As Mia casts about for a way to cover her contest entry fee, the tip jar is introduced into the story. Once the girl receives her first random tip from a departing guest, she improvises a way to raise more money the same way. Prominently displaying the jar on the front desk offers a gentle nudge to guests who might want to express their thanks monetarily.

The jar symbolizes Mia’s hopes and dreams. Not surprisingly, she keeps both the tip jar and her dreams secret from Yao and her parents. Protecting the tip jar from Yao can easily be understood because he is a thief who would steal the money. Keeping the jar from her parents is harder to explain. The decision hints at Mia’s fear that they, too, would try to destroy her dreams. Mia’s mother has been quite critical of her daughter’s aspirations as a writer. Her father, in a misguided attempt to protect her, would discourage her from the folly of hope.

Ultimately, Mia is forced to sacrifice the contents of the tip jar to pay for her mother’s hospital visit. She says, “In a flash it was all gone. But another part of me felt tremendously proud, to be able to pay for our first visit to the doctor in this country with money I’d earned all by myself” (179).