Chapter Summary
The scene begins with Ruth and Luling returning from the doctor's. When Luling asks what was wrong with her, Ruth tries her best to rephrase Luling's condition but Luling ends up telling Ruth how much her heart hurts, metaphorically.
Luling is having dinner at Ruth's place when she says that the fish is too salty but Dory interrupts by saying Ruth placed salt into the fish at all. Fia kicks Dory as a sign of warning but Dory kicks her back.
The girls begin talking about a Himalayan cat they want as a pet and Luling mistakes it as the Himalayan mountains and begins telling the girls about her great adventure driving there but Dory tells Luling she's crazy which starts off Luling spouting her threats again.
The girls excuse themselves while Luling goes off to the toilet. Art asks Ruth what she was going to do about Luling and what about their trip to Hawaii? Ruth begins her mental debate about Art and not being able to fault him for not taking responsibility.
Ruth decides to try and hire houskeepers for Luling but Luling manages to chase them all off leaving Ruth with no choice but to stay back and not go to Hawaii while Art goes alone. Ruth phone's luling up but no one answers. She rushes over, hoping to find luling but to no avail. She was in the process of describing Luling to a policeman outside Luling's home when she sees Luling walking down the street. Luling begins complaining while Ruth thanks the policeman.
Soon she sees more signs of Luling's dementia from the refrigerator stuffed with rotten food and drawers stuffed with dirty napkins and all sorts of junk. She calls Gaoling to talk about Luling's condition and in the process, Gaoling offers to take care of Luling for a week.
Character Analysis:
Ruth:
Loving- When Luling is diagnosed with dementia, Ruth keeps repeating 'dementia' to herself possibly in shock because she cannot believe her mother has dementia. This shows she loves her mother alot and doesnt want her to go through the pain of dementia. or maybe she's afraid Luling might forget her one day.
Giving: she sacrificed her holiday with Art with Hawaii for Luling [filial]
Art:
selfish- he asked Ruth what SHE was going to do about Luling. As Ruth's boyfriend , he should be supportive of her and try to help out as much as he can but instead he jets off to Hawaii without her because she has to look after
insensitive- When Ruth need reassurance that Luling was going to be all right, he didn't even seem to notice, and instead her shoved Luling right to Ruth as if he didn't want to have anything to do with Luling and he didn't even offer to help her solve the taking care of Luling so she could go to Hawaii with her.
Most memorable moment:
My most memorable moment would have to be when Ruth realized Luling was missing she went panicky and shouted ' Mommy Mommy. where are you?' because i think that side of Ruth is seldom shown during the book and it truly shows how much she loves and cares for Luling.
Themes:
Mother daughter relationship- Luling and Ruth. How Ruth handles the news of Luling's dementia
Luling's dementia-How it would be Ruth and Luling's redemption.How it affects the people around them.
Questions:
Was Luling's dementia the ONLY wy Ruth and Luling could be redeemed from the past?
Favourite Quotes:
1)'Mommy! where are you?'
2)It was Ruth's job to untangle such puzzles
3)'you know my heart always hurting, i just don't complain'
