In the story “Simple Recipes”, by Madeleine Thein, there is conflicted cultural perspectives caused by the age gap between the father and the son. Different generations of a family have different views on how one should live their own lifestyle. This is demonstrated through the father as he does not want to accept how his son has adopted such western views as he is growing up. The narrator states how “[her] brother was born in Malaysia, but when he immigrated [to] Canada, the language left him” and she claims that “he forgot it, or he refused it”. This makes the father angry due to a belief that learning and remembering the mother tongue is part of the culture. The father expects this of the younger generation. However, the son wants to disconnect
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The narrator states how “[his] relationship with his parents had become somewhat strained” during the time he was living in California and only finds out about the death of his mother 2 years later. This already shows that the son does not view living a traditional lifestyle as the best choice. There is a conflicting perspective when the son has no qualms comparing his father to a Chinese communist politician. He states that the father however, “would not cherished such a comparison, [as he was] particularly proud of the pure samurai blood that ran in the family”. The quote shows that the father is a very traditional person, however, the son does not have much pride in the bloodline. This again is reinforced when the son brings up the failed firm. The father repetitively says how his partner Watanabe was “a man of honour and principle, [and that he] respected him very much”, but the son does not respond much to these prideful traits that his father respects. The father still does not approve of the son’s western views. It is shown when he states, “I’ve come to believe now that there were no evil intentions in your mind” and that the son was “swayed by–certain influences” The father believes that the daughter, Kikuko, is a pure and nice girl. However, this traditional view of how a girl should act pressures the daughter into pretending to
The narrator states how “[his] relationship with his parents had become somewhat strained” during the time he was living in California and only finds out about the death of his mother 2 years later. This already shows that the son does not view living a traditional lifestyle as the best choice. There is a conflicting perspective when the son has no qualms comparing his father to a Chinese communist politician. He states that the father however, “would not cherished such a comparison, [as he was] particularly proud of the pure samurai blood that ran in the family”. The quote shows that the father is a very traditional person, however, the son does not have much pride in the bloodline. This again is reinforced when the son brings up the failed firm. The father repetitively says how his partner Watanabe was “a man of honour and principle, [and that he] respected him very much”, but the son does not respond much to these prideful traits that his father respects. The father still does not approve of the son’s western views. It is shown when he states, “I’ve come to believe now that there were no evil intentions in your mind” and that the son was “swayed by–certain influences” The father believes that the daughter, Kikuko, is a pure and nice girl. However, this traditional view of how a girl should act pressures the daughter into pretending to