Quote 10
He flips through the pages quickly and then points to the menu. "This is what they want," says my father.
So it’s decided. We are going to dine tonight in our rooms, with our family, sharing hamburger, french fries, and apple pie à la mode. (IV.4.68)
For these Chinese people, hamburgers, french fries, and apple pie à la mode embody America.
Quote 11
America was where all my mother’s hopes lay. She had come here in 1949 after losing everything in China: her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls. But she never looked back with regret. There were so many ways for things to get better. (II.4.3)
For Suyuan, America is the land of hope, a place to create a new and better future.
Quote 12
And after seeing my mother’s disappointed face once again, something inside of me began to die. I hated the tests, the raised hopes and the failed expectations. (II.4.17)
For Jing-mei, hopes can only fail so many times before it simply becomes too much.