Yeh Yeh's House Non-fiction Blog Post

I am reading Yeh Yeh's House by Evelina Chao. This memoir, is about Evelina's trip to China with her mother at the time of the Cultural Revolution. However, so far, Evelina has only explained her relationship with her deceased grandfather (Yeh Yeh) and how she missed her last chance to see him (this is the reason why she chose to visit China with her mother after his death). Evelina had never met her grandfather in person, for they had communicated only through letters. Evelina explains how she pursued a musical career, for that was what was most important to her, as the text says: "I knew to be clear at last... I was going to play music, no matter what, for the rest of my life... music was my sanctuary as well as my way out." She also explains that she breaks promise after promise about visiting her grandfather (who, at the time, was still alive), although she knew her grandfather's health (mentally and physically) was beginning to decline. The following quote from the book shows that she admits this: "I promise I'll try to go next spring,' I said. It was something I had said so often that it sounded hollow even to my own ears." But the reason she broke her promises was because of her career for she thought it was more important at the time than her grandfather, as said in the text: "my pursuit of my career prevented me from going to see Yeh Yeh before he died."

I think Evelina wants readers to mostly feel anger, disbelief, and understanding towards her. She wants us to feel angry and disbelief because she chose her career over her family. But she also wants us to understand why she did, by explaining her passion for music and to be a musician. To provoke anger and disbelief, she uses small details that build up into a complex issue that is also the implicit main idea. For example, she uses the words from her grandfather's letter: "Sung Lien, come see me soon, before it is too late." Then she uses simple adjectives to describe her deep love for playing the violin: "I discovered a little wooden case in which there was a half-sized violin... It was the happiest moment of my life,"she uses the word "happiest" to describe the moment she got her violin, and although it is no complex adjective, it still shows the simplicity but also complex love she has for music. Then she describes how she broke her promises to see her grandfather (this is a quote I have previously stated): "I promise I'll try to go next spring,' I said. It was something I had said so often that it sounded hollow even to my own ears." These details build up to make readers feel angry at why Evelina still did not go visit her grandfather because of her love for music, despite her grandfather's pleas. However, she uses the same technique to help readers understand that she does care about her grandfather as the text said:"I heard the phone ringing. It was my mother. 'Yeh Yeh is dead' I began to sob." When she said that she began to sob readers understand that she did not break her promises because she did not love her grandfather, but simply because her career seemed more important at the time, and she would never have known that her grandfather would die (of suicide). She uses simplicity(simple words and adjectives) to describe her complex situations, she uses simple words to provoke emotion from the readers. She does not need to use other techniques such as imagery because her quotes from her grandfather's letters, and her personal experiences are enough to imply implicit ideas. However, she uses occasional shocking facts about the Cultural Revolution to shock and sadden readers and to help them understand what was going on in China and why her grandfather commit suicide.

Overall, I think that although I too originally resisted Evelina because of her choices, readers should try to understand why she made the choices she did. I believe that no one can predict the future, so it is reasonable that Evelina would believe her career was more important at the time for she probably wouldn't think her grandfather would commit suicide (as she was unclear of how her grandfather suffered in the Cultural Revolution). Readers should not judge her and her memoir because of a choice that surely even Evelina regrets making. For it is evident that Evelina truly did, and probably still does, love her grandfather. 

Yeh Yeh's House 2

Achieving Dreams and the Sacrifices Involved in Achieving Them

I have continued reading Yeh Yeh's House by Evelina Chao. I read about the sacrifices Evelina made to achieve her dream which was to be a violinist. While reading, I thought of whether or not achieving dreams are worth the sacrifices. This post is similar to my previous post, for they are both about the "weight" and value of certain things as compared to others.

Evelina's dream was to become a violinist as the text said: "I was going to play music, no matter what, for the rest of my life... music was my sanctuary as well as my way out." To achieve her dream, she chose to sacrifice her chance to visit her grandfather. When I read this, I tried to determine which of the two I found more important, and as I have said in my last post, to me, family is always the most important. However, I cannot say that Evelina was wrong to choose her career over her grandfather. When I say this, I do not mean that her grandfather is worth less than Evelina's career, instead, I am saying that sometimes we have no choice but to make such sacrifices. At the time, Evelina probably thought that her career and her studies at The Julliard School (a talent university in New York) was more important and worth the sacrifice. 

