Saving Sourdi

    The very first thing I thought when I finished reading May-lee Chai’s short story “Saving Sourdi” was that it was by far one of the most well-written works I have ever read — so well written that I had initially misconstrued it as a memoir. This blog post will be an examination of what I believe to be the crux of Chai’s work: her fantastic character development.

    Opening the piece with a flashback to Nea stabbing a man in her family’s restaurant enabled Chai to immediately convey her as categorically impulsive, yet protective of those she loves. Both Sourdi and Ma are also quickly depicted to be more mature and thoughtfully aware than Nea, yet they are also more submissive than her — after all, Ma hastily pays “on the house” reparations to the stabbing victim despite knowing he had been harassing her daughter moments ago and Sourdi later obediently follows through in an arranged marriage despite clearly having no feelings for her match. This initial characterization is crucial for establishing Nea and Sourdi as foils and setting up the heart of the story: Nea’s fruitless attempts to resist her family’s traditionally compliant nature. 

    Nea grows throughout the piece to become less hotheaded, but the change is subtle — so spectacularly subtle that it is completely believable. When Nea senses Sourdi is in danger and immediately leaves with Duke to see her, she hesitates for a moment in their driveway, second-guessing her actions rather than continuing to rush forward thoughtlessly like she had that night in the restaurant. 

    Her family ceases to realize it, but Nea also becomes more situationally aware, perhaps even more so than they are. When Nea explains to Sourdi why she had come, Sourdi simply looks disappointed, feeling that “she had grown up, and [Nea] had grown unworthy of her love.” (Chai 294). Sourdi is in denial about the fact that she was forced into a marriage and motherhood she didn’t want and wasn’t ready for and copes with it by masking herself with a veil of responsibility, while Nea realizes that Sourdi is now incapable of acting on her own free will and in her own interests, which is shown where she tries to reassure her sister: “You don’t have to live like this. Ma is wrong. You can be anything, Sourdi (Chai 294). The moment is a reversal from the stabbing scene; Nea is fully aware of what is happening and Sourdi is now the ignorant one.

    To recap: immediately establishing initial characterizations through plausible events allows a writer to more easily develop their cast as the story progresses; realistic characters undergo long-term growth (especially as they age and mature), but it’s usually displayed subtly through thoughts, realizations, or doubts rather than outright actions; and a strong contrast between two central characters highlights both of their personalities and changes rather than if they had been kept separate.