What does the white umbrella symbolize in the white umbrella by Gish Jen?

Answer 1

In The White Umbrella, the narrator (a 12 year old girl) and her family are a Chinese-American family living in an American town. The narrator is ashamed of her working mother and tells lies to her piano teacher about their family. The narrator really wants a nice umbrella to fit in and be cool but she knows her mother will never let her get one because of her opposition to materialistic things. When her piano teacher sees her wantingly eyeing her white umbrella, she gives the narrator it. The narrator is overjoyed. However, when they are driving home she tries to hide it from her mother and they end up getting in a small car accident. She is terrified for a moment for she believes her mother is dead when her mother has her eyes shut, her mother is really fine just very annoyed. The narrator decides the umbrella is not worth all she thought it was and throws it away. The white umbrella symbolizes materialism and how it isn't worth what it's made out to be.

Answer 2

The white umbrella symbolizes the music teacher. The reason why the narrator threw it down the sewer is because on the way back home they had a car accident and her mom's eyes were close and she thought she was dead, and realizing this she threw it down the sewer
cool story bro its called LOOK SOMEWERE ELSE! jk its an american tradition culture thing. >:[

ignore the thing above,

actually it represents material things, so when the narrator throws it in the sewer she is saying that her family is more important than material things

OR

it can represent what the narrator wants to be, perfect, pure, etc. and that would mean that when she throws it away she is saying that she likes the way she is now.

Answer 3

The theme is that it doesn't matter what you think you need to fit in, its what you actually do need, and since the mother thinks that its is just an extra, and it isn't needed, she is right. The girl thinks she needs it because it is beautiful and will help her fit in, when in reality, an umbrella isn't the answer

Answer 4

The White Umbrella:

What Is Really Important

In The White Umbrella, the narrator is insecure and ashamed of her working mother. However, in the end of the story she comes to realize how important her mom really is to her.

She shows her insecurity when she refuses to accept any pity from Miss Crossman, her piano teacher. The narrator rejects Miss Crossman's offer to give a ride to the narrator and her sister Mona from their house to her piano studio. Then, when it is her turn to play the piano, the narrator plays as good as she can to impress her teacher. She also refuses to go inside when it is raining, in hope that her mom will come and pick her up, so she won't receive more pity from Miss Crossman. These all show her insecurity with herself and her mom, and also her self-consciousness. The narrator then shows her lack of confidence again when she lies that her family owns a convertible, and also when she lies to Miss Crossman that her mom is a concert pianist. However, when she tells Miss Crossman,

"I wish you were my mother," after Miss Crossman has gifted her the white umbrella, the narrator immediately becomes guilty and feels that the umbrella now represents her symbol of rejection to her mom.

When the narrator's mom finally comes to pick her and Mona up, the narrator hides her umbrella beneath the skirt. On the way home, they have an accident. Her mom's eyes close, and the narrator thinks her mom is dead. She screams, yet finds out she was just closing her eyes in frustration. This is when she realizes her mother's importance. So when her mother gets up and confronts all the angry bystanders, the regretful narrator throws down her new white umbrella down the sewer.

She throws it down because she is confused what you need to do to become an American

Answer 5

The white umbrella contributes to the theme of the story because it first shows how the narrator compares herself to Eugenie Roberts then changes her perspective towards the end of the story. She also thinks about how she could be more like Eugenie if she had an umbrella. In the text the narrator states that " I wanted to dangle it from my wrist on the way to school the way the other girls did". This shows how the narrator wants to fit with other people at her school, like Eugenie Roberts. But, later in the narrative the narrator realizes that she cares more aboout her family than an umbrella. So according to the text it says that " I threw the umbrella down a sewer.". This shows how she quickly changed her mind, so that she could put less pressure on her mom. Overall this shows how the white umbrella shows that in difficult times family should come and work together to solve the issue at state.