A Response to Eat, Memory: Orange Crush Essay

The article titled “Eat, Memory: Orange Crush” by Yiyun Li recounts the influence of a western orange product (Tang) to a Chinese girl. The main character, Yiyun Li, recollect a time in her life when growing up she wished to live a Tangy life, which to her symbolizes western luxury and a life of style.

As Yiyun Li share this important aspect of her growing up years she is not being resentful or set a melancholic mood talking about what she lacked (although she was back then) but in the article Yiyun Li stands as the voice of a teacher reminding her readers of how the innocence of childhood and youth can foolishly led a man to be preoccupied with some things or ideas that seemed so important but in reality has no value.

As one reads the story, one can see that back then Yiyun Li did not like their economic status in life, in fact, she was aware of how deprived she was, particularly of her family not being able to buy Tang, and she was ashamed of her family’s lack of style.

It seemed that because of it Yiyun Li then began to be consumed of being able to live the Tangy life when she grew up. Thankfully, Yiyun Li realized how wrong her childhood ideas were.

One good thing about Yiyun Li is that she typifies the struggles a child and a teenager go through. Their simple minds or should I say lack of a wider perspective of life makes them vulnerable to be influenced by what was going on around them (Li, 2006). Another main character in the story is Yiyun Li’s father. He is the voice of reason and wisdom in the story. I especially like him because he is not swayed by the pressure that Tang had caused.

He taught good values to Yiyun especially on being thrifty. In the story, he also stands for stability while Yiyun go through a rocky stage of growing up. In Yiyun’s perspective back then, he could be disliked for depriving her of being able to have what she wants like bringing colorful flavored fruit drinks during her annual field trip. But his insistence eventually bore good fruit in Yiyun’s life (Li, 2006).

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