What's in a home? It's not just a building—it holds your culture, your customs, your family, and everything that makes you you. In In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, Shirley has trouble figuring out where and what her home is once she moves from China to Brooklyn. She finds it hard to make America her home when she doesn't feel like an American, hasn't adapted to their ways of life. Eventually, Shirley tries to have a foot in both camps, having two homes (China and Brooklyn) and two identities—Chinese and American. She blends her homes as she grows into her newer self.
Questions About The Home
- Where is Shirley's true home? Does she have one?
- How is living in China different from living in America for Shirley?
- What makes a real home?
- Is a home where you're from? Where you go? Both? Neither?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
By the end of the book, Shirley is a true Chinese-American.
More than anything else, baseball helps Shirley assimilate into American culture.