![]() Lindo recalls how she tried to make Waverly both American and Chinese. Lindo knows, however, because she is a citizen of China, that no one in China would ever mistake Waverly as a native Chinese Waverly is unmistakably "American-made." Even Waverly plays into this misconception, treating her mother as though she were a recent immigrant. Rory, the hairdresser, assumes that Lindo cannot even speak English. To native-born Americans, both Waverly and Lindo appear to be "Chinese" at first glance. In this story, we again see the themes of appearance and reality and the importance of heritage. She wonders what she has lost and what she has gotten in return. Even though she took off her jewelry and wore Chinese clothing, people knew that she was foreign. Lindo recalls when she went back to China last year. Waverly brushes aside her mother's observations with a laugh, saying that their noses are good because they look devious and two-faced. Seeing her own broken nose, she imagines that Waverly's nose has been broken as well. She sees how much she and Waverly look alike. Lindo then turned sad she became dissatisfied with her circumstances and hoped that Waverly would have a better life.īack in the present, Lindo looks at her finished hairstyle. Vincent was born two years later, and Waverly after that. Their first child was a son, whom Lindo named Winston. The next day, however, he did and Lindo accepted. Lindo selected "A house is not a home when a spouse is not at home." She gave him the cookie, but he was confused by the word "spouse" and did not propose. An-mei convinced Lindo to use the fortunes from the cookies to communicate with Tin Jong. They communicated only in rudimentary English. But they struck up a friendship for they were both Chinese, despite the fact that they spoke different dialects. At first, Lindo was appalled that he was Cantonese. There she met An-mei Hsu, who introduced her to her future husband, Tin Jong. She also found a job - at a fortune cookie factory. When Lindo arrived in America, she sought out the people whom the Chinese woman had suggested. Why does Waverly say that Lindo came over "on a slow boat from China" when she took an airplane? Why does Waverly say that Lindo met her husband in the Cathay House when it is not true at all? Lindo recounts the truth in a flashback. Lindo wonders why Waverly distorts the facts of her past. That would help her become an American citizen. For free, the woman advised Lindo to marry an American citizen and have children quickly. When Lindo was preparing to come to America, she paid money to a Chinese woman who had been raised in America and asked her to show her how to "blend in." The woman told Lindo how to answer common questions and then gave her a list of people to contact in San Francisco. This incident happened before Lindo was separated from her mother and sent away to be married. On the eve of Lindo's tenth birthday, her mother told her fortune from her face. ![]() ![]() Looking at her daughter's face in the hairdresser's mirror, Lindo thinks about her girlhood, long ago in China. Rory points out how much Waverly looks like her mother. Rory works, Waverly acts as though Lindo cannot understand English. In preparation for her wedding to Rich, Waverly has her favorite hairdresser, Mr. Lindo tried to give her children the best of Chinese and American cultures, but she did not realize that the two ingredients did not mix. Her mother reassures her that there is no chance that she will be mistaken for a Chinese citizen. Waverly wants to go to China for her honeymoon but is afraid that she will blend in so well that she will not be allowed to return to America.
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