Amy Tan was born in California, but both of her parents were Chinese immigrants. By the time Amy was fifteen years old she had already lost both her father and older brother to brain tumors. It was then that Amy's mother moved her and her younger brother to Switzerland. Growing up Amy did not always see eye to eye with her mother. She was always ashamed of her mothers English (or lack there of). For whatever reason it made her think less of her mother. She hated that people did not take her mother seriously. It took many, many years before she was finally able to accept her mother for who she was. Eventually, not only did she accept her, she actually valued her opinion.
             I think that Amy's personal background plays a very important role in her writing. "A Pair of Tickets" is told from the point of view of Jing-Mei, who also happens to be the protagonist in the story. Throughout the story we move back and forth between past and present as Jing-Mei attempts to learn more about her Chinese culture as well as her mothers past. I think that having the setting of the story take place in China helps it all to become more realistic for the people reading it. We struggle with Jing-Mei as she searches through her mothers past and tries to become more in touch with her Chinese roots and the different parts of her past.
             The theme of the story identifies that Jing-Mei's identity grew stronger as she surrounded herself near the roots of her upbringing. She never knew her Chinese identity to go beneath the surface. She was five foot six, which was much taller than the norm for China. He Caucasian friends also said "she was about as Chinese as they were". (Tan 152) Jing-Mei was never able to understand the roots of her culture as a child; not because her parents didn't try to teach it to her, but because it was not part of the surroundings were she was brought up. I think that as soon as...