Rhetorical Analysis
In this memoir, I wrote about a personal experience of mine to show the differences between northern and southern China. I used three scenes to depict a dinner between two families, one from the north and one from the south.
From definition, we know that a memoir is a reflection on a past experience that has a profound effect on the writer. Although I could not demonstrate my emotions adequately in the play, when I actually experienced the situation, it was quite impactful. This script I wrote counts as a memoir because it has a significant meaning to me. It shows my learning process about cultural differences. Because of this dinner, I realized how much I appreciated cultural differences.
This play is based on a personal experience that happened when I was in primary school. My father’s friend in business and his family came to Guangzhou, an important southern Chinese city, to visit him. In order to welcome his friend, my father set up a dinner in a very traditional Cantonese restaurant between two families. My father, “Victor” in the play, had lived in southern China for all his life at that time. My mother came to the South right after graduating from university. I was born and raised in Guangzhou. Therefore, all the lifestyles and languages for our family were quite “southern”. On the contrary, my father’s friend Richard’s family is a symbol of the people from northern China in many ways. During the dinner, many cultural differences were presented. At first, we got a little confused about it, but later through conversation, we all began to understand and find the cultural differences quite interesting. In the end, we even tried to experience each other’s different dining style.
I think that my script is a memoir because a memoir is supposed to evoke emotions and should be quite descriptive. In my memoir, I used words like “laughing”, “smile” to set a tone of two families having a harmonious dinner together. Also, I used some words like “confused”, “puzzled” to describe when Jerry and David found out the cultural differences that were new to them. I wanted to evoke the feelings of the readers when they read it. What is more, a memoir should be descriptive. In my script of the play I tried to be as descriptive as I could. I described the parking lot and also the lobby of the restaurant in detail. I want my readers to get a feeling that they are there when they read.
This past event really had a great impact on me. Before that night, I was just a little boy who had lived in southern China for all my life. I thought that all the people in China were the same. They used the same language. They behaved in the same way and their living styles should also have no differences. In this dinner, it really shocked me at first to know that people from other parts of China have such different manners and lifestyles from ours. However, later, after I learned the reasons behind the differences, I began to get attracted by it and wanted to experience the differences on my own. That dinner really impacted me a lot in this way. Since then, every time I see cultural differences or diversity around me I think of that night. I begin to understand, accept and want to know more about them. For example, when I came to America from China for college, I was very willing to understand the cultural differences between China and America. I was quite open to the diversity around me. I think that it is greatly due to the beauty of cultural differences I felt at the dinner when I was a little boy in primary school.
That dinner really represented my process of learning the cultural differences. It is a past event that is really important to me and impacts me a lot. Thus, I think that if the short play is based on this dinner, it can definitely count as a memoir.
Because the dinner that night had such a powerful effect in my life, the place where the dinner happened, the restaurant, also became very important and quite special to me. I think that the reason why it became that special is because of the dinner. It is the experience I had in this restaurant that makes it important. Every time I think of the dinner, I will think of the restaurant. We really had a great time there at that night. That location is no longer a simple space to me. It has become a special place to me. Talking about this, I think that it really solidifies the point that Yi-Fu Tuan holds in his writing about space and place. In his writing, Tuan holds the idea that it is our personal experience or self-interaction with a place that makes a space a place. He holds the belief that places are somewhere on which we put a lot of our own emotions (Tuan 8).
I think that Tuan’s idea on that is quite true. If our families had not had dinner in the restaurant that night… if the dinner experience we had had not been that special, the restaurant would not be that unique. The personal interaction and experiences with the restaurant really give it a special meaning and make it an important place. Right now, David has become a very good friend of mine; sometimes when we chat online, we talk about that wonderful dinner we had when we met for the first time. We usually talk about the cultural differences we learn that night. Most of the time, when we think of it, we think of the restaurant. Last summer, when I got back to China from America. I invited David to come to Guangzhou for a visit. We went to that restaurant twice during his stay in Guangzhou, even though the food may not be as good as the food of some other restaurants in Guangzhou. If we did not have that great dinner experience, the restaurant would be just a simple space where we can have meals; however, it is now a quite important place to us.
In conclusion, the script of the short play should be considered a memoir because of the sentimental characteristics it has. The event that happened in the restaurant still influences my outlook on the world. That experience can also be easily related to Tuan’s idea on space and place that we have learned so far in this semester.
