Birds of a Feather

Regina Connelly
Ankney, Rachel, ENG 112/D16
September 8, 2003
Fiction Paper 1
Birds of a Feather

Gish Jen’s “Who’s Irish?” is full of symbolism, allowing the reader the ability to find many levels of depth in this story. Jen uses a first person narrator to tell of the struggle to understand and live in a completely different culture. There are four pieces of symbolism that assist in the interpretation of this story: Sophie, Sophie’s clothes, spanking, the birdfeeder.
Jen begins with her largest piece of symbolism, the granddaughter, Sophie. Sophie is the joining of two cultures, with her mother being Chinese and her father being Irish. Jen mentions these two ethnicities coming together, and meeting in the middle, with the transcontinental railroad, solidifying Sophie’s role. “I always thought Irish people are like Chinese people, work so hard on the railroad…” (179).
Sophie forces the narrator to find a way to accept her daughter’s choice in ...