A Pair of Tickets

Amy Tan’s short story “A Pair of Tickets” is a tale about Embracing Multicultural Identity, processing The Complexity of Grief, and understanding the connection between Memory and Loss. As June May Woo, the protagonist and narrator of the story, travels to and through China with her father, Canning Woo, she grapples with her mixed identity as a Chinese American. The narrative begins with June May reflecting on how, growing up, she never identified with her Chinese heritage. The opening lines of the story read:

The minute our train leaves the Hong Kong border and enters Shenzhen, China, I feel different. I can feel the skin on my forehead tingling, my blood rushing through a new course, my bones aching with a familiar old pain. And I think, My mother was right. I am becoming Chinese (293).

These opening lines reveal a major conflict within the narrator. June May further explains that her Caucasian friends in San Francisco agree that she is no more Chinese than they are; however, this journey through China is releasing something “familiar” and “old” that has been lurking in her blood, as June May’s mother Suyuan predicted, just “waiting to be let go” (293).