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Taylor McCarthy
Professor Lawler
English 111
23 September 2014
Feelings vs. Views
In “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” the essay talks about the difference of Chinese
parenting and Westerner parenting. The technique of Chinese parenting is to never let your child
fall short of anything less than number one in anything that they do. In an Asian home, the child
is to dedicate their whole life to their parent and do nothing but make them proud. For instance,
in the essay it states, “Second, Chinese parents believe that their kids owe them everything.”
(Chua 413). This goes to show that a child is to obey everything that their parent says.
In the poem “Suicide Note,” the woman speaker has been a disappointment to her
parents. The woman in the poem feels as if she was a man that she would have been able to make
her parents more proud. She has worked hard but every time that she tries she ends up falling
short of their expectations.
The poem and the essay are quite different. In the essay, the Chinese parents would never
let their child fall short of their expectations. If a Chinese son or daughter were to fail, the
parents would push them to do it over and over, until they succeed. In the essay, the girl has
basically given up on trying. She has settled for the fact that she disappointed her parents and she
just is not going to try again. You know that the author has given up because when she says,
“Perhaps when they find me they will bury my bird bones beneath a sturdy pine.” (Mirikatani
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366). The author has come to the conclusion that she has been such a disappointment that it
would be better if she just killed herself.
The essays are also similar in some ways. Both the essay and the poems, the parents have
high expectations. They are also the same because they both show the cause and effect of these
expectations. In the poem, the cause of the parent’s expectations caused the daughter to feel like
a letdown and like she does not even have a reason to live. The cause of the expectations from
the Chinese parents, just made their children into very intelligent, talented people.
As you can see, both of the pieces have differences and similarities. Both are very
powerful pieces that have a way of putting other people’s circumstances in perspective. No one
way of parenting is right or wrong. Each parenting style should be tailored to fit the need of both
the child and the parent. However, one should never push their child so far to the point where
they feel their only option is death.
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Works Cited
Chua, Amy. "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior." Patterns for College Writing. 12th ed.
Boston: Bedford/St. Matthews, 2012. 410-14. Print.