Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s depiction of anti-Asian discrimination and hate crimes.

“I read somewhere that empathy is repeating the last three words of a sentence and nodding your head.”

This passage, which speaks to Joan’s characterization, is one of her first observations within the novel. It illustrates her lack of typical affect and the distance that she feels from many people. Joan is unemotional and wryly humorous, and she does not feel close personal ties to most of the people she spends time with.

“My twenties were spent in school, and a girl in her twenties is said to be in her prime. After that decade, all is lost. They must mean looks, because what could a female brain be worth, and how long could it last?”

This passage speaks to the theme of Gender, Societal Expectations, and Interpersonal Relationships. Many of the people in Joan’s life seem to feel as though she should be more focused on marriage, parenthood, and other life goals associated with a more traditional understanding of a woman’s role in society. Joan chafes against these ideas and feels as though her intellect and work ethic should be seen as more important than her looks or ability to bear children.

“About our country, continued my cousin, it used to be poor, but now we have caught up. We have surpassed most western countries, even yours.”

This novel is grounded in the real-life history of not only Chinese immigration to the United States but also of China itself. Many early waves of Chinese immigration were fueled by poverty and a lack of opportunity in China. In the last decades of the 20th century, though, China began to make serious economic progress.