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Mrs. Lardner
Jeremy Brothers is Mrs. Lardner’s friend, for whom she throws a “bon voyage bash” before he departs for a 6-month trip to Greece. At the party, it becomes clear that Jeremy is a drunken predator, and his racist behavior against Mr. Chang creates an unpleasant scene. Jeremy represents the stereotypically privileged male in American society. Besides being the story’s antagonist, he serves as a foil to Mr. Chang. Where Mr. Chang is hard-working, Jeremy is frivolous and leisurely; where Mr. Chang feels uncomfortable at the party filled with country club members, Jeremy is right at home; where Mr. Chang has his loving family surrounding him, Jeremy has alienated his loved ones. If Mr. Chang is most comfortable in “his own society,” as Mrs. Chang claims, then Jeremy is the quintessential member of “the American society.”
Jeremy Brothers Quotes in In the American Society
The In the American Society quotes below are all either spoken by Jeremy Brothers or refer to Jeremy Brothers . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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In the American Society Quotes
Jeremy began to roar. “This is my party, my party, and I’ve never seen you before in my life.” My father backed up as Jeremy came toward him. “Who are you? WHO ARE YOU?”
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In this climactic quotation, the drunk Jeremy Brothers confronts Mr. Chang and challenges his very presence at the party—though, of course, Mrs. Lardner has invited him and Mr. Chang has every right to be there. Aside from defining Jeremy Brothers’s character as drunk, belligerent, and unpredictable, this charged interaction brings one of the story’s questions to the surface. Who is Mr. Chang? Does he see himself as American? Chinese? Both? Jeremy Brothers does not intend the question to land this way, but readers can draw a parallel between Mr. Chang’s ambivalence towards American society and the imperative that he find Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus volup
“Take off your shirt.”
“I do not taking orders like a servant,” announced my father stiffly.
“Take off your shirt, or I’m going to throw this jacket right into the pool, just right into this little pool here.” Jeremy held it over the water.
“Go ahead.”
“One hundred twelve-fifty,” taunted Jeremy. “One hundred twelve …”
My father flung the polo shirt into the water with such force that part of it bounced back up into the air like a fluorescent fountain. Then it settled into a soft heap on top of the water.
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After Mrs. Lardner intervenes in Jeremy Brothers’s drunken scene, reassuring him that she invited Mr. Chang to his party, he exaggerates his apology. Jeremy offers unwanted help to get Mr. Chang more appropriate clothes, since Jeremy finds him overdressed. The insult soon worsens into a confrontation as Jeremy takes the offer too far, demanding that Mr. Chang take off his suit jacket and instead put on the polo shirt Jeremy is wearing. This quote is important to the story because it marks Mr. Chang’s decision. While Jeremy mocks the price of his suit jacket, calling out, “One hundred twelve-fifty,” Mr. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis.
“You girls are good swimmers,” he said finally. “Not like me.”
Then his shirt started moving again, and we trooped up the hill after it, into the dark.
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In the final two lines of “In the American Society,” the Changs are discussing how to get back Mr. Chang’s keys, which are still in his suit pocket in Jeremy Brothers’s pool. On a deeper level, however, these lines show Mr. Chang contending with his daughters’ level of assimilation into American life versus his own. Earlier in the story, Mr. Chang dismisses the notion that Callie could possibly understand America better than him. Now, after the incident at Jeremy Brothers’s party, he not only accepts that Callie and Mona might be better “swimmers” than he is, literally—a sign of an Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantiu
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Jeremy Brothers Character Timeline in In the American Society
The timeline below shows where the character Jeremy Brothers appears in In the American Society. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
In the American Society
Mrs. Lardner invites the Changs to a “bon voyage bash” for her friend Jeremy Brothers before his trip to Greece. She implies that the Changs will meet other country...
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...out hors d’oeuvres to guests. When Callie reaches her father with the platter, a drunk Jeremy Brothers comes up to introduce himself.
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Drunken Jeremy Brothers tries to persuade Mr. Chang to “have a word” with his empty wine bottle....
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Mrs. Lardner rushes over to reason with Jeremy and introduce him to Mr. Chang. Jeremy apologizes and wants to make up for his...
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