Ying-Ying St. Clair: Character Analysis

A parent’s wisdom, above all else, is what is passed down to his or her child; it is the knowledge that the child carries on for the rest of his or her life. Through a plethora of struggle, and with a lifetime of mistakes, parents have two choices with their children: to teach them about their experiences or to shut them out, preferring a shell of misery to hide in. Sometimes, experience can embolden, while other times, they can strike fear deep into the heart. Ying-Ying St. Clair was struck, and for it, her daughter, Lena, learned not of the wisdom she kept inside. Nevertheless, witnessing Lena’s troubled marriage, Ying-Ying musters up her courage and her strength, ready to give the advice she neglected to give for so long. By making the resolve …show more content…
At her aunt’s wedding, Ying-Ying met a man who sliced a watermelon in half to indicated a vulgar yearn to take her virginity. Albeit she was innocent and naive of his actions, Ying-Ying still knew that she “would marry that man” after seeing a “flower on the table split from its stem and fall at her feet.” She “pushed so hard to keep him from her thoughts that she fell right into a marriage bed with him,” and ended up becoming a stranger to herself: “being pretty for him, brushing her hair ninety-nine times a night to bring luck to the marital bed, in hopes of conceiving a son” (Tan 246-247). Ying-Ying lost who she was by tricking herself to believe that she loved this man; it was all the more reason why she later resented him so much. Learning of his infidelity while carrying his baby, Ying-Ying was “overcome with grief, having nothing in her heart but loathing despair” (Tan 247). In melancholy and hatred for that man, she “took her baby from her womb before it could be born” as an act of revenge which consequently caused her “to lose her strength and to float like a dead leaf on the water” (Tan 248-249). For seeking vengeance and aborting her own son, Ying-Ying further lost herself. In her first trial in the hero’s journey, rather than coming out stronger and triumphant, she comes out weaker, filled with sorrow and despondency. Although thinking that man “drained everything from her heart,” she “still felt something strong and bitter flow: a feeling of emptiness” (Tan 251) that would fuel her animosity and lead her to marry Clifford St. Clair. However, by doing so, Ying-Ying “willingly gave up her chi, the spirit that caused her so much pain” (Tan 251). By allowing to be whist away, Ying-Ying gave up more of herself, losing not only her tiger spirit, but also becoming “an unseen spirit” (Tan 251). A second trial