Description:
The monument is located in the south entrance of the New England Medical Center on Boston's MBTA Orange Line. Once one descends the stairs, the monument hangs from the wall to the immediate right before entering the gates to pay the Orange Line fee. The text is carved on three granite tablets. The text is clearly visible and has not aged or tarnished.
About the Author:
Gish Jen was born in Scarsdale, New York in 1955. A second generation American, Jen obtained a degree in English at Harvard University in 1977 with cum laude honors. Her first name "Gish" is actually a pseudonym that she created after a silent-screen actress of the same name. Her real name is Lillian. Several of Jen's works are published in The New Yorker, The New Republic, The New York Times, and an anthology entitled The Best American Short Stories of the Century. She has published two novels: Typical American (1991) and Mona in the Promised Land (1996) and a collection of short stories, Who's Irish? (1999). She currently resides in Cambridge and is married with two children.
Response:
Jen tells the story of a girl coming of age and the customs she must endure and accept as a young lady in China in 1948. The unnamed girl has to battle with her tall height, "jiggling" gait, big feet, and lack of interest in being domestic and obedient. She has these problems because she lacks the normal qualities of Chinese women at that time. Soon thereafter, she becomes engaged to the "Son of a Shanghai Banker's Son" who wants to see her before he agrees to marry her. She is scheduled to meet him in a park, where she gives the painful account of waiting to be recognized to him. She later finds, after waiting for him in distress, that he was never actually at the park to see her and has run off with one of his father's concubines instead. She is then sent off to live with her aunt in Shanghai just as China begins to see the onset of Communism.
After reading the short story for the first time, I thought it was very odd to place it in a T stop for a few reasons. As it is a rather sad story, I could not understand how it could possibly "enhance the beauty" of Boston's Orange Line. After some research I now understand that Boston's Chinatown is located right next to the New England Medical Center stop; I can see how this story is provided with some context due to the local Chinese population.
By William Benjamin
