Who's that girl? It's Shirley Temple Wong, a.k.a. Sixth Cousin, a.k.a. Bandit. Shirley goes from being known as Sixth Cousin Wong to adopting an entirely new name in In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, and when she does, she has to figure out who Shirley Temple Wong is. Can she be the same girl she was in China? Is she Chinese, American, or both? Is she the Chinese ambassador to her school, or is she the baseball-loving kid who lives in Brooklyn?
Shirley tries to answer all of these questions by blending into American society, but when she does so, she misses her Chinese self. By the end of the book, however, she seems to have both heritages firmly in check—she's both Chinese and American.
Questions About Identity
- Who is Shirley Temple Wong? Is she Chinese, American, or both?
- How does Shirley incorporate Sixth Cousin and Shirley into a complete person? Are they different people?
- What makes someone themselves? What makes Shirley herself?
- How does Shirley use Jackie Robinson as a model to fashion her own identity?
Chew on This
As Shirley begins to adapt to American culture, she becomes the epitome of the American experience.
Both Jackie Robinson and Shirley forge their own identities in the face of adversity.