Pain of love

Author: (American) Lei Zuwei / Wu Baokang / Wang Yimei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: The publication of this short story collection during that period inevitably brought Lei Zuwei, as a representative of emerging Asian American writers, into the public eye for the first time. However, overall, Lei Zuwei seemed to have no need to imply that he was an Asian American writer. In four of the eleven short stories, the characters are not Asian Americans, and in the rest, the identity of minority ethnic groups is not prominent. In fact, these young Asian Americans appear to have fully integrated into American society. Nevertheless, the arrangement of the first, the last, and the title story in this short story collection does indeed indicate that Lei Zuwei relatively emphasizes the theme of Chinese Americans. However, based on the theme of the "displacement" of Chinese Americans implied in the title of the fourth story, "Emotional Displacement," I believe that this theme reflects the general state of survival for all American characters in the collection. The three stories, "Emotional Displacement," "The Pain of Love," and "The Legacy," are rather typical of Asian American literature, as they vividly portray the differences and generational gaps between immigrant parents and their Americanized children. Like what is often depicted in Asian American literature, the immigrant mothers in these three stories have a strong attachment to their homeland. In "The Pain of Love," the mother refuses to learn English but loves watching American TV and persistently insists that her son return to Hong Kong to marry. She cannot understand that her son is gay. The word "pain" in the title "The Pain of Love" echoes the surname Pang of the immigrant mother, Pang Tai, as a pun, symbolizing the situation of the characters in the story and their inner suffering.