Summary
The chapter starts off with Luling's visit to the doctor where she is diagnosed with Dementia. Also, when Ruth spots a bald man helping an elderly old lady, she wonders to herself, 'Would Art ever take her mother to the doctor's? How about in the case of an emergency, a heart attack, a stroke? this shows her doubt in their relationship.
During dinner, when Luling was complaining about 'things she [Ruth]could not change. Luling begins to nag about why Art doesnt marry Ruth and how Art has 'no respect for you[Ruth]. The she complains about the food being too salty. Ruth is stuck in a dilemma when she wants to 'defend her [Ruth] to the girls' but also, she remember 'how she felt when she was thei [Fia and Dory's] age', because Ruth hated it when Luling spoke Chinese in front of others especially when they could not convert Luling's remarks.
In this chapter, there is another flashback into Ruth's childhood. Where in this incident, Precious Auntie is introduced back into the story through Ruth's sandwriting. Also in playground incident where Ruth rebels against what Luling says because she feels embarrassed in front of all her friends by Luling, she breaks her arm in the process. This breaking of her arm signified the beginning of the reappearance of Precious Auntie. It all happens when Ruth writes the word 'Doggie' with the intention of asking Luling to buy her a dog but because Precious Auntie used to call Luling that, it leads to Luling thinking that she is communicating with Precious Auntie through the sand tray and yet, because of the sandtray, it is how Luling's questions and doubts about Precious Auntie is answered. 'She[Precious Auntie] said everything will be all right. Everything. All right? you're not suppose to worry anymore.'
Themes
1)Luling's Dementia
2)Mother-daughter relationship (young Ruth with Luling and Older Ruth with Luling)
3)secrecy (the sand tray and how Ruth pretended to be able to communicate with Precious Auntie)
Character Analysis
Ruth
rebellious=When she wanted to do things her mother was against eg: the slide, she would just go ahead and do them without heeding her mother's advice
spiteful=When Luling was against her sliding head-first, she went ahead and did it just to spite luling. Also, she refused to admit that Luling was her mother when she called her in the playground.
brave=She dared to slide head-first, something 'that only the bravest and wildest' boys would do.
wanted attention=when she was hurt, she was still happy because she got the attention of the most popular girls and also, her mother. Which made her so happy that she secretly wished she did not have top remove her cast because then all the good things[attention] would end.
Luling
loving= When Ruth was about to slide down headfirst, Luling immediately told her not to because she knew that Ruth would get hurt. And even after Ruth disobeyed her and went against her wishes, Luling did not scold her but rushed her to the doctor to check her arm and even praised Ruth for being brave about breaking her arm and not crying. Also, when Ruth lost her voice, Luling went to ask doctors methods of making Ruth speak again and Luling went through all sorts of trouble to make Ruth speak again. When Luling realized that the only way to make Ruth speak again was by using a sandtray, she immediately collected sand from the playground and let Ruth 'talk' to her through the sand writing.
insensitive/blunt= When Ruth kept quiet about Fia and Dory's rude behaviour, Luling began complaining about how Art had no respect for Ruth and maybe that was why Art didn't want to marry her. 'Why doesn't he have more concern for you' These words stab Ruth's heart and are hurting her because this is her relationship with Art and there is nothing her mother can do about it but by saying all these hurtful words, they trigger Ruth's insecurites and furthermore, Ruth cannot do anything about it.
Fia & Dory
offensive= When Ruth and Luling were having a conversation over dinner, Fia interrupted and said 'i wish you two would stop talking like spies in chinese, it's really rude'. Fia should have the decency to respect Luling and Ruth's culture and especially so when they are both her elders.
insensitive=When Ruth explained that Luling spoke Chinese 'because that's the language she's used to', Dory retorted by saying that Luling spoke english too. She did not spare a thought for Luling's difficulty in expressing herself due to her poor English.
Favourite Quotes
1) 'She's not my mother!' Ruth shouted back 'I don't know who she is!' <-Ruth's embarrassment about Luling being her mother.
2)
Most memorable moment
Questions
Was the sandwriting and the lies told by Ruth about Precious Auntie the only way that Luling could forgive herself?
