“Everyone Talked Loudly In Chinatown” is a short story by Anne Jew, a Chinese Canadian writer. It’s about a Chinese girl who’s balancing the traditional Chinese influence of home of her parents and grandmother with the Western influence of school and the community. Here’s a summary of “Everyone Talked Loudly In Chinatown”.
“Everyone Talked Loudly In Chinatown” Summary
The narrator has been walking home from school lately with Todd. He’s good-looking and the girls always watch them walking down the hall together. He talks a lot about the things he likes. She’s not really interested, but she gets a special feeling when he looks at her. They walk together only to the beginning of her block, so her mother won’t see him.
It’s October but it’s not cold yet. The narrator’s father credits this to there being two Junes in the Chinese calendar this year, which he says is superior to the Western calendar.
At home, the narrator gets a snack and watches The Brady Bunch with her brother, and daydreams about Todd. Her mother has prepared dinner for the grandmother, and it’s her turn to take it in and feed her.
Her grandmother is dying and spends her time in bed. She used to watch The Roadrunner and The Beverly Hillbillies, even though she could only follow the movements. She looks very old and her true age is uncertain.
Her mother takes care of the harder tasks of bathing her and changing the sheets. She hates her mother-in-law, who treated her like a slave after marrying her son.
The narrator hates feeding her grandmother. It’s like feeding a baby, and she’s disgusted by it. She feels guilty about it and over not wanting to spend more time with her. It bothers her that their roles have reversed.
Her grandmother used to take her to Chinatown every weekend. She’d have a snack at a pastry shop while the adults gossiped. She’d call the proprietors “Uncle” and “Auntie”. They would comment on her cuteness, and that she didn’t really look Chinese. The customers, mostly short Chinese women, would yell their orders and yell at their energetic kids. Grandmother was popular in Chinatown, and had loud, animated conversations with many people.
When the narrator got a bit older, she stopped going to Chinatown with her grandmother. She started playing with friends who weren’t Chinese and who were quiet and orderly. Her mother is suspicious of other cultures. The narrator finishes feeding her grandmother the soup and rice and goes to have her own dinner.
The next day, Todd asks her to go to a movie. She tells her parents she’s going with a girl. Todd pays and they sit in the back. Halfway through, he initiates a kiss, which is long and awkward. He takes her hand when they leave the theater. The narrator is falling in love.
Todd walks her all the way home. They sit in the dark carport and kiss for a while. They’re startled when a car’s headlights shine in on them. They run to the front of the house and Todd leaves. She goes inside after some indecision.
Her mother screams at her for going out with a white boy. Her father angrily slaps her in the face. She reflexively slaps him back and he’s stunned. She runs to her room. No one follows her and she cries when all the lights go out. Hours later she wakes up with the moonlight shining into her room. Everything looks peaceful; the commotion of the evening feels far away.
She creeps down to her grandmother’s room. It’s dark and silent. She draws the curtains to get some moonlight. Grandmother’s face is cool to the touch and looks ghostly in the shadows. She has no pulse. The girl takes her grandmother’s hand, kneels by the bed, and rests her head against her until she falls asleep.
I hope this summary of “Everyone Talked Loudly In Chinatown” by Anne Jew was helpful. If you want a print copy of the story, it can be found in the anthology Many-Mouthed Birds (Amazon).