Journal 32: Sin Far

Quote:

“‘This is the law,’ said he… “and ‘twill be but for a little while—until tomorrow’s sun arises”/“You, too,” reproached Lae Choo in a voice eloquent with pain, But accustomed to obedience she yielded the boy to her husband, who in turn delivered him to the first officer” (Sin Far 881)

Summary:

This quote from the story “In the Land of the Free” of Sui Sin Far happens at the beginning of the story, when Lae Choo comes back to America with Hom Hing’s child. At this moment the officers who control the entrance of people to San Francisco tell Hom Hing that the child cannot go with them because he has no papers. At this point Lae Choo refuses to let her child go, but in the end the officers take him away.

Response:

When I read this passage I really imagined a very helpless Lae Choo, it is like she was not even considered in the moment when the decision was made. She was supposed to be obedient, even if it was her child that they were taking away. When Hom Hing says “this is the law” he is resigning to his child, because there is nothing he can do about it. Maybe the officers told him that if he didn’t give the child away, his business was going to be in jeopardy, because as we saw in class the Chinese Act was passed in 1892, so anything Hom Hing did against the American law would put him and his wife in danger.

Furthermore, it is interesting how the gender roles are portrayed. The officers only talk to the father of the child and they see the wife as nothing but a burden, which is why when she takes the baby away and says that she is not going to give him away, all the officers do is talk to the husband. Thus, they are taking away all the importance the mother can have. Plus, like it is said in the passage she was “accustomed to obedience” so she had to follow the orders, she has no authority at all, which is perfectly accurate to the time the story took place.

I think Sin Far wants to portray the cruelty with which Chinese immigrants were treated during this time, and what worse cruelty that taking a baby away for his parents, just for the reason that he had “no papers”. And the way Sin Far portrays the mother, when the mother says “you too” it is like she is making the husband part of the American people, part of the injustice. Sin Far in these few lines made me understand the social, political and racist injustices made to Chinese immigrants.