Sunday, March 28, 2010

"After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town" blog

After reading "After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town" by Ha Jin I felt that it related to many of the other stories we have talked about lately. The story dealt a lot with the clashing of cultures and relationships. In this story we come across both American and Chinese cultures in a some what humorous way that makes the story interesting. I found it interesting when the man at the restaurant had a problem with his meal, "The man looked unhappy but accepted the offer. Still he muttered, "American dogs.""(page 185). I found this quote interesting since he referred to the chinese workers as "American dogs". This seemed very hurtful and uncalled for.
In the next part of the story it was easy to tell that Mr. Shapiro was not nice to his Chinese workers but wanted the best for his customers. He is an American man who has all Chinese workers. I found it interesting when it talks about the American boss being lazy once the business actually became something. "At first Mr. Shapiro worked hard, often staying around until we closed at ten-thirty. But as the business was flourishing, he hung back more and stayed in his office for hours on end,"(page 189-190). This shows that once his business actually got going good he decided to become lazy and not do his job as well. Mr. Shapiro probably feels that he already has the money so he doens't need to work as hard. I feel this is very different from how his Chinese workers are and even those in China today. They all want to be successful at what they do at all times. Also, the part when MR. Shapiro takes some of the girl workers out on dates I found wrong. He is a lot older then the girls and they probably feel obligated to go since it is their boss and they do not want to be fired.
Throughout the next part we learn about the boss wanting to turn the restaurant into a buffet. All the workers except the manager, Peter, think it is a great idea. I liked when they referred to Mr. Shapiro as a "skinflint"(page 193) which means someone who tries to spend as little money as possible. When we find out that the employees are not allowed any discount on the food, I found it unreasonable. They are working for him as hard as they can and all he does is sit in his office and he can't even give them a discount on food.
The funniest part of the story to me was when Peter got a phone call from son of the president of Muji Teachers College who wanted to have his wedding feast at the restaurant. He said, "he wanted something exotic for their wedding dinner, so he picked Cowboy Chicken."(page 199). I think this would be the last place I would call exotic. I don't see who would want to have their wedding dinner at a fried chicken restaurant. This just shows a change in how our cultures work. Somethings we see as being not so great and amazing in their eyes.
The situation of the boss taking the younger girls on dates soon comes up again. Juju tells her co-workers that their boss has "gotten fresh with her the previous night"(page 206). She goes on to say, "He had grasped her wrist and called her "Honey""(page 206). which shows how uncomfortable the girl was with the older man. I feel in our society today this would have not been such a huge ordeal. When the guys are telling her she should report it to the police when clearly the boss didn't even do anything to serious and had also been drinking. This shows another difference in the American and Chinese culture. Although if was wrong of him to grab her wrist she should not feel the need to report it to the cops.
The section of the story when it talked about burning the leftover chicken also struck me as a little ridiculous. The leftovers should not just be burned but possibly given to those who are needy or even given away to the fellow workers. This method of burning the chicken is showing them being wasteful. There are many people in the world who are starving and here they are just burning perfectly good food that could go to those who need it. Americans are seen as being wasteful which in some aspects is very true. In the last part of the story I was able to see another time of the cultures clashing. When Mr. Shapiro thinks the workers' are going to bomb the restaurant this is a clear misunderstanding between the two cultures. The American boss misinterprets what is being done and should not fall to this type of conclusion.

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