Journal 24: Sui Sin Far

Michelle Romero
Eng. 48b
Dr. Scott Lankford

When the neighbor is talking about all Americans being part of a royal class, Mr. Spring Fragrance challenges....

"'What about my brother in the Detention Pen?' dryly inquired Mr. Spring Fragrance.
'Now, you've got me,' said the young man, rubbing his head. 'Well, that is a shame--a beastly shame, as the Englishman says. But understand, old fellow, we that are real Americans are up against that--even more than you. It is against our principles.'"

"Mrs. Spring Fragrance" is filled with themes of principles/theories vs. realities, even down to the very misperceptions her husband has toward her reasons for being in San Francisco.

Everything on the surface is being challenged by what we the reader, knows is really happening and really not happening.

In this case, the nonchalant dialogue of Mr. Spring Fragrance's American friend tells me that he really doesn't understand what he is going through and how he feels about the wrongs being done to his brother, for one. Here is the image of a young, brawny American college student on the horizon of a bright future and then on the other side of the fence (literally) is his Chinese immigrant counterpart who is suffering losses unnoticed on the surface of his day to day life. The one cannot possibly relate to the other, not on any deep level anyway.

It is also profound that the American student can so easily dismiss a real cruelty as being of no importance considering it is against American principles. It is as though, as long as Americans acknowledge in writing or in speech the rights of human beings, the actions taken by the government are of no consequence. This really speaks to the power of denial. BIG TIME!

At other times in history, the same false images have been used to make Americans feel better about very serious, very real oppression and discrimination. One example is the Holocaust, another is Vietnam, and yet another is today's war in Iraq. Then of course we can't forget the realities of Zitkala Sa's own experiences as a poor Indian whose tribal problems went unacknowledged at satisfaction of visitors who only ventured as far as the wall of honor in student halls.

The more I read into the language and sarcasm of Sui Sin Far's story, I think she is almost laughing at the stupidity of Americans who trick themselves against seeing what is real. I say almost, because I think that she can not come to complete laughter when it is for such a ridiculous reason that her people have suffered so greatly.