To her mother (An-mei), Rose reveals that her marriage is falling apart. Paralyzed with grief and indecision, Rose can do nothing but weep. An-mei understands that by refusing to do something decisive about this problem, Rose is, in effect, choosing to do nothing. She knows that her daughter must make […]
Read more Summary and Analysis An-mei Hsu: MagpiesSummary and Analysis Part IV: Queen Mother of the Western Skies
As she plays with her granddaughter, an old woman wonders what she will teach the child. The old woman recalls that she too was once free and innocent, laughing for sheer pleasure. Later, she threw away her innocence to protect herself. She taught her daughter to do the same. She […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part IV: Queen Mother of the Western SkiesSummary and Analysis Jing-mei Woo: Best Quality
After a Chinese New Year’s dinner, Jing-mei’s mother gave her a jade pendant which she said was her “life’s importance.” At first, Jing-mei did not like the pendant; it seemed too big and ornate. After her mother’s death, however, the pendant will begin to assume great importance to her — […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Jing-mei Woo: Best QualitySummary and Analysis Rose Hsu Jordan: Without Wood
As a child, Rose believed everything that her mother told her. A timid youngster, she resisted sleep, fearing nightmares. Her mother told her that Old Mr. Chou guarded the door to dreams. One night, she dreamed that she was in Old Mr. Chou’s nighttime garden, where he chased her through […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Rose Hsu Jordan: Without WoodSummary and Analysis Waverly Jong: Four Directions
Waverly Jong takes her mother out to lunch, planning to break the news that she and Rich Schields are getting married. The lunch goes badly, however, and Waverly does not tell her mother about the upcoming marriage. Waverly is afraid of her mother’s disappointment and censure. When Waverly’s friend Marlene […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Waverly Jong: Four DirectionsSummary and Analysis Lena St. Clair: Rice Husband
Lena believes that her mother has an uncanny ability for predicting bad things that will befall the family. For example, she predicted the failure of a bank and her own husband’s death. Lena worries what she will say about the house that Lena and her husband, Harold, have bought in […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Lena St. Clair: Rice HusbandSummary and Analysis Part III: American Translation
A mother is horrified when she discovers that her married daughter has placed a mirrored armoire at the foot of the bed. She is certain that the mirror will deflect all happiness from her daughter’s marriage, so she remedies the situation by giving her daughter a mirror to hang above […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part III: American TranslationSummary and Analysis Jing-mei Woo: Two Kinds
To Jing-mei’s mother, America is the Land of Opportunity. She has high hopes that her daughter will be a great success as a prodigy. She’s not precisely sure where her daughter’s talents lie, but she is sure that her daughter possesses great ability — it is simply a matter of […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Jing-mei Woo: Two KindsSummary and Analysis Rose Hsu Jordan: Half and Half
Rose’s mother used to carry a Bible. When she lost her faith, she used the Bible to steady the short leg of the kitchen table. The Bible has remained under the table leg for twenty years. Tonight, Rose has come to tell her mother that she and her husband, Ted, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Rose Hsu Jordan: Half and HalfSummary and Analysis Lena St. Clair: The Voice from the Wall
When she was a child, Lena St. Clair often wondered about a beggar whom her grandfather had sentenced to die in the worst possible way. She imagines all sorts of gruesome torture. Appalled by her interest in violence, her mother said that the way he died didn’t matter. Lena thinks […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Lena St. Clair: The Voice from the Wall