Between Two Worlds:
Timothy Mo’s Sour Sweet
Setefanus Suprajitno
Timothy Mo is an Anglochinese
writer who writes much about the experiences that immigrants face in their new country, and how they overcome the problems and culture
shocks that come up, as well as how they define their identity. In his novel, Sour
Sweet, Mo describes how three characters who come
from Hong Kong, Chen, Lily, and Mui, with their all
character traits live their lives in the United Kingdom. This article
discusses how the three characters respond to their new environment. Because of
different character traits and ability to cope with changes, the respond to the
culture and society of the UK
differently. There is one who holds the old culture tightly without trying to
understand the new culture in the new place, there is one who rejects the old
culture and adapts the life in the UK in an uncritical manner, yet
there is one who tries to find the equilibrium between the old and the new. By
showing the flexibility towards the changes and the influence of foreign culture,
Mo emphasizes in the need of accommodative attitude and tolerance towards the
multicultural reality in this modern world.
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Suprajitno, S.
(2002). Between two worlds: Timothy Mo’s Sour Sweet. K@ta, 4(2), 51-62.
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