XiXu En Tu Mon Pere VS To Body To Chicken

Comparison Essay

In this essay, I am going to present a comparative analysis on the similarities and differences that are presented in Xi Xu’s ‘'To Body To Chicken’’ which focuses on the story of a massage girl named Teresa and her struggles encountered with society having misconceptions towards her job and ‘’Et Tu Mon Pere’’, a literary nonfiction story about the struggles she encountered through the 1960s of her Hong Kong high school life. Despite the differences between the two characters which can be easily distinguished, nevertheless, there are more correlations in their life experiences.

I will start off by comparing the difference in the falling events and the actions taken by the two characters. Towards the end of TBTC 's plot, The night when Teresa gave a massage to her disabled father. She realized that she is valued on who she is as a person and not just regarded as some pleasure item. This shows that in the end, she didn't let the majority of society stop her from what she wants to achieve despite their false assumptions. Her struggle ended there, however in En Tu Mon Pere, the struggle just continued. As she and her father deep down know that what her mother is asking her to do is wrong. However, she surrendered completely but gave her dreams up. She allowed her surroundings (especially her mother's mindset) to decide her future career. In other words, the plot ended in a sad note as the character took the path that she isn't happy about. While for Terresa, she neglected the false assumptions upon her job as she continued with it.

While such differences appear significant between the lives of Teresa and Xi Xu, there are other noticeable similarities in their life experience as well.

The most noticeable similarities in through them are their inner identity crisis and conflicts. In To Body to Chicken, Teresa was left with the problem of understanding herself. As she serves in a massage salon, society considers that as to same as working as prostitution ("chicken-girl"). Moreover, she experiences self-doubt because of her father's heavy opposition and groans against the night-shift job. Thus she was frustrated with the thought of whether she is one, as the phrase “I body you” repeated in her head. Further, the incidents of the prostitute got captured

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