Waiting Between The Trees By Lena St. Cbery Analysis

Lena St. Clair- The “Rice Husband” gives us an understanding of what is going on in Lena St. Clair one-sided marriage. Lena is a compliant wife who doesn’t speak up for herself. The couple goes “dutch” on everything. For instance, Lena has to pay for exterminators to get rid of the fleas since the cat belongs to her. We see how inconsiderate Harold is when he tells her “they’re your fleas”. This is bizarre since he bought the cat as a gift for her. In addition, she has to pay for her own groceries separately from his. The whole being “equals” thing began to get to her and make her uncomfortable to the point she becomes irritated.

Lena starts to realize that there is no reciprocity in their marriage, being equals don’t benefit her. When her …show more content…
Clair- The short story “Waiting Between the Trees” describe the life of the superstitious Ying-ying St. Clair before coming to America. Ying-ying would be considered disobedient in other words out of control. She marries a man she soon would get pregnant with a son, but decided to abort the baby out of hatred for the father. It is clear that Ying-ying hated the man with a passion by the way she told the nurses to discard the child. This how Ying-ying became to be the cunning, strong woman she is. After this, she worked in a shop where she met Clifford St.Clair. After marrying St.Clair she then moved to America where her life as Lena knows it began. The falling action is when she schemes to use her cunning behavior(tiger spirit) to bring her daughter’s tiger spirit out of her in order to make her stand up for …show more content…
Clair. Unlike, the others in the novel she was an independent tough woman. In many ways, she was just like her zodiac sign a tiger headstrong. Even though, that changed once she married and ended up pregnant by a man who left her. Because, of her past with the “evil” man, she became a “ghost” a shell of her former self. Being forsaken hurt her deeply this was the first time seeing her this vulnerable. In order not to get hurt again, she became cunning.

Ying-Ying character is interesting some of the things I found good about her is her vulnerability and wildness. Most of all, I like that she was truthful she was willing to make herself transparent in order to get her daughter to become a tiger. The fierce love that she has for her daughter is intense this made me like her more. It was great to see Ying-ying confront what caused her pain(past) in order to help her daughter. This proves that Ying-ying is not weak all she needed was the strength to get her former self back, and her daughter’s situation helped