Explain the story "Who's Irish?" by Gish Jen.

 “Who’s Irish?” by Gish Jen speaks to the cultural
differences in generations particularly in immigrant families.  The story displays the
differences in perception and understanding between an elderly mother and her more
modern, ambitious
daughter.  

Setting

The
setting is a large urban city in the 1990s.  Most of the story takes place in the park
or the home of the
daughter.

 Narration

The
narration is first person point of view with the elderly mother as the narrator. 
Speaking in chopped English, the mother is eager to communicate the events surrounding
her daughter, her granddaughter, Sophie, and her
son-in-law.

 Summary

The
crux of the story is the elderly mother [68 years old] who baby sits her granddaughter
Sophie.  Her daughter is an executive in a bank, and her husband is between jobs, as
usual.  He does get a job as an insurance salesman which does not last long. The husband
refuses to babysit his daughter since he is a man.

The
mother is none too happy to have to face the day-in-day-out responsibility for the
child.  But as she says: “I try.” She does not understand anyone in her family nor does
she agree with most of what they do.

The raising of her
granddaughter causes the most frustration.  The parents do not discipline their
daughter.  They talk to her. This brings conflict between the grandmother and her
daughter. The mother struggles while the two women argue and eventually have little
involvement in each other’s lives.

The grandmother is
typical of first generation Chinese women who have difficulty understanding their
children who have born in America.  As the story progresses, the mother becomes more
open-minded.  She is witty and clever, and can be very
fierce. 

The narrator does not to compromise herself or her
principles of child-rearing.  She does not understand why her daughter does not make
Sophie mind.  What was fine for her should be fine for her daughter.
 

 Even though she has been told not to spank the
granddaughter, she eventually does.  Then Sophie begins to mind.  Before she begins to
spank her, the granddaughter absolutely refuses to mind
her.

My
daughter is fierce like me, but she and John think it is better to explain to Sophie
that clothes are a good idea.  This is not so hard in the cold weather.  In the warm
weather it is very hard.  Still Sophie takes off her clothes until one day I spank her. 
Not too hard, but I tell her to put on her clothes, and she
does.

 Events come to a
crisis when the willful Sophie defies her grandmother, hiding from her in a playground
foxhole. The child's parents are horrified by what looks to them like child abuse when
the mother pokes a stick in the hole trying to get the little girl to come out of the
hole.  The mother must move out. Says the daughter, "I have a young daughter and a
depressed husband and no one to turn to.”

As the story
closes, the mother is living with John’s mother Bess, a woman whom she admires. Bess
designates the narrator as “honorary Irish.” By accepting the designation, the narrator
demonstrates a newly discovered comfort level with others and a contentment that eluded
her while she lived with her daughter. 

Previously, the
mother would have found the designation insulting.  Now she delights in it, which
reflects her acceptance of that which is different, including not just the Sheas, but
her granddaughter with whom her relationship begins to prosper.