"Right there was the divide between the old world and the new." Hop Dac
Once immigrants arrive their battles are not over. There is still the challenge of finding work, making a living and supporting you and your family in a strange land. The tales of migrant efforts to survive thrive, and what their children learn from these form the core of this section.
Use one story from Battlers to answer the following questions
1. Discuss the notions of humiliation, honour and the need to survive. Do you lower yourself if you work at menial tasks in order to help your family?What does this have to say about those who do not take "any job" in order to work?
Lily Chan (author and narriator) has the eldest child responsibility of managing the cash float in her family's business. She explains that her homeworks is what helps her "pass the time". She does not enjoy working in the takeaway shop; for her, it is borning and repetitiive. However she still works diligentally because she understands (as she describes the regular customers as "the bread and butter" of the business) that the working of the takeaway shop is vital to her family.
Though the text does not directally talk about people who do not take "any job" in order to work, it implies that other people who choose not to take any job, do not have the same obglititaion to their family and Lily does. This may be because their family does not need them to work (as Lily must) or because that this other person may not have the same loyality to their family as Lily does.
2. What sense of resourcefulness does the text give you? What do you have to do to belong and thrive in a new land?
Lily Chan describes their connection to the other Laus (another chineese family) as one that allows them to keep their Chinese traditions alive. Together they celebrate "events on the Chinese calendar" and have get-togethers because within their "small, prejudiced town, all we [both families] had was each other". This gives the reader insight to the community they live in, that their previous traditions are not embraced in their small town. In order to belong and thrive, for the community, Lily's family runs the towns Chinese Takeaways shop and for their own heritage, they keep close company with the other Chinese family. This allows them to belong to their community for they are able to experience the "new land" whist keeping their previous traditions.
3. Make a list of the challenges faced in this section and the emotions they invoke in the participants. Why do they go on trying?
The main challange for Lily Chan in Take me away please is that she is bored living and working in the takeaway shop. Though she expresses her want "to get out of this town very badly" she carries on trying because she is loyal to her family and understands that this is their life and their business.
4. What journey is being represented in the story? Use evidence from the text to support your discussion.
Take me away please is representing the unfinished migrant journey. Lily Chan expresses her "dread" for the four o'clock opening of her familys local takeaway shop, as she explains "getting to work wans't and issue, but getting away was". Early on in the text she describes her want to "get out of this town" and through further reading, this is likely due to her feeling bored within her environment. Her dull tone when explaining the events, such as, "The phone rang. Ah, Bodybuilder Man, on time as usual" expresses the boredom she has working in the takeaway shop which is vital to "every quintessential Australian town".
5. What attitudes and beliefs does the main character have (what do they think is important)? Why do they think this way? Use evidence front the text to support your descussion.
Lily Chan's attitudes towards her life is that she does not enjoy it, it is not hard but she does not want to be there. However as she explains that the regular customers are the "bread and butter" for her familyies business, this conveys to the reader that her attitude also reflects loyalty to her family, and her value in what keeps their business running.
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