Department of English

Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

 

What Means Switch

(1990)

 

Gish Jen

(1955 – )

 

Notes


?  Scarsdale: well-to-do town north of New York City


?  Yonkers: densely populated multicultural city northwest of New York City


?  the burning bush: 


?  bar and bas mitzvahs:


?  seder: 


?  schmaltz: sentimental or sappy thing or behavior; literally "rendered chicken fat" in Yiddish


?  goy: non-Jewish person in Yiddish


?  Paul Newman: 


174  oy: interjection usually expressing annoyance, impatience, or resignation



 

 


Quotes


I do think that it's unfortunate that all the Austen novels end in marriage, but to me, they still show us what the power of the novel can be. I think that many people lived by those books.

They showed us how to live they were moral books. Which is what fiction is for, it seems to me. I know this is probably not the most critically sophisticated view but I'm not so interested in experimental writing unless it speaks to the limits of human knowledge, say—unless its concern is more human than formal. And of course, included in the category of books that show us how to live are books that show us how we do live. Those are moral too: they contrast the human chaos with some notion of civilization, even if it's implied. (Matsukawa 113)


 

 

Study Questions

  • How do the conversations between the narrator and Sherman change throughout the story?

  • When people drive into the Chang's front lawn and ask to use the telephone, Mrs. Chang says "'Of course,'...like it's no big deal, we can replant. We're the type to adjust" (1109). What does "adjust" mean? What is expected or required in adjustment? How are characters marked or described differently by it? How is it similar to or different from the "adjusting" at the end of the story that involves contemplating and perhaps building a brick wall? How does "adjustment" position characters or groups in relation to each other? How does it structure the dynamics between characters or groups?


  •















            

 

 

Review Sheet

Characters

Mona Chang – the narrator; in eighth grade; "monk brown" hair;

Callie Chang – the narrator's older sister

Mrs. Chang – the narrator's mother
Barbara Gugelstein –
Danielle Meyers –
Amy Weinstein –
Andy Kaplan – "Barbara's crush"
Mrs. Mandeville – the narrator's homeroom teacher in high school;
Sherman Matsumoto – the new Japanese boy at the school; "pretty-boy. Monsignor-black hair...bouncy. Crayola eyebrows...his skin looks white to me, with pink triangles hand down the front of his cheeks like flags. Kind of delicate-looking...his spiral notebook has a picture of a kitty cat on it"

 

Time 

19xx –

    Spring –

       

 

Places 

    New York –

        Yonkers –

        Scarsdale –

        

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sample Student Responses to Jen's "What Means Switch"


Response 1:


Student Name

2202234 Introduction to the Study of English Literature

Acharn Puckpan Tipayamontri

August 31, 2012

Reading Response 3

 

Title

Text.

Text.

 

 

Works Cited

Book

Article

           



Response 2:



Rawida Komkai

2202234 Introduction to the Study of English Literature

Acharn Puckpan Tipayamontri

September 6, 2011

Reading Response 3

 

Title


<Text of reading response>

 


        


 

 

 

Reference

 

 

Links E-texts
Yiddish
 Chinese Immigration
 Reviews

 

Gish Jen
Interviews

 

 

Reference

Jen, Gish. "What Means Switch." Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Eds. John Schilb and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000. 1109–21. Print.



Further Reading








 

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Last updated September 5, 2012