Who's Irish

''Who's Irish?'' is a short story collection written on June 4, 1999 by Gish Jen.Jamie James
"'Who's Irish?': In her first collection of stories, Chinese-American novelist Gish Jen turns stereotypes on their heads."
''Salon'', June 4, 1999. It is also the name of one of the stories in the collection.

"Who's Irish?" is a about an elderly Chinese woman navigating cultural differences within her mixed family in New York. Her granddaughter, Sophie, exhibits wild behavior that the narrator attributes to her Irish heritage. The climax occurs when Sophie kicks another child's mother and the narrator spanks her in response. Later, the narrator pokes Sophie with a stick to check if she's alive, leading to conflict with Sophie's parents. Eventually, the narrator moves in with her Irish in-laws, becoming an honorary Irish and hoping for reconciliation with her family.

Plot summary

The short story "Who's Irish?" is about an elderly Chinese woman and her mixed family living in New York. She begins talking about her granddaughter, Sophie, who is the daughter of John, who is Irish, and the narrator's daughter Natalie who is Chinese. The narrator tells of how wild her granddaughter is and makes various cultural distinctions calling Sophie "wild" and saying "millions of children in China, not one act like this." (Jen, 400). She also writes that her methods of discipline are not exactly embraced by her Irish son-in-law's family. The narrator argues that spanking is acceptable while her daughter encourages her to use her words (Jen, 401)

The main climax of the story takes place when the narrator takes Sophie to play in the park. Sophie learns from another kid, Sinbad, that it is ok to kick their parents. So Sophie kicks Sinbad's mother to which the narrator responds by spanking Sophie. Sophie then hides in a foxhole that Sinbad created and throws a clump of dirt onto her grandmother. The narrator is furious and tries to get Sophie to come out of the foxhole. She eventually grabs a stick and begins to poke at Sophie to see if she is still alive. Evening comes, as well as Natalie and John who are furious when they see the narrator poking at their daughter with a stick. John gets Sophie out but she is covered in bruises.

At the end of the story, Natalie convinces the narrator that she needs to move out. Bess, John's Mother, offers to let the narrator come stay with her. Natalie and John come and visit but they do not bring Sophie. Bess says they will in time. The story ends with the narrator reflecting on how she has become an honorary Irish.

References

{{Reflist

*Jen, Gish. "Who's Irish?." The Story and Its Writer. Ed. Ann Charters. Compact 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 394-402. Print.
*Women's Review of Books Feb2002, Vol. 19 Issue 5, p13

American short story collections
Asian-American short story collections
1999 short story collections
Books by Gish Jen
Alfred A. Knopf books