Promises In The Red Candle, By Amy Tan

We all hear stories about our parent’s or our grandparent’s past. Whether it was when we were little at their house, or during a holiday when there was nothing left to talk about. Some would hear stories bigger than what they would ever expect. This happened to Lindo Jong’s daughter. Who heard the story of her mother’s greatest sacrifice. A sacrifice that was made in order to keep a promise. The promise of keeping her family’s honor. Which meant to stay in an arranged marriage with a man she didn’t love. She was able to get out of the marriage without shattering her family’s honor. In a way, she was able to save herself while keeping her promise to her family. Some may say that a promise is nothing more than words, but in China, promises are worth more than what one would think. The Red Candle, which was written by Amy Tan, starts out with Jong saying how she sacrificed her life to keep a promise to her parents. Then she goes on to compare her daughter, who was born and raised in America to how she is with promises. How with her she can promise to go to dinner, but if she feels unwell, is stuck in traffic, or wants to watch a movie, she is no longer obligated to her …show more content…
One of them being right before Jong left to go live with her future husband. When she was moving to the Huang’s at the age of 12, her mother told her to obey her new family and not to disgrace her family. Which is what she did throughout the entire story. When she first arrived she did what she was told and nothing else. She hated it and knew she didn’t want to be stuck in this, yet that is what Jong did. She was able to manipulate her way out of it, but while not breaking the promise. She was able to manipulate the family’s cultural beliefs to “think it was their idea to get rid of” (Tan 59) her. Thereby not disobeying the Huangs and not disgracing her own