What if
you weren't receiving the love you knew you deserved? That someone
you thought you were going to be so close with, just shut you down in the blink
of an eye? Seemingly, for no reason at all. Except for them, the instant "shut down"
revolved around multiple reasons. This scenario is exactly what Stacy faces in
the story “Ribbons”, by Laurence
Yep. Stacy’s grandmother moves from China to America and
almost instantly rejects Stacy and focuses all
of her attention on Stacy's little brother, Ian.
In China,
boys are everything. Boys are the gold of the country. Girls are unsatisfactory
to most people over there. Because of these reasons, this is partially why the
grandmother instantly likes Ian more than Stacy. Ian’s a boy, and remember,
he's "everything". Throughout the story, the grandmother is softer
towards Ian, and is as cold as ice towards Stacy.
Even though it seems the grandmother likes Ian more because
he's a boy , the grandmother could very much possibly be racist towards Stacy
also. In the story Stacy says “Everything about Ian looks more Chinese; I
look as Caucasian as dad.”. The grandmother probably loves the fact that Ian
looks more like her and that Ian is very Chinese looking. Because Stacy looks
Caucasian, I think the grandma just forgot about Stacy and decided to praise
Ian instead.
Traditional Chinese
people, specifically elders, are very strict and precise when it comes to their
culture. A proper way to greet someone in China is to bow and to prohibit any
emotion/affection. Stacy had been taught
to greet her grandmother with a bow, but when she saw her for the first time
she got too excited and tried to hug and kiss her grandma. Her grandma rudely
responded “nice children don’t drool on people.”. Then, the grandma continued
to distance herself from Stacy.
The
grandma in this story rejected Stacy and loved Ian. If I were Stacy, I would've given up on the relationship, but Stacy kept trying. People, especially family,
shouldn’t reject and dislike other people if they don’t know them. It can
confuse a person and make them feel like they don’t deserve someone’s love. Everyone
should give others a chance because there could be a connection, like the
grandmother and Stacy developed at the end of the story. After all, we accept
the love we think we deserve.
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