Analytical Response

[Rachel]

“The Water That Falls On You From Nowhere” has a significant amount of different relationships between the characters. Matt’s relationship with his lover Gus, his sister and his parents all have something in common which is he feels as he can’t please everyone without disappointing someone, including himself. Matt comes from a strict Chinese family and feels as he’s supposed to abide by their cultural norms, values and beliefs which is portrayed throughout the story. Even though Gus is an understanding character in this story Matt hasn’t told his family that his significant other is a man. When Matt does talk about Gus to his family he says his lover but fails to leave out that his lover is a man. Matt hasn’t come out to his parents yet because he knows how they are going to react and they aren’t going to accept it. He thinks his parents aren’t going to accept who he is because they have told him they want a grandson and Matt is the only one who can give them that and carry on the family name, seeing as his sister is already married and took her husband’s name. The relationship Matt has with his older sister resembles as if she was one of his parents. I thought that she would be supportive of him bringing Gus to her house for their family Christmas dinner but it’s the complete opposite. She shuns him and won’t accept him for who she is. She says to him “And you’re not coming out to Mom and Dad” (Chu). She doesn’t want her brother to be a disappointment in their family. I feel like it’s because it would reflect on her and make her look bad. They both want what is best for each other but what his sister thinks is best for him and what he thinks is best for him, is two completely different things.
Throughout the story Matt was thinking when was a good time to come out to his parents and tell them that he is gay and Gus is going to be his husband in the future. By surprise his parents already assumed and accepted it when Matt walked in the door with Gus. You can tell Matt didn’t want to disappoint his parents and wanted to live up to their expectations but by following a different path. I wonder about Matt’s relationship with himself and if he ever stepped back wanting to make himself happy. It seems like he was always worrying about what his family expected from him and how he wouldn’t be living up to what they wanted so he couldn’t open up to them fully.