Shanghai Girls

“I thought I was modern. I thought I had choice. I thought I was nothing like my mother. But my father’s gambling has swept all that away. I’m to be sold—traded like so many girls before me—to help my family. I feel so trapped and so helpless that I can hardly breathe.”

Pearl has just learned of her father’s plan to arrange marriages for his daughters. Her choice of words in this quote is significant. She feels “trapped.” At many future points in the story, she will either express the same sentiment or act as if she is trapped. Ironically, as a young adult, she feels she has a choice. Nothing in her future life indicates that she makes choices. She simply reacts to circumstances.

“As sisters, May and I share a particular kind of intimacy. May is the one person who’ll stand by me no matter what. I never wonder if we’re good friends or not. We just are.”

This is an early quote expressing Pearl’s special relationship with her sister. She is quick to make the distinction between liking someone and being a blood relative. Future statements express a hatred for May’s selfishness. In the statement above, Pearl places an existential value on their relationship. They simply “are” to each other.

“In Shanghai, life flows like an endlessly serene river for the wealthy, the lucky, the fortunate. For those with bad fates, the smell of desperation is as strong as a rotting corpse.”

The other Shanghai elites have become aware of the downturn in the Chin family’s fortunes. The reference to “bad fates” is an indication that one can’t do anything to help oneself under such circumstances. Pearl frequently refers to the action of fate and destiny in her life and her inability to resist it. This may simply be a rationalization for her fear of trying.