really loved this reading. The vividness of the descriptions, the rawness of Fae’s diction, all made A Red Sweater come alive for me.
At the end of the passage, Fae brings to life the common Chinese discussion of filial piety, “Our parents forced themselves to live through the humiliation in this country so that we could have it better.” (368) In my experience, first generation Chinese children feed off of the tales of “the deformed man,” “the forgotten man,” weave it into the silk cocoon of the hard work, the endurance that they owe their parents. For those of us with parents who immigrated from China, tales of rivers running red with blood were as much a part of life as the steam that rises from fresh ta siu bao (barbeque pork buns).