“Children as Enemies” Ha Jin’s short stories from book, “A Good Fall”

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Children as Enemies
“Children as Enemies” is one of Ha Jin’s short stories from his book, “A Good Fall”. The story revolves around a family with Chinese roots consisting of grandparents, a son and his wife and two children; a boy and a girl, who now live in America. The narrator, who is the grandfather in the story, describes his relationship with his grandchildren and to some extent, with his son and daughter-in-law. In the narration, he points out the weaknesses he sees in his grandchildren, daughter-in-law, and son. After getting into a conflict with his son’s family, he wishes he never left China. However, he has no choice at this point because he and his wife came to America after selling their business and home so that they could join their only son and as such, they have nothing to go back to. Though the grandparents came to America to be closer to their immediate family, they find the American way of life challenging because of the cultural and generational differences.
The narrator reveals that their problems began when one day, their grandchildren demanded to change their Chinese names. The reason behind this new development was the difficulty the kids were facing at school since most of their schoolmates were unable to pronounce their names right. This new development shocked the grandparents, given the importance attached to names in the Chinese culture. In response to the grandkids’ remarks, the grandmother explains that instead of changing the names, “you should teach them how to pronounce your names” (Jin 799). The kids are not satisfied with their grandmother’s advice and continue complaining about how they get laughed at because of those Chinese names. To drive the point home, the grandfather notes to them that “You ought to be careful about changing your names. We decided on them only after consulting a reputable fortune-teller” (Jin 799). However, the kids do not care nor understand the cultural value of names among the Chinese. The way the grandkids and grandparents respond to this idea of changing names reveals a huge cultural difference between them. Having lived in China, the grandparents understand the Chinese culture where names are given based on their meaning, while the grandkids are more interested in the American culture. Besides, there is evidence that the kids are willing to exchange their Chinese culture with acceptance and an easier time at school in America. This signifies a cultural difference between individualism and collectivism in the sense that individualistic cultures focus on personal gain while collectivistic cultures focus on group gain. In the context of American individualistic culture, Sims, Tsai, and Jiang posit negative experiences in Europe “may have cultivated a cultur...