Have you ever read a work of literature that featured no secondary characters? Of course, you have! Plato’s Dialogues features none. Have you ever read a work of literature that featured no emphasis on the epoch? Of course, you have! Orwell’s 1984 is a general dystopia that criticizes the world regardless of the time of action in it. But have you ever read a work of literature in which the setting would not be important? Of course, you have not! “A Pair of Tickets” by Amy Tan is, probably, one of the most vivid examples of how a setting can play the role of an individual character within a story. This article will tell you why the setting is so important in this masterpiece by Amy Tan.
It Reveals the Narrator
Pondering over why the setting is so important in Amy Tan’s “A Pair of Tickets”, it is quite possible to state that it helps the author reveal the identity of the narrator. The story is set in China, and it plays a big role in how the readers eventually perceive Jing-Mei, the narrator. As a matter of fact, it was the way that the author has chosen for letting the character define exactly which part of her is Chinese. She grew up in San Francisco, so she becomes immersed in American culture.
When her father took her with him to China, she feels extremely uncomfortable as if she had to conduct a literary analysis of the book she has never read. “A Pair of Tickets”, however, starts using the new for the lead character set as the platform for letting the readers understand that "A Pair of Tickets" by Amy Tan is nothing else but the story of self-revelation. In fact, every literary Analysis of “A Pair of Tickets” easily testifies that it is partially an autobiographical work of the author.
Therefore, Jing-Mei focuses on her goal to identify what she has in common with China. It can be easily understood that while Jing-Mei was in China it was autumn that painted the country into the hues of brown, yellow, and green. As the trees are changing, letting the old leaves fall, so is Jung-Mei, who gradually starts identifying herself with China more and more. When reading to a free essay example of this story, it becomes crystal clear that Jing-Mei interacts with Chinese nature in order to find the truth about her roots.
Three Colors of China
Regardless of what one might say, the colors of China in “A Pair of Tickets” are not red and gold as on the country’s flag but the aforementioned yellow, green, and brown. An in-depth literary analysis of this work of literature testifies to the fact that the yellow color symbolizes happiness and optimism. The color brown is all about stability, steadiness, and a bit of dirt. It seems logical to state that the next phase of this colorful journey is the roots that are represented with green. Namely, the setting let Jing-Mei understand what her mother told her one day about the force that is waiting in her blood to come out to the surface.
“A Pair of Tickets” by Amy Tan is, probably, one of the most fascinating short stories of American literature. The author manages to use almost every component part of the text in order to capture the reader’s attention to the full. Every single detail that is described in the text adds to the readers’ understanding of Jing-Mei as a part of China. Hence, namely, the setting has become the pivotal factor the impacts the story that the lead character lives through.