Similarities and Differences of Douglass and Ping's Works

It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master" (Douglass, p. 36).

We see that Seaweed's family to a fault tries to keep her from maturation an identity outside of the roles and boundaries they feel atomic number 18 suitable for a Chinese girl. She has a mean spirited mother and her sisters ar much more beautiful than her. Her mother constantly diminishes her sand of self worth and Seaweed describes her as accusatory with eyes that "?were desire a shiny kitchen knife that could chop me into shredded pork barrel at any moment" (Ping, p. 11). Seaweed is con essential to Douglass in that she has the heroism to overcome her tyrannous environment and she is willing to sacrifice interchangeable Douglass did in order to achieve success for herself. Along these lines, she has the courageousness to leave her family and live in a small contaminating village for devil years so she has the opportunity to make headway herself. Both Seaweed and Douglass develop a great sense of self worth and identity by means of such qualities as courage and self-sacrifice. Short of food, Douglass (p. 40) is willing to provide bread to the white children in his town so they can help him learn to read, "As many of them as I could, I converted into teachers. With their sympathetic aid, obtained at different times and in different places, I finally succeeded in learni

Seaweed faces similar degrees of joy as she becomes more liberated and delves deeper into an exploration of her identity away from the rigid confines of her family and Chinese culture. Seaweed's experiences span two cultures and include the repressive and sexist environment of Maoist mainland China as well as her experiences as a nonage in American culture. We see how women in China are often confined to rigid roles and norms of behavior, including everything from surgical procedures to prevent the natural processes of the body (sweating) and foot binding (to make them more taking to males). In contrast to Douglass' experiences, we see that the oppressors in Ping's tales of Seaweed include family relations.

We also see how Seaweed must emerge as a essay writer with an identity of her own fashioning, after years of lifespan a life as a Navy little terror and struggling to become politically correct enough to strain admission to school. As Chua (p. 595) says in her review of American Visa, interchangeable Douglass' Narrative the narratives of Seaweed demonstrate individuation through hope and endurance in the face of daunting circumstances: "The stories have the reverberate of authenticity about them, and they bespeak a finely tuned aesthesia alert to the pains and pleasures of existence, the ironies and tragedies of mere living and hoping."

The paper became my centre of attention and drink. My soul was set on fire. Its sympathy for my brethren in bonds-its critical denunciations of slaveholders-its faithful exposures of slavery-and its powerful attacks upon the upholders of the institution-sent a thrill of joy through my soul, such as I had never felt in the first place! (p. 114).

Chua, C. L. "Reviews." Studies in Short Fiction, 33(4), Fall 1996, pp. 595-596.

Another similarity amongst the development of Seaweed and Douglass is that both must eventually leave their oppressive environments in order to fully develop. This happens to Douglass as he travels and gains greater exposure than his repressive en
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