In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson Themes
Language and Communication
What's in a word? It's hard to communicate with people if you don't speak the same language, and in The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, as an immigrant from China to the United States, Shirle...
Family
Family is one of the few constants in Shirley's life in In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. In China, family surrounds her all the time—she lives in a giant complex with her parents, gra...
Isolation
When Shirley comes to America in In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, all she's got is her parents, and she's pretty stinking lonely because of this. As she eventually gets used to American...
The Home
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...
Foreignness and "The Other"
Shirley has a lot of balls in the air. She's from China and has to adjust to living in America, so she looks, speaks, and acts differently from the kids into whose presence she is thrust when she m...
Visions of America
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson is a big proponent of the American Dream, which says that coming to the U.S. of A. offers anyone the chance to achieve anything they want. Shirley is exc...
Friendship
Shirley finds it really tough to make friends in America. Kids reached out once or twice, but then they ignore her or make fun of her for being different and not knowing a lot of English or America...
Perseverance
Perseverance is the name of the game for our main girl Shirley in In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. She's got a lot on her plate when she moves to Brooklyn, including learning a new lang...
Identity
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 Jac...
Tradition and Customs
Every culture has its own share of traditions, and in In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, Shirley carries a lot of her cultural traditions from China, like bowing when she meets people, ov...