Chapter Sixteen: A Pair of Tickets--> Jing-mei Woo Term--> Theme

Queen Mother of the Western Skies

In the final chapter of the story, Jing-mei and her father are set to fly to China. She thinks about the events that led to their journey. She did not wish to deceive her stepsisters and was trying to think how their first meeting would go. Canning and Jing-mei first land to greet Canning's aunt and some other family members. They all stayed in a hotel in communist China. Her father told his aunt of his wife's story, and Jing-mei awoke to here it. She learned her mother wrote for years to her friends in China to look for her babies, but no one had found them til now. After Canning and Jing-mei said goodbye to their family. They went to the airport and flew to Shanghai. When she got off the plane, her sisters recognized her instantly. They embraced each other in a hug, and Canning took a photo of the three of them. In the picture they could see the reflection of their mother.
"If only, I think, if only my mother had lived long enough to be the one walking toward them. I am so nervous I cannot even feel my feet" (287). The emotion of seeing her long lost family members was getting to her before she met them. It was great hope that they would love her and that they would get along. Its hard to know what to expect and in that situation I think anyone would be nervous.
"And although we don't speak, I know we all see it: Together we look like our mother. Her same eyes, her same mouth, open in surprise to see, at last, her long-cherished wish" (288). The last sentence in the book provides the theme of the story. In the end, one can make there wishes come true.

Chapter Fifteen: Double Face--> Lindo Jong Term--> Compund Sentence

Queen Mother of the Western Skies

Lindo talks about how Waverly plans to go with her husband, Rich, on a honeymoon to China. Lindo plans to go with them. Before the wedding Lindo and Waverly go to see Mr. Rory, a hairstylist. Mr. Rory points out the similarity between Lindo and Waverly. This causes Lindo to remember how she and her mother looked alike. Lindo talks about how when she first came to America she worked in a fortune cookie shop. This is were she met An-mei who introduced her to her husband, Tin Jong. While pregnant with Waverly Lindo bumped her nose and it became crooked. Lindo noticed that Waverly's nose is also crooked and she suggests cosmetic surgery. Waverly says she likes her nose for it makes her look devious. The following quote is Waverly's definition of devious.
"'We mean what we say, but our intentions are different'" (266). This sentence is a compound sentence because it is made up of two independent clauses combined with a coordinating conjunction. The quote describes the title of the chapter: double face. Lindo went back to China and dressed as she had when she was there, but now she knew she was American.

Chapter Fourteen: Waiting Between the Trees--> Ying-ying St. Clair Term--> Figurative Language

Queen Mother of the Western Skies

Ying-ying recalls her first marriage. She married into what was an arranged marriage, and she learned to love the man and lived to please him. She conceived a baby which she knew would be a boy. However, several months into the pregnancy the man left her and aborted the unborn son. She later explains that she was born in the year of the Tiger. Many children died during that year, but she survived. She says the Tiger has two way: gold side leaps with its fierce heart and the black stands still with cunning.

She also mentions two thoughts. "But thoughts are of two kinds. Some are seeds that are planted when you are born, placed there by your father and mother and their ancestors before them. And some thoughts are planted by others" (245). This is also said to be true for one's personality. They are born with a personality, but they are effected by the people they grow up around. Ying-ying felt her first marriage caused her to lack the spirit of the Tiger and she believes Lena lacks the spirit too, so she wishes to change.

" But when she was born, she sprang from me like a slippery fish, and has been swimming away ever since" (242). This quote provides figurative language. The simile and imagery within the sentence provide the reader with a picture and can ultimately  help the reader better understand what the author is trying to portray.

