How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Sometimes Amanda says things I do not understand. Yesterday she told me that she and her parents went apple picking and they had doughnuts and hot cider. "I love cider," Amanda said. "Don't you?"
I nodded and said yes, even though I did not know what cider was. Amanda has been my best friend ever since the time I lied about Joon dying and she gave me a Lifesaver, but that does not mean I tell her everything. (13.1-2)
How does an immigrant teenager deal with being different? She hides it, even from her best friend. You've got to wonder, by the way, how deep Young Ju's friendship with Amanda can be if Young Ju isn't comfortable revealing anything about her Koreanness (or lack of Americanness).
Quote #5
I have found that the dictionary doesn't always explain everything. Like "going." Ever since the beginning of fourth grade, Amanda and some of the girls in my class talk about going with this boy, Jimmy. "Who do you think he wants to go with" they ask. I pretend to understand, but in the dictionary it says "go" and "going" mean action, moving, and lots of other things like business transactions. None of it makes any sense to me. Where would Jimmy go with someone? (13.3)
Young Ju makes a really good point here. Where does the term going with come from anyway? And why is English so weird?
Quote #6
Uhmma and Grill Woman spoke in a language of mixed and chopped Korean and Japanese, glued together with pieces of English.
"Suna, kinoo that ahjimma scratch car," Grill Woman said, her eyes small and bright, the size of new pennies.
"Aigoo. Fix takai?"
"No, scratch chiisai."… Uhmma was quick to laugh at all of her friend's words. Her squeaky-shoes laugh was back and her face shone bright as a full moon on cold, clear nights. Sometimes when she was speaking fast, she put her cup down and her hands waved and danced in the steamy air.
This was a different Uhmma. Not a sad, tired Uhmma who cooked and cleaned and sometimes yelled, but a stranger who had a friend and a secret language all her own. Not my Uhmma. A Suna. (15.17-21)
We think this is a pretty cool scene and here's why: not only does Uhmma have this whole separate life where she's friends with a Japanese woman, but Young Ju gets to see Uhmma as a completely different person. Someone strange and new—a woman who isn't only defined by her mother and wife status. This is a rare (and valuable) sight for a girl who's only ever experienced foreignness as a bad thing.