Had I really been so cute, had I ever been so happy?
It didn’t take a long time for Kimberley to forget about her life in Hong Kong. Once she found an old family photo of her and her parents, she couldn’t believe her eyes. She asked herself, “had I really bee so cute, had I ever been so happy”, for she could not remember those time. She was staring at the image of her father, whose “heroic hand” was cupping “the child’s elbow”, her elbow. Her father had nice hands, ones that could “save you from demons and muggers”. She suddenly realized how much she missed him, how much she needed him. This quote shows how really vulnerable Kimberley is. She is just a child, who has to act like an adult in order to survive.
I am sorry I brought you to this place.
Mrs. Chang was ready to say goodbye to her old life of “a refined music teacher” and work at Aunt Paula’s factory till the end of her life if it would help Kimberley to assimilate. She was ready to do everything necessary “to give her child a good life”, but she was failing miserably. Being crushed with a feeling of guilt, she said that she was sorry that she “brought you to this place” and she meant it. She couldn’t help Kimberley with her school, failed to provide her with nice clothes, a clean and warm flat and whatnot, but it was not entirely her fault. No one could imagine that their life in a new country would be that difficult.
What Annette didn’t understand was that silence could be a great protector.
Annette was born in the United States; she knew what rights she had and knew how to protect them even being a little girl. She tried to make Kimberley to tell her everything, but she didn’t understand that “silence could be a great protector”. Kimberley “couldn’t afford to cry when there was no escape”. She was not a citizen of the U.S., which meant that she had no rights, there was no one she could ask for help without causing even greater problems for her mother and herself. She couldn’t fully “expose” herself, not even for Annette. Kimberley was able to bear her unhappiness only because it was “half hidden in the shadow”. She didn’t want pity, she wanted a chance to live freely.
