The Jade Peony

Write an essay in which you explicate the jade peony pendant as a recurring motif. Use direct quotes to support your assertion about the themes and messages that the motif of the jade peony constructs.

Using quotes from either across the book, or confined to one part of the book (1, 2, or 3) perform a literary analysis in which you identify the hallmark characteristics of Choy’s writing style. Name the literary strategies or conceits that he uses in a sustained way to shape his narrative, and assert your analysis of those strategies/conceits. Why does he write this way? How do his style and conceptual choices aid him to shape his story?

Choose one main character—Liang, Jung, Stepmother, Poh-Poh, or Sekky—and perform a sustained character analysis. Using direct quotes in order to back up your assertions, explain the themes and messages that Choy constructs through his character development.

Trace the presence and development of cultural white supremacy in The Jade Peony. Using quotes selected from across the text, explicate the impact and sources of cultural white supremacy in the lives of the characters. Where do these cultural beliefs come from, and how do they impact the political, social, and personal lives of the characters in the novel?

Choose two characters in The Jade Peony who are from different generations (e.g., Poh-Poh and Liang). Compare and contrast the two characters’ identities, belief systems, and coping mechanisms. How are they distinct from each other, and why? What do they share?

Explicate the character of Meiying. How is her story told, and why is it included in the narrative? What does her character and storyline communicate about the lives of Chinatown women? What does it assert about World War II?

Use credible primary and secondary sources to evaluate the accuracy of Wayson Choy’s account of the mid-20th-century Chinese-Canadian experience. Compare and contrast real-life, historical accounts with the history and experiences that Choy presents in The Jade Peony.

Focusing on either Sekky or Jung, explicate how the masculine identity is taught and learned within 20th-century Chinese-Canadian culture. Use direct quotes and credible outside sources in the critical gender studies field in order to support your analysis.