"Disappearing Moon Cafe"

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a critical look at Sky Lee's novel "Disappearing Moon Cafe", which chronicles the corrupted history of the Wong family and the deconstruction of traditional kinship formations. The paper posits that, in the novel, both young and old generations construct alternative definitions of "family" outside the confines of the conventional family structure comprised of mother, father, and children. These alternative structures deviate from the norm by involving individuals from different racial, social, and genealogical backgrounds, disrupting the homogeneous ideals that certain female family members would like to preserve. The paper also asserts that the story is about women who dominate Chinese family life and the influence they hold over the men. The paper concludes that, although there is a collapse of one family structure, many other diverse kinship unions emerge in its place and ensure the survival of a rich and varied Chinese-Canadian narrative.

From the Paper:

"For all intents and purposes, Disappearing Moon Cafe is a story about the women who dominate Chinese family life and the influence they hold over the men's biographies. We get two conflicting messages - one that women are defined by their marriages and are mere "unidentified receptacles" (Lee 42), and one that empowers the women as "powerful...bone-crushing 'Iron Chink' machines" (Lee 227). It is therefore interesting that the beginning and the end of the novel is framed by the narrative of Wong Gwei Chang, the family patriarch."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Goellnicht, Donald C. "Of Bones and Suicide: Sky Lee's Disappearing Moon Cafe and Fae Myenne Ng's Bone." MFS Modern Fiction Studies, Volume 46, number 2. pg 300-330. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.
• Gordon, Neta. "Charted Territory: Canadian Literature by Women, the Genealogical Plot, and SKY Lee's Disappearing Moon Cafe." NARRATIVE, Vol 14, No. 2. pg 163-179. Ohio State University, 2006.
• Helms, Gabriele. Challenging Canada: Dialogism and Narrative Techniques in Canadian Novels. McGill-Queens University Press, 2003.
• Lee, Sky. Disappearing Moon Cafe. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1990.
• Wyile, Herb. Speculative Fictions: Contemporary Canadian Novelists and the Writing of History. McGill-Queens University Press, 2002.

More papers on "Disappearing Moon Cafe":

• Comparison Essay # 41869 : "Common Concepts about Immigrant Women in "Disappearing Moon Cafe" and "Sisters of Grass"
• Essay # 137659 : "Isolation in 'Disappearing Moon Cafe'"
• Essay # 138232 : "Personal Beliefs and Readings of a Text"

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