Home v. Immigrated Country

In chapter 12 of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, it caught my interest when Charles Yu described the difference in worldly perspective of the people in his father’s home country in comparison to how his father viewed the world. Describing the country as “a different part of the planet, really, a different time” (70), Yu explains how the people of this country had no interest in the inventions of advanced technology, that “the technology of the day was enough, the technology of the sunrise and sunset, the week of work and rest in cycles, in rhythm, sixteen hours of hard rice-farming labor, the remainder of the time in a day left for eating and sleeping, the seasons, the years passing by, each one a perfect machine” (70).

I found this passage to be interesting because it describes a seemingly different world altogether to the world that Yu lives in, when in reality, it’s just a difference in culture. The culture of the homeland that Yu’s father originated from appears to be based in a particular (possibly centuries-old) history and a reliance on the sun to guide them in their daily work. Chances are, as a result of this reliance on nature rather than machines, there are some that might see their actions as fruitless labor (read: work for the lower class) due to it being involved in agriculture rather than a type of science. To be honest, I believe this is how Yu’s father viewed the farmers as well: poor and simple.

I say this because of his aversion towards being questioned about their lack of wealth by his son (“Dad, are we poor?” (74) and how he works very hard to be recognized by his company for the efforts he make, and how he usually ends up bitterly disappointed by his managers’ tendencies to still not acknowledge him. In some ways, he reminds me of Bobby from Tropic of Orange in how much he works to escape from the former ties of his country and how he desires to work independently, but in other ways he is dissimilar since he does have dreams beyond raising his family’s socioeconomic status.

All in all, it’s interesting to see the mindset of those who immigrate to a place they deem a “land of opportunity” and how they work to overcome the barriers set in place against them.