Perspectives

You can gain a better insight into “Everyone Talked Loudly in Chinatown” by Anne Jew if you also look at similar works and literary period or current issues related to the short story.

Literary period and current issues

Published in 1997 and set in 1979, the short story belongs to the literary current called Modernism. Modernism deals with issues that are contemporary to the authors and focuses on the way these issues are integrated and managed by the characters. As you have seen, “Everyone Talked Loudly in Chinatown” deals with the topic of cultural and generational gaps and is set in a modern, realistic setting while focusing on the character of Lin, rather than the plot.

Even though there is an almost 40 years’ difference between the time of the events in the story and the present moment, the narr...