I feel guilty and conflicted, but I know that when I am older, I will probably have to make a sacrifice like the one Evelina did. This is because sometimes, no matter how important what needs to be sacrificed is, it will still be sacrificed in order to keep the other. There are many reasons why something important would still be sacrificed, for some things (regardless of its value) simply won't work out (timing, cost, personal issues, etc.), and others might be important but at the moment is less important than what is on the other side of the "scale". I hope that I will never have to choose between my family and my career, but I know that is probably wishful thinking because there are simply too many scenarios where such a choice would have to be made.

I think that when it comes to dreams vs important sacrifices, it really depends on how much the dream means to you and how many serious problems would occur without the important sacrifice. For me, I would rather stay safe than try to achieve a dream that needs many important sacrifices. Because if I sacrifice all the important things, then realize I don't want to pursue my dream anymore, it would be much too late. 

I think that people make sacrifices that shouldn't have been made because they miscalculate how important the sacrifice is. Or they may have had a temporary desperation to achieve that specific dream, therefore forgot to determine the value of the sacrifice. I could say that Evelina should not have chose her dream over her family (as she repeatedly does), but it would be unfair because no one knows the future. Evelina would never have thought her grandfather would die (for in the book it was said that her grandfather always maintained good health), especially not from suicide. This again goes back to my last post, how I said that some things/people/places are taken for granted and their importance is not realized until it is too late. Evelina probably thought that since her grandfather had good health, he would probably still have many years ahead of him, therefore she could push back her trip to China since she still had many years to visit him. However, life is life, things come unexpectedly, some good, some not, and her grandfather's death was unexpected but not good. 

So in the end, there truly is no right choice, it all depends on the person and their situation.

 

Yeh Yeh's House

When do you find yourself resisting the text? What does your resistance say about you or the text? 

I have started reading Yeh Yeh's House by Evelina Chao. It is a memoir about Evelina's trip to China with her mother and about how this trip leads to Evelina's discovery and understanding of herself and her mother. Evelina's trip takes place at the time of the Cultural Revolution in China. She decides to visit China because of her grandfather (in Chinese, "Yeh Yeh" means grandfather), however, it is not because she wants to visit her grandfather in a happy family reunion, but rather the opposite, for her grandfather is dead. And even though I have not reached the part of the book yet, in the front flap of the book, it says that her grandfather did not die of old age, but instead, he had committed suicide (Even though I did not read this part in the book yet, I wanted to include this piece of information in my blog, for it is needed to show why I resisted the text). Her grandfather had committed suicide after many futile pleas through letters to Evelina, pleading with her for her to visit him. But it was too much for him (the Cultural Revolution), and perhaps, he saw no other way of escape, and no reason to live on.

I deeply resisted the text when Evelina canceled her original plans for a trip to China (her original trip was planned before her grandfather's death) merely because she had to practice in her String Quartet. When the text said: "In the spring, when I tell my String Quartet I mean to go to China, their eyes pin me to the wall. 'What about London?' they shrill, reminding me of our plans to study with the Amadeus Quartet. 'Where's your commitment?'... I call my  mother to tell her I won't be going to China with her this time." I felt disbelief and intense anger. How could Evelina care about her career more than her family despite knowing how desperate her grandfather was for her to visit him? 

I think I resisted the text so much because it felt both foreign and familiar (and I do not think Evelina purposefully tried to make me, or any reader, feel resistance at all). I never had the chance to know my grandfather for he died long before I was born. However, I had the chance to "know him" in a way, as my father would tell me all about my grandfather. And if he was alive, I know I would have liked him a lot. But no matter how much information I know about him, it will never be the same as knowing him in person. My grandfather's love is something I will never have. Knowing him is farther than foreign, it is impossible. But the text was familiar because it was foreign. It made me think about how much I would appreciate having my grandfather. And while Evelina has her grandfather, she's still taking him for granted, thinking that he will always be there. Does she think his pleas are meaningless? Did her grandfather have to commit suicide for her to realize how crushed and desperate he was? Does one have to experience loss to realize nothing should be taken for granted? 

My resistance either says that Evelina is selfish , or simply doesn't know to how appreciate what she has before it's gone. Or it may say that I am naive. I do not think that it is the first one, for she still seems to love her grandfather a lot. However, I can't decide if it is the second or third one, perhaps it is both. She doesn't realize how much pain her grandfather is in, she doesn't understand his desperation. Evelina assumes her grandfather will be able to get through the Cultural Revolution with no problems, but obviously, she is very wrong. It may say that I'm naive because I shouldn't judge how important Evelina's career is to her. Even if I think family will forever be higher on the list of my priorities, it may not be the same for her. Maybe it is because she doesn't understand loss, that she takes her loved ones for granted. I do not have a career yet, so I will not understand the importance of employment. But I'm sure that even when I do, I will still  put my family first.