-> Behind the scenes of the unusual Edgeworth family of Ethel Wilson’s “The Innocent Traveller”, readers find an equally unusual character: the family cook, Yow. Yow is a Chinese man, whose history is unknown and, until Chapter 16, is rarely mentioned.-> In the story, Yow is portrayed as a distempered and ill-mannered man whose ego is bigger than it should be. He is rude with all of the Edgeworth women, except for Grandmother Annie, and acts in a manner he knows is unacceptable to his paying employees. However, all of this merely masks an unhappy and displaced person. Yow is a man far from home, in an alien country with alien customs. He does not fit in and his rudeness is a product of this feeling of being an outsider. At one point, when Topaz is speaking to Yow, Yow proceeds to vent his frustration of loneliness: “China people more different. Last February China New Year my family have large party seven hundred people. All my kah-san. All my generation. You no care.” (Wilson 145) Yow feels like
a foreigner in what is supposed to be his new home. He blames this on those who make him feel this way, people such as the Edgeworths who fit into Canadian society. Thus, he is rude to them because of how they make him feel. Wilson even mentions that he chooses, and even likes, being rude: “Yow did not stand up, because he enjoyed being ill-mannered.” (Wilson 145)-> On the surface, Yow is a rude man whose only contribution to the story seems to be as a foil to the kindness of the Edgeworth women. However, when looked at as a human being and not as just a minor character, readers can see that Yow is merely an unhappy man lashing out at the world who made him an outsider.
- by Brianne Coffey
1 comment:
I totally agree on your views of Yow as an unhappy outsider who is always so "ill-mannered" and hates his new world for casting him out, alienating and isolating him from society. In fact, I even feel pity for him. He appears to be so lonely, and has no one to console or understand him. Personally, I know a friend from Vietnam who is very much like Yow’s character; my friend, after several years of living in Canada still finds it quite difficult to become accustomed to Canadian way of life and has trouble expressing herself.
It’s interesting how Ethel Wilson put such a character in the story, for one thing, it adds variety to the story, and secondly, it brings the book closer to reality. Even now in our society, there are numerous of frustrated immigrants who feel lost and unable to adjust or adapt to their new civilization and culture. Thus, perhaps Wilson is trying to get the audience to have a different point of view of society and how it influences and structures a human being.
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