A boy, a boy, a boy!
Peter’s father is both strict and cold-hearted, even a cruel kind of man. He doesn’t care about what his wife wants to do or what her dreams are, because for him she is a tool to achieve his goal. The man is obsessed with an idea of having a son, so he doesn’t give up and continues insisting on trying time after time even though his wife is clearly not fond of this idea. “A boy, a boy, a boy,” he whispers. When he gets what he wants – a son whose name is “Powerful King” –, he is still not satisfied. Mr. Huang wants more sons to grant himself immortality.
I felt out of control!
Unlike his father, Peter is not happy about the fact that he is a boy. He doesn’t think about it at all, for the child doesn’t even notice any difference between him and his sisters. However, as soon the father makes up his mind to teach Peter how to be and behave like a real man, the boy understands that it is not what he wants. Adele says him “there’s nothing wrong with being a boy,” but it doesn’t help to calm him down. He starts “to wail, a bland continuous cry, not pausing to take a breath.” “A boy, a boy, a boy!” He doesn’t want to be a boy.
I just wanted him to be normal.
It is as clear as a day that Peter is not happy. Unfortunately for him, he is born in a wrong body. The irony is that the boy his father used to dream about turns out to be a girl. Not everyone in Peter’s family accepts this fact. For instance, Helen doesn’t only refuse to understand Peter, she hopes that one day her younger brother is going to be “normal.” That is why she does everything possible to win Reis’ case. She knows it is too late to help Peter, so she decides to help another boy. “I just wanted him to be normal,” she would say later.
