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MALE-FEMALE RELATIONSHIPS ACROSS CULTURES IN
ANN Y. K. CHOI’S KAY’S LUCKY COIN VARIETY (2016)
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JuDIT NAGY:
ABSTRACT
Y. K. Choi’s recent novel, Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety (2016) contains ample
references to the differences between Western and Eastern ways of courtship,
romance and marriage. Applying Min-sun Kim’s cultural communication
theory to the analysis as described in her book entitled Non-Western
Perspectives on Human Communication (2002), the paper will explore how the
diasporic Korean-Canadian female protagonist, Yu-Rhee/ Mary’s ideas and
experience of male-female relationships are affected by her Korean cultural
heritage and the Canadian environment in which she grows up.
INTRODUCTION
Set in the Toronto of 1980s and featuring the family of a Korean-Canadian corner
store owner, Ann Y. K. Choi’s recent novel, Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety (2016)
contains a cornucopia of references to the differences between Western and
Eastern ways of courtship, romance and marriage. Its main protagonist, Mary/
Yu-Rhee is the embodiment of those young immigrant women who “felt torn
between the demands of their parents and the desire to be a ‘typical’ Canadian
teenager,” proposes Sue Carter, the editor of Quill & Quire in her review of
Choi’s book. As such, Mary/Yu-Rhee’s coming-of-age narrative provides solid
and abundant evidence of the inner tension she experiences as a diasporic
Korean- Canadian in all areas of life, including male-female relationships.
Through an application of Min-sun Kim’s cultural communication theory
as described in her book Non-Western Perspectives on Human Communication
(2002), the paper will explore how Mary/Yu-Rhee’s ideas and experience of
male-female relationships are influenced by her Korean cultural heritage and
the Canadian environment in which she grows up.
' Karoli Gaspar University of the Reformed Church in Hungary.
2 Carter, Sue Ann, Choi preserves a way of life in Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety, The Star,
https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2016/05/07/ann-choi-preserves-a-way- of¬
life-in-kays-lucky-coin-variety.html (accessed 7 May 2016).
3 Min-sun, Kim, Non-Western Perspectives on Human Communication, Thousand Oaks, Sage
Publications, 2002.