Chapter 9

During her time with the Warners, Ailin lives within her "Eileen" personality, who is more responsible, refined, and obedient. The Warners are pleased with her performance with the children, especially after she convinces them that she wasn't a heathen. They go out of town on a retreat and Ailin is left alone with the children. Billy gets sick, so she has to go out and find a doctor. She first goes to her home, then to her sister's home, where she is turned away because they think she is a foreigner. She realizes that to the Chinese, she is a foreigner, but to the foreigners she is a heathen. Ailin feels like she doesn't fit in anywhere. Finally she goes to Miss Gilbertson's house, and she helps Ailin find a doctor for Billy. When the Warners come home, they are very impressed by her initiative to help Billy. The Warners invite her to come to America with them to continue working the Billy and Grace. She accepts,and visits her family home one last time. Big Uncle is sarcastic and rude, but some changes are detected: he has sent Little Brother to public school, so he has respected his late brother's wishes. Ailin surprises him by giving him all of her savings to be sent toward Little Brother's continuing education. Her mother helps her finally understand the tradition of foot-binding: it is the main goal of a mother to marry her daughter to a good husband, and since she never bound Ailin's feet, she feels responsible for Ailin's "failure" in life. But Ailin knows that she has grown strong, and that she can withstand moving across the world.

Summary Chapters 10, 11, & Epilogue

Chapter 10 starts out with Ailin boarding the boat with the Warners. The Warners are put in the second class class, but Ailin is put in third class section because the Warners could not afford to have her up with them.  Although Ailin was in the third class, she could still visit with the Warners and care for the children. Xueyan came to see her off, and the two were very sad when they parted. She brought with her the sack of money that Ailin had given to Big Uncle. Big Uncle had given it back to her so that she could give to Ailin. Ailin stayed in a cabin with four sets of bunks and many people got sea sick throughout the journey. One day, Ailin went to get Billy a snack from the bar when the bartender refused to give her the cookies because she was a third class passenger. However, Ailin defended herself and explained that Billy was a second class passenger, and the bartender gave her the snack for the boy. A Chinese man that spoke Cantonese laughed, but Ailin only knew Mandarin so they had to speak in English. This man was James Chew and was born in America where his family owned a restaurant. Ailin and James became friends for the next few weeks. When Ailin would take Billy and Grace to the children’s activity room every afternoon, her and James would talk. She told him her entire story. He said she was the bravest person he had known and she was a revolutionary who was fighting a war against tradition. He told Ailin his story, and she was pleased to find out that he wanted a companion, not a status symbol so unbound feet did not bother him. When they reached America, James told Ailin to look for his father’s restaurant if she ever went to Chinatown.

The Warners were much better off in China than in the United States. In China, they had servants and cooks, but in California, they had to do everything themselves. Mrs. Warner had to start cooking for the family, but it was not always the best. One night, Ailin suggested that she cook some Chinese food.  The family was very pleased with her offer. After a while, Ailin wanted to get some actual Chinese spices. Mr. Warner suggested that she go to Chinatown. Mrs. Warner took her down there one afternoon and Ailin instantly felt at home. She continued to go back to Chinatown each week to buy the ingredients she needed to cook. Ailin started to pick up Cantonese phrases in Chinatown that helped her communicate with others. One day, James Chew saw her and invited her to have a meal in her father’s restaurant. He told Ailin that meeting her had helped him make up his mind that he was no longer going to work under his brother, and he was going to open his own restaurant. They continued to meet on her weekly visits. Ailin finally decided that she did not want to return to China with the Warners. She decided to marry James and help him open his restaurant.

At the end of the book, Ailin is in the restaurant with Hanwei. He told Ailin that the times were changing in China. If she would have waited, they could have been married, and she would have led a much easier life. However, Ailin enjoyed the life she had chosen. She decided that she wanted to Hanwei to send a message to her family and tell them all about the restaurant. She was proud that she had helped make the restaurant successful and was able to stand on her own two feet.

Chapters 7 & 8

Stephanie Brushway

Literature Circle 4

Summarizer

Chapters 7-8

Chapter 7 begins with a pleasant, happy scene of Ailin teaching her little brother an English song while her mother smiled. This moment of hope is destroyed when Ailin is summoned by Big Uncle who will tell her what he has decided for her future. Her mother is scared for her. Big Uncle reveals to her that he wishes for her to be a concubine for the second son of the Feng family. He believes it is the only future he can find for her. After attempting to reason with Big Uncle, he finally says that she has three choices: become a nun, become a farmer’s wife, or become a concubine. She realizes that she has no way out of Big Uncle’s decision because she has no money, her Father is dead, her sister’s are married and gone, Xueyan’s family cannot legally help her and may not be on her side, and she does not want to commit suicide. She was left with the idea of becoming an amah. Her mother shoots this down by telling her that no respectable family will hire her because her feet are not bound, she does not have the respect and manners that they want their children to learn, and she ran from her own amah as a child. She turns to her teacher, Miss. Gilbertson, who was shocked at what Ailin confessed to her about her Big Uncle’s decision for her future. She offers her to be an amah for the English missionaries that were her friends. Ailin agrees to go visit them. She meets the children, Grace and Billy. She then accepts the offer to be their amah and live in their home.

Chapter 8 begins with Ailin going to tell Big Uncle of her decision to become an amah. He is beyond furious and lets her leave alive because he loved her father. She moves in with the Warner family and is immediately stunned by several aspects of her new life. The first in that she is responsible to care for herself entirely and run her own errands. Second, she finds that she must care for the children as well as teach them lessons in reading and writing. She has trouble adjusting to the food, her clothes no longer fitting, and the strange customs of the Warners. She is able to care for the children though and their behavior improves when she bribes them with learning to brush Chinese characters when they are good. She tells them Chinese folktales that they love. Ailin is disturbed when she overhears the Chinese house help talking about her and placing her on their level. She is also disturbed when she hears the Warners talking about her teaching the children a “heathen” language. She finally understands the price she I paying for her rebellion when Mr. Warner pulls her aside and is upset with her for talking about Confucianism in front of their children. He reminds her of Big Uncle during this conversation. She realizes that her is now in a culture where they hate what she was taught to value.