Ideas and Prompts for Week Two: Chinese American Generations

Your second blog post is due today by 3:00 pm. This week, you have the option of writing about a character from David Wong Louie's "Cold-Hearted" or Gish Jen's "Who's Irish?"

If you're stuck or need inspiration, here are some ideas:

1. What does 16-year-old Lawrence learn about his father in "Cold-Hearted" that he didn't originally know? What kind of man is his father? Relatedly: what do you make of the story's title? In other words, who is cold-hearted?
   
   
2. What do you think of the narrator of "Who's Irish?" How does she see the world differently than others around her (including her daughter, Natalie)? Do you think we're supposed to like her, dislike her, agree with her, disagree with her, identify with her, dis-identify with her? Why do you think Gish Jen decided to tell the story through her eyes, rather than through Natalie's eyes? Relatedly: what do you make of the story's title?
   
   
3. Compare and contrast the point of view constructed in each story. "Cold-Hearted" uses a third-person narrator and a limited point of view, allowing us to see things from Lawrence Lung's perspective. By contrast, "Who's Irish?" has a first-person narrator (the grandmother), and the story is even written in her voice. What does each authorial choice allow us to see about the character(s)?
   
   
4. Write a creative post: rewrite one of the stories in a different style, voice, or genre. Write a letter from one of the characters to his/her author, or to another character. Write a mini-story in which the grandmother in "Who's Irish?" meets Lawrence or his father, Pop, from "Cold-Hearted."
   

I'm looking forward to seeing what you think! :)
Dr. Kulbaga