A Pair of Tickets

“‘Oh, that must be Mama, no?’ one of my sisters would whisper excitedly, pointing to another small woman completely engulfed in a tower of presents. And that, too, would have been like my mother, to bring mountains of gifts, food, and toys for children—all bought on sale—shunning thanks, saying the gifts were nothing, and later turning the labels over to show my sisters, ‘Calvin Klein, 100% wool.’”

This is an example of indirect characterization of Suyuan. June May imagines a meeting at the airport with her twin sisters and her mother, revealing how Suyuan is generous and both humble and proud at once. Suyuan pretending that the gifts are nothing reveals her humility, but her later emphasis on how the gifts are high-quality reveals her pride in gift giving.

“The minute our train leaves the Hong Kong border and enters Shenzhen, China, I feel different. I can feel the skin on my forehead tingling, my blood rushing through a new course, my bones aching with a familiar old pain. And I think, my mother was right. I am becoming Chinese.”

These opening lines reveal one of the story’s central conflicts—June May’s struggle with Embracing Multicultural Identity—and establish its setting. These lines also reveal the first inkling of change in the protagonist. Readers may wonder: What is this “familiar old pain,” and how does one “become Chinese”?

“I saw myself transforming like a werewolf, mutant tag of DNA suddenly triggered, replicating itself into a syndrome, a cluster of telltale Chinese behaviors, all those things my mother did to embarrass me—haggling with store owners, pecking her mouth with a toothpick in public, being color-blind to the fact that lemon yellow and pale pink are not good combinations for winter clothes.”

This quote demonstrates June May’s resistance to her Chinese identity. Some of her mother’s behaviors embarrass her, and she associates them with her Chinese upbringing. June May fears that the same behaviors could be latent in her, about to break out if she in any way embraces her Chinese heritage.