“Mrs. Spring Fragrance”
Mrs. Spring Fragrance’s letters are a pointer of her prowess and clear-cut Americanization. In her letter to Laura, she articulately appeals to Pathos: “The Son of the Illustrious Teacher, having been through an American Hall of Learning, is well able to provide for his orphan bride and fears not the displeasure of his parents, now that he is assured that your grief at his loss will not be inconsolable. He wishes me to waft to you and to Kai Tzu—and the little Ah Oi joins with him—ten thousand rainbow wishes for your happiness.” The ornate letter is engaging for it somewhat accomplishes Laura’s wish to be with Kai Tzu. The sentence structure designates that Mrs. Spring Fragrance is articulate in written communiqué. Through the letter, it is palpable that Mrs. Spring approves Laura’s explicit cheerfulness.
Similarly, in her letter to Mr. Spring fragrance, Mrs. Spring fragrance asserts her expertise through the solicitation of figurative language and evocative diction: “Greeting from your plum blossom, who is desirous of hiding herself from the sun of your presence for a week of seven days more….There is much feasting and merry-making under the lanterns in honor of your Stupid Thorn... Awaiting, by the wonderful wire of the telegram message, your gracious permission to remain for the celebration of the Fifth Moon Festival and the making of American “fudge,” I continue for ten thousand times ten thousand years, Your ever loving and obedient woman.” The amalgamation of epistles in “Mrs. Spring Fragrance” is contributory in her unqualified characterization. Mrs. Spring’s Americanization does not obstruct the association with her spouse. She reverences her husband as a traditional Chinese wife would for she seeks his endorsement to spend more time for the ‘Fifth Moon festival’. Clearly, Americanization is not tantamount to disassembling one’s identity and core ethics. Mrs. Spring Fragrance demonstrates, through her epistles, that constructive Chinese and American values can cohabit without gratuitous clashes.
“Its Wavering Image”
The barefaced binary in “Its Wavering Image” is ‘Whiteness versus Chinese’ binary. Mark sanctions white pre-eminence whereas Pan exemplifies Chinese potency: “Mark Carson felt strangely chilled. Pan was not herself tonight. She did not even look herself. He had been accustomed to seeing her in American dress. Tonight she wore the Chinese costume. But for her clear-cut features she might have been a Chinese girl. He shivered. "Pan," he asked, "why do you wear that dress?" "Because I am a Chinese woman," she answered." You are not," cried Mark Carson, fiercely. "You cannot say that now, Pan. You are a white woman — white. Did your kiss not promise me that?" Mark is representative of the media entities which champion the conception of white supremacy because he is a reporter. He uses Pan as his sampling of the white superiority so that he can transcribe a captivating article. His attempts to influence Pans when presents her with the Chinese or White preferences so that Pan can select one over the other.
Pan transcends the identity predicament of being biracial: “Pan was very proud of her Chinese father. "I would rather have a Chinese for a father than a white man," she often told Mark Carson. The last time she had said that he had asked whom she would prefer for a husband, a white man or a Chinese.” If Pan were not mentally sturdy she would have with no trouble succumbed to Mark’s pressure to cherry-pick whiteness. Retaining white blood does not persuade her to betray her father’s blood.
