In My Mother’s House
Analysis of the Story
The book entitled “In My Mother’s House” written by Jomi Cham, is about the difficult relationship of a mother and a daughter in a traditional Chinese household in the Philippines. It tells about the story of Nina who wanted to be loved by her mother and Ong Le Bi who could not accept her daughter. Having many views on what a daughter should be and should not be, Ong Le Bi could not simply accept the fact that her daughter Nina was not what she hoped to be. Having a son is viewed highly upon Chinese tradition, it is often associated with the fact that he will be the one to inherit the name of the family and pass it on to future generations. In regards to this it can be said that one of the reasons for her mother’s inability may have been caused by the fact that her first born was not a male. Nina who was born during the year of the rat, was often compared with her zodiac sign. She was small and dark-skinned. Nina, because of her fear of standing out due to her meek attitude brought about by how heavily-handed her mother raised her, was often told that she moves silently like a little creature. At a young age she was constantly reminded by her mother, of how important it was for her to study hard to make up for her lack of beauty. She was told to speak only in Chinese when speaking to her mother. Her mother strictly imposed that she learns how to write in Chinese, saying that it will be relevant to her transfer to a Chinese school. This goes to show how specific gender-roles can affect the way one is brought up in childhood, like how her mother has painstakingly tried to raise her as what she viewed to be a perfect daughter was. After the birth of her brother Michael who she fondly called “Shorty”, the gap that Nina feels she was not able to fill seems to have been mended. With the presence of a son, everything seems to go on perfectly in their family. Michael was smart, bright, intelligent, charismatic and...