The Gold Mountain Coat

In her short story, "The Golden Mountain Coat", Judy Fong-Bates explores the tensions of immigrant life in Canada in the 1950's. There is only one Chinese family in the narrator's town in Ontario other than the narrator's. Sam Sing and his two sons, John and Ken, manages a the Chinese restaurant. Sam is a person of blunt personality, and he is very stingy about money that his two sons only have one wear and tear coat to share. Not like Ken, John is a married man and his family is in China. After few years of hard working, John manages to get a permission from the government that his family can come over to Canada. Sam permits his sons to close the restaurant to pick the family up in the airport. The problem is that they had only one coat in the cold weather. John and Ken concludes that they need one more coat and they plot to ask Sam to purchase one. They figures out that Friday is the best day to tell Sam because the business on Fridays usually went well. And on the decisive day, John asserts that they need a new coat only to find Sam's face becoming stiff. Ken blurts out that that they need one because John's son will need it when going to school after growing up, so three people can share two coats together. Sams face breaks into smile after he listens to Ken.