Personal Narrative: My Grandpa's War Movies

Every now and then I find myself staring into space, reminiscing the past, particularly where I grew up. As I get deep in thought, my senses start to tingle, the very image of my mother standing in the kitchen, the floral scent of her perfume, the roaring oven aided by the thunderous but yet subtle kitchen ventilation that is always on when she is cooking. My mind starts to wander and it takes me to my room, chaotic and unorganized, yet I knew where everything is placed. My clothes were all over the place, it was a habit of mine to dump all my clothes on the floor and my mother was always the one who had to look after my mess. My grandpa’s war movies are still clearly embedded in my memory, he loved to watch documentaries or even propaganda regarding the second sino-Japanese war, my grandpa was a hardcore patriot. In the background, I can hear my mother leisurely talking to my grandpa in Cantonese, everything seemed so merry and yet there’s this faint sadness that instilled in the air. We were covertly hiding the very fact that we were poor, although the house seemed fairly jolly. …show more content…
Where I grew up, we can only afford to buy what we needed but not what we wanted, and I learned from that I’m different from my peers very early in my life. It felt strange, being diverted from my peers and knowing that I am different from them yet I am also not very different. Why, I asked, my younger self cannot comprehend social construct and social status, henceforth, I assumed it was just an age thing. Therefore, I tried waiting patiently for the problem to go away on its