Works Cited
Tuan, Yi-Fu. “The Perspective of Experience.” Space and Place. 3-18. Print.
From definition, we know that a memoir is a reflection on a past experience that has a profound effect on the writer. Although I could not demonstrate my emotions adequately in the play, when I actually experienced the situation, it was quite impactful. This script I wrote counts as a memoir because it has a significant meaning to me. It shows my learning process about cultural differences. Because of this dinner, I realized how much I appreciated cultural differences.
This play is based on a personal experience that happened when I was in primary school. My father’s friend in business and his family came to Guangzhou, an important southern Chinese city, to visit him. In order to welcome his friend, my father set up a dinner in a very traditional Cantonese restaurant between two families. My father, “Victor” in the play, had lived in southern China for all his life at that time. My mother came to the South right after graduating from university. I was born and raised in Guangzhou. Therefore, all the lifestyles and languages for our family were quite “southern”. On the contrary, my father’s friend Richard’s family is a symbol of the people from northern China in many ways. During the dinner, many cultural differences were presented. At first, we got a little confused about it, but later through conversation, we all began to understand and find the cultural differences quite interesting. In the end, we even tried to experience each other’s different dining style.
I think that my script is a memoir because a memoir is supposed to evoke emotions and should be quite descriptive. In my memoir, I used words like “laughing”, “smile” to set a tone of two families having a harmonious dinner together. Also, I used some words like “confused”, “puzzled” to describe when Jerry and David found out the cultural differences that were new to them. I wanted to evoke the feelings of the readers when they read it. What is more, a memoir should be descriptive. In my script of the play I tried to be as descriptive as I could. I described the parking lot and also the lobby of the restaurant in detail. I want my readers to get a feeling that they are there when they read.
This past event really had a great impact on me. Before that night, I was just a little boy who had lived in southern China for all my life. I thought that all the people in China were the same. They used the same language. They behaved in the same way and their living styles should also have no differences. In this dinner, it really shocked me at first to know that people from other parts of China have such different manners and lifestyles from ours. However, later, after I learned the reasons behind the differences, I began to get attracted by it and wanted to experience the differences on my own. That dinner really impacted me a lot in this way. Since then, every time I see cultural differences or diversity around me I think of that night. I begin to understand, accept and want to know more about them. For example, when I came to America from China for college, I was very willing to understand the cultural differences between China and America. I was quite open to the diversity around me. I think that it is greatly due to the beauty of cultural differences I felt at the dinner when I was a little boy in primary school.
That dinner really represented my process of learning the cultural differences. It is a past event that is really important to me and impacts me a lot. Thus, I think that if the short play is based on this dinner, it can definitely count as a memoir.
Because the dinner that night had such a powerful effect in my life, the place where the dinner happened, the restaurant, also became very important and quite special to me. I think that the reason why it became that special is because of the dinner. It is the experience I had in this restaurant that makes it important. Every time I think of the dinner, I will think of the restaurant. We really had a great time there at that night. That location is no longer a simple space to me. It has become a special place to me. Talking about this, I think that it really solidifies the point that Yi-Fu Tuan holds in his writing about space and place. In his writing, Tuan holds the idea that it is our personal experience or self-interaction with a place that makes a space a place. He holds the belief that places are somewhere on which we put a lot of our own emotions (Tuan 8).
I think that Tuan’s idea on that is quite true. If our families had not had dinner in the restaurant that night… if the dinner experience we had had not been that special, the restaurant would not be that unique. The personal interaction and experiences with the restaurant really give it a special meaning and make it an important place. Right now, David has become a very good friend of mine; sometimes when we chat online, we talk about that wonderful dinner we had when we met for the first time. We usually talk about the cultural differences we learn that night. Most of the time, when we think of it, we think of the restaurant. Last summer, when I got back to China from America. I invited David to come to Guangzhou for a visit. We went to that restaurant twice during his stay in Guangzhou, even though the food may not be as good as the food of some other restaurants in Guangzhou. If we did not have that great dinner experience, the restaurant would be just a simple space where we can have meals; however, it is now a quite important place to us.
In conclusion, the script of the short play should be considered a memoir because of the sentimental characteristics it has. The event that happened in the restaurant still influences my outlook on the world. That experience can also be easily related to Tuan’s idea on space and place that we have learned so far in this semester.
Works Cited
Tuan, Yi-Fu. “The Perspective of Experience.” Space and Place. 3-18. Print.