The misunderstanding and rejection towards parents is a part of the process of growing up. People gradually developed their own thoughts about things during the process of growing up that might be contrasting with parents. People are often used to the things that are important while close to them, they barely notice those things until they disappear. There is a kind of love that is easily and often ignored by people, that is the love of our parents. The need to belong often occurs on people who were new or unique to a certain environment, for example immigrant families. It is hard for them to maintain their original culture, because the environment forced or motivated them to conform to a new culture.
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