Personal Response
Bok Choy - Paul Mason
This book is called Bok Choy and is written by Paul Mason. It is called Bok Choy because at the start of the book Ah Sum brought Jacob’s mother some Bok Choy, Mrs Bishop (the neighbor) was very racist about it, Jacob wasn’t too sure about it either. Later on in the story something happened to Jacob but he got saved by Ah Sum and after that act of kindness he became a lot more positive and wasn’t so mean anymore. So basically the story is kind of based around Bok Choy.
So as a said the story started off with Ah Sum delivering vegetables to Jacob’s mum who was a regular buyer and always bought some vegetables. This particular time she had bought some Bok Choy, their neighbor Mrs Bishop yelled over the fence “I don’t know how can you eat that muck” which Jacob’s mum replied “It’s called Bok Choy”. Jacob was rude about the Bok Choy at the start too, he said “I hate those Chinese cabbages too”. Jacob had a sudden urge to go fishing, he fell in the river and was rushing down the river, swirling and tugging, he tried to get to the rocks but he went too fast and slammed against them. Jacob woke up in a dark hut with Ah Sum near, Jacob’s mother soon came to bring him home. When Jacob’s mother arrived she asked Ah Sum if there was anything she could do for him but he refused. When Jacob and his mother arrived home Mrs Bishop was there making more rude racist comments against Ah Sum.
Jacob’s mother was a very kind and accepting lady, she never said a bad word about anyone, she is always so thankful and positive. We can tell by the way she says stuff “It’s called Bok Choy.” And she didn’t want to be in the act of the racism that Mrs Bishop was saying towards Ah Sum. Jacob was not a very nice person but when he got saved he changed his mindset, in the beginning he said “I hate those Chinese cabbages, too,” rudely, showing that he was a bit racist to Chinese too, but near the end he said “Ah Sum saved me” thankfully. You can tell that he changes what he thinks about Chinese people once he notices how kind Ah Sum had been to him and how he could have died without him. Mrs Bishop was a racist, obnoxious lady, she said stuff like “I don’t know how you can eat that muck”, “you’ll be wanting to watch that. The Chinaman will be after something” and many more hateful words about Ah Sum. Ah Sum was such a happy, kind man, he would do anything for someone, he was so nice about everyone and he wouldn’t do anything to put anyone in harm. He saved Jacob after he had fallen in the river and bashed into the rocks, he could have died and Ah Sum was kind enough to save him and then didn’t ask for anything in return, in fact he refused. He just did it as a genuine person should.
This piece of writing is trying to show us what racism is and how racist people can be toward Chinese people, like Chinese stereotypes etc. Mrs Bishop is a great example of a racist person, with her very rude comments about Ah Sum and all Chinese people. Jacob was rude about the Bok Choy at the start of the story but at the end, after getting to know Ah Sum, he realised how he is just human like him, Ah Sum was so kind to everyone. Jacob was judgeful at the start but over time he realised not to judge Ah Sum and other Chinese, it’s like the quote “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”, Jacob judged him and Bok Choy because they were Chinese but once he got to know how caring Ah Sum was he wasn’t judgeful anymore.
Overall, I think this story had a great point, you have to get to know someone before judging them, don’t judge anyone because of their race, it doesn't define them as a person, there shouldn’t be stereotypes because everyone is different. I think this message from the author definitely got to the readers.
