"After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town" was a very anti-capitalism and anti-globalization short story. It all begins when an American man, Mr. Shapiro, opens up a Cowboy Chicken restaurant in China. It is an American chain and many of the Chinese citizens are thrilled about it. A red ribbon ceremony even takes place on opening day. The new American cuisine excites the community. Most of the employees, including the main character, Hongwen, are all Chinese and speak little or no English. Peter, the manager, does all the translating between the boss and the employees. A multitude of things continuously go wrong for the employees of Cowboy Chicken until finally they are "terminated." The whole entire story the employees are brainwashed to believe that they are making so much money and learning the American ways by working in the restaurant. The first sign of trouble occurs when the restaurant tries to open up a buffet. They set a flat rate at nineteen yuan and ninety-five fen in which upon paying this the customers can each as much as they want to. The employees don't understand why the buffet isn't simply twenty yuan. They say, "Why didn't he price the it twenty yuan even." Then Peter tells them, "...this was the American way of pricing a product. You don't add the last straw to collapse the camel." This is another jab at the capitalist-driven American economy and how it is only concerned with duping the customers into paying more than they should. The next disaster that occurs because of greed and the desire to be known and make money is when they try and throw a wedding banquet. The banquet goes smoothly and according to plan until the next morning when 1/3 of the wedding party call and demand that they have food poisoning. Peter is slick and covers it up by claiming the the Chinese stomachs may not be able to handle lactose that was in the deserts. This seems to work for the most part. Next, an angry costumer comes in claiming there was a fly in his chicken. Jinglin and Hongwen threaten this man until he agrees not to sue. This is another action that is driven by greed. One day the employees all follow Peter home and see that he is having a huge Victorian mansion built. This is when they first become skeptical about what is going on at Cowboy Chicken. They decide to follow Peter one day after work again and see that he burns all of the left over chicken. They question him and demand to know why he is wasting all of the food when people are going hungry. He simply replies that it is his job. They remind him that he is one of them. I thought this was interesting because Peter has gone to American and been educated in the American ways. Perhaps this is why he is okay with destroying good chicken. On payday, the employees take a peek to see how much Peter makes. They come to the realization that he is being paid a huge amount more than they are. They try to object and go on strike thinking that they are key components of the company. However, they are replaced within a day with new employees. They had love and pride for Cowboy Chicken. The feeling, however, was not mutual. The American company failed them.
VOCABULARY:
will-o'-the-wisp: also known as Ghost lights, are believed to be a natural phenomenon,
such as ignited pockets of swamp gas, that hover and rise over swamps,
ignite by natural causes and glow blue or green.
wrangling: having a dispute or argument
(DICTIONARY.COM)
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