Disappearing Moon Cafe

1. Disappearing Moon Cafe ★ The Chinese community ★ Sense of self → connections between individuals and group (influence on each other) ☆ struggle / gap within self and people → gives rise to the mess around

2. Self ↓ Family ↓ Community

3. Diasporic situation ☆ “diaspora” : a scattering of seeds cause : trade and labour ex. Fong Mei and Foon Sing ☆ shared dilemma as an excluded race in Canada ☆ searching for roots (12), (140)

4. Inner conflicts ☆ Gwei Chang as the patriarch (the core of the community) : “You don’t want the help of the associations? Then you’re alone!” (79), (75) ☆ distrust and suspect between people : “They’re jealous of those who are more successful than they are.” (36) “What can Tang People’s Street do for me?” (79)

5. ☆ “This dead town was full of vicious ghosts.” ----- the gambling (107) “You, no money! You dead boy, who’s going to be taken in by that?” (109) ☆ image of the Wong family : for others : “everyone was full of compliments, …” (45), (48) for the family members : “Why did I have to come to this place full of risks and dangers?” (45), (230)

6. Isolation ☆ homeland (China) old customs : carry on the Wong’s name Mui Lan : “In the village, the customs were clear.” (36), (59) “the dead ghosts” (49) “What was it, the same old going-home-to-China one?” (201) ☆ attitude : ambivalent (59), (79), (116), (123)

7. Family (relationship and thinking) ☆ husband / wife (Choy Fuk and Fong Mei) “Choy Fuk threw on his jacket, grabbed his hat and stumbled out without a single glance in her direction …” (91) ☆ the elder / the younger (Mui Lan and Mei) “how good and kind and decent you’ve become suddenly. …” (203). (202). (35)

8. Canada ☆ unable to merge into the whites society (180) ☆ difficulties in working and living : “That dead white devil! Cheating us all these years!” (34), (71), (202) ★ Janet Smith case

9. Sex ☆ Gwei Chang / Mui Lan “Our son’s wife has already chosen. …” (30) ☆ Choy Fuk / Song Ang “who’s that going to hurt?” (110) ☆ the oppressed women as minority

10. Sense of self ☆ recognition of self : ◆ value of existence ◆ interactions between people ◆ defense mechanism ◆ parts of self (Johari Window)

11. Value of existence ☆ recognition + exploitation : “He had watched her played the role of the perfect daughter-in-law all along, …” (53) “… until Fong Mei was able to take care of another child,” (135) “A child ... a little family to …” (183) “what do you really have but two people busily trying to enslave each other?” (186), (130)

12. ☆ making use of opposite sex : Choy Fuk – Song Ang “But this one with her hard face and cool indifferent stare made him want to squash …” (97) Fong Mei – Ting An “She backed him up the wall …” (119) Morgan – Kae “And I would have nothing to do with his stories.” (174)

13. Interactions between people ☆ rely on others to construct one’s identity : Ting An : worker of Gwei Chang (113) Fong Mei : Choy Fuk’s wife (53) Song Ang : being rescued by Mui Lan ☆ women → childbirth : power ★ responsibility, role-playing “All my life I saw double.” (128)

14. Defense mechanism ☆ Gwei Chang : transference (220) ☆ Mui Lan and Choy Fuk : rationalization (110) ☆ Fong Mei : displacement (156) and compensation ☆ reaction formation → unconscious, distortion, disguise

15. Johari Window ☆ open / blind / hidden / unknown “Of course, the darker side of the story stayed in the dark, privy to family members only.” (148) “she had no way knowing about the family’s twisted past, …” (155) “Why didn’t you tell me!” (191) “I was kept in the dark about a lot of things.” (199)

16. Self-disclosure as a way out

17. Suzie ☆ rebellious, overburdened with the dark past : “dumb Chinese rules!” (176) “I want out! Out!” (177) “Untie them! Untie me!” (189) “Let me go! Please let me go!” (194) ☆ nervous breakdown : a symbol false consciousness + disorder of the family ☆ the incest as a force to revolt

18. Another example ☆ The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989) → Chinese American immigrants → traces back to the family history for solutions → conciliates the conflicts