Sorry for the late post, I’ve been fairly special these past couple of weeks. I enjoyed reading Anatomy of a Fish Store by Ishle Yi Park for multiple reasons. I think it envelopes a lot of the themes we’ve discussed in class: silence, internalization, race relations as well as reiterating and using the Asian American stereotypes. The story may be based on personal experience, which Frank Chin would give an earful about Asian American literature based on non-fiction…but the feeling of division and identifying as the other is prevalent throughout the story. A few short lines say a lot about the ideas in the short story.
In the description of Suja, she is depicted as an intelligent girl growing up and “she has healing hands” a magical quality generally associated with Eastern countries, then with a jolt, after reading a fairly positive description, it says she is beaten by her husband. Then the husband was a ‘once famous’ back home and his status is now that of a fish store owner and he follows a boring, hard-working, every day routine. The son is also very smart – high SAT score – something usually seen as an Asian American quality. It is interesting when they mention that he is part of a gang, a Chinese gang. Were there no Korean gangs? Perhaps there is more history there, but I thought it strange when reading it. Then the son also internalizes the prejudices as a child, joins a gang and calls himself a “chink.” Some examples of the themes and stereotypes in the story include:
Theme – Silence: The wife and the husband are not talking, son not able to talk/express when younger, (important) topics left “unspoken” (between leo and narrator).
Stereotype –Intelligence: Suja was smart, her son Seung Ho was smart, he received 1400 on hi SATs.
The role of whiteness in the story is seen in the white characters. Nick acts like he owns the store when he does not and is a very prejudiced individual; he is not well liked. “He is a necessary evil.” On the surface he may seem good, but he has a rotten core. In addition, his presence may be necessary to act as “white” protection in such a way that his presence alleviates the majority’s fears of the ‘other’. It is very interesting how the author the white other as the audience, painting white people as materialistic, selfish, fake, and prejudiced.
I also found her phrase interesting when introducing these ideas, “Let me tell you about you.” For a long time the majority has been describing the minority and by doing so placing them into certain roles of society, so now here is the retaliation to those statements. As a white woman it was interesting to be put into this place, I kept looking in the descriptions for the author’s version of white stereotypes and which ones I didn’t consider me a part of. Then again, it was sad to see how many of the examples actually rung true for many white people. The last sentence seems to echo my feelings that the fight against prejudice is never ending and fruitless. “Inside: a frozen heart, stocked and emptied every day. Inside: a dark, constant hum.” When and how can there be change, the question that never seems to have an answer.
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