Women's Stories

Lisa See's Shanghai Girls is not only itself a story about two women - sisters Pearl and May - but also a testament to the power of women's stories.

Early in the book, Pearl and May draw strength, as they flee from war-torn Shanghai, from their mother's story about the moon sisters. Mama had, in turn, listened to and learned from her own mother's stories.

As the novel nears its conclusion, Pearl, as the book's narrator, reaffirms the significance of women telling one another their stories:

So often we're told that women's stories are unimportant. After all, what does it matter what happens in the main room, in the kitchen, or in the bedroom? Who cares about the relationships between mother, daughter, and sister? A baby's illness, the sorrows and pains of childbirth, keeping the family together during war, poverty, or even in the best of days are considered small and insignificant compared with the stories of men, who fight against nature to grow their crops, who wage battles to secure their homelands, who struggle to look inward in search of the perfect man. We're told that men are strong and brave, but I think women know how to endure, accept defeat, and bear physical and mental agony much better than men. ...

If we hear that women's stories are insignificant, then we're also told that good things always come in pairs and bad things happen in threes. ... The Louie family's tragedies arrive in a long and devastating cascade like a waterfall, like a dam burst open, like a tidal wave that breaks, destroys, and then pulls the evidence back to sea. Our men try to act strong, but it is May, Yen-yen, Joy, and I who must steady them and help them bear their pain, anguish, and shame. [pages 228-229]

When I reached the final words of the novel, I found myself hoping to hear more about Pearl's life, her destiny, as well as that of her daughter Joy. I want to know more of these women's stories.

SG ~ third set of DQs

1.  This is how Pearl sees emotional abuse.  Do you agree with her?

"People say you need to be strong, smart, and lucky to survive hard times, war, a natural disaster, or physical torture.  But I say emotional abuse — anxiety, fear, guilt, and degradation — is far worse and much harder to survive.  This is the first time that May and I have ever experienced anything like this, and it saps our energy" (p. 43)

2.  Pearl is a Dragon, and May is a Sheep.  Do you thik the two sisters are true to their birth signs in their actions in the novel?

3.  Which sister is smarter?  Which is more beautiful?

4.  Each sister believes that her parents loved the other sister more.  Who is right about this?  Why?

5.  How would you describe the relationship between Pearl and May?  How does the fact that both are, in a sense, Joy's mother affect their relationship toward each other?  Who loves Joy more and how does she show it?

6.  There are times when it seems like outside forces conspire against Pearl -- leaving