Chapter Thirteen: Magpies--> An-mei Hsu Term--> Setting

Queen Mother of the Western Skies

"This was a pond in our courtyard and I often poked a stick in the still water to make the turtle swim out from underneath the rocks" (216). The setting of this narrative is at the pond  in the courtyard where the turtle lives. An-mei's mother speaks of the turtle and how the turtle feeds on their thoughts, and that she once cried into the pond, and the trutle ate her tears then opened its mouth and poured out seven eggs. These eggs produced magpies that laughed in her face.
Her mother wants to take An-mei with her to live together, but the uncle does not wish for her to go. An-mei's mother gives her the option to come and she goes with her, but they must leave her brother behind. An-mei now lived in a giant house with her mother, the other wives, their children, and Wu Tsing. An-mei is told her mother's story by Yan Chang. She realizes so much more about her mother's life now that she has heard the story. Her mother commits suicide two days before the Lunar New Year; An-mei took the necklace Second Wife had given her and crushed it infront of her.
First Wife had two daughter. "And yet she could only see her two daughters, two spinsters beyond the marriageable age; they were atleast twenty-five" (232). The marrying age for women in the past was a lot younger than today's society, because it was belief that women were more fertile in their younger years. It is strange to look at the age difference for married people back then and today.

Chapter Twelve: Best Quality--> Jing-mei Woo Term--> Onomatopoeia

American Translation

June tells of last year's Chinese New Year. She talks about how her and her mother went to the store and bought eleven crabs, one with a broken leg, and how the neighbors and their cat annoyed her mother. Suyuan prepares the food for her family and the Jong's. The guests took all of the best crabs until there were two left; Suyuan received the one with the broken leg, smelled it, and threw it away. She gave Jing-mei the jade pendant that was her life importance. She has not taken off the necklace since her mother died.

June is now cooking for her father. "My father hasn't eaten well since my mother died" (209). She fixed her father's favorite dish. The grief of June's father has caused him not to eat well, so she is trying to help him by helping him remain healthy.

"Above me, I hear the old pipes shake into action with a thunk!" The word thunk is an onomatopoeia. It is not a true word but the way one says it suggests its imitation of the sound.

June also finds the neighbors cat in the window and is relieved that the cat had not previously disappeared because her mother had killed it.

Chapter Eleven: Without Wood--> Rose Hsu Jordan

American Translation

"According to my mother, Old Mr. Chou was the guardian of a door that opened into dreams" (186). Rose tells that she used to always listen to her mother and of how Old Mr. Chou would take her to scary places. When she fell asleep, she had nightmares, but her sisters would have pleasant dreams. Rose had found the divorce papers and a ten thousand dollar check left by Ted in the mailbox. She didn't know what to do. She was basically unconscious for three days because she took sleeping pills. Ted calls her and she has him come to the house to pick up the papers, but she gives him the papers unsigned because she has decided that she does not wish to move.

Chapter Ten: Four Directions--> Waverly Jong Term--> Simple Sentence

American Translation

"Rich and I have decided to postpone our wedding"(184). This sentence is a simple sentence, because there is only one independant clause.

Waverly asks her mother to go out to eat with her so she can tell her she is engaged to Rich. She didn't know how to tell her. Waverly continues her story of her chess playing days. Waverly and her mother never quite saw eye to eye, and one day Waverly decided to take a break from playing chess. She was suprised when her mom didn't scold her for doing so and was not upset; instead Waverly was upset because the boy who had won the tournament she had beaten twice before. She decided to play chess again but she occasionally won and lost; she gave up chess entirely at age fourteen. Waverly then takes her mother to her house and shows her that all of Rich's stuff is at the house, but she still thinks that Lindo has not figured out what Waverly is trying to tell her. Waverly bring rich to dinner but that did not go well. "But in the brief instant that I peered over the barriers I could finally see what was really there: an old woman, a wok for her armor, a knitting needle for her sword, getting a little crabby as she waited patiently for her daughter to invite her in" (183-184). This passage occurs when Waverly decides she must tell her mother and goes to her home to find Lindo asleep, but her mother had already known. They then planned their honeymoon for October. The important thing was that Waverly could finally truly see her mother through all the barriers they had built.