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.
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