How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
An Oldsmobile, Uhmma explains, is safe and roomy. It is big enough to hold a whole family. You know my friend Kay, at the restaurant, she says that she saw an accident between an Oldsmobile and a Toyota. The Toyota was bent and completely broken, but the Oldsmobile had only a scratch on its bumper. Uhmma's eyes grow wide. She takes one hand off the steering wheel and points to a black Oldsmobile speeding in the carpool lane. Uhmma turns to me. That is the kind of car I would like to drive someday, she says. (18.29)
Uhmma is so family-oriented that even her dream car is a car "big enough to hold a whole family." Do you spot the irony though? Uhmma associates the American Oldsmobile with family-friendliness while the Japanese Toyota gets the shaft, but it's in America that her family gets smaller and smaller. First they lose Halmoni, and then eventually they lose Apa too. She may have dreams of what an Oldsmobile may signify—big, happy, safe families—but we're guessing an Oldsmobile definitely isn't in her future.
Quote #8
After the chatter of the Doyles, the quiet at the dinner table sounds strange to my ears. I eat my rice and wonder why my parents can't speak or joke with the ease of Mr. and Mrs. Doyle. Why can't Apa barbecue and ask Uhmma if she needs any help? Or Uhmma tease Apa and then lightly kiss him on the cheek to make sure he knows she was only kidding? (23.57)
Young Ju wishing her parents were more like the American Doyles is kind of a classic immigrant-kid wish. It's kind of like wishing your parents could be less foreign, less immigrant, and more American. But with Young Ju, it's more than a wish for assimilation into American life: it's also a wish about having parents who love simply and aren't torn apart by violence and anger.
Quote #9
Apa yanks off his tie as soon as we step inside the house and starts down the hallway for the bedroom. Uhmma calls to his retreating back, Yuhboh, remember to call Gomo.
Apa slams the bedroom door behind him. (24.42-43)
Is it just us or does Apa act more like a sullen teenager than a husband and father? Silent treatments and door slamming seem like something we ought to expect from Joon Ho or Young Ju, not the guy who fancies himself the head of the household. But then, who ever said Apa was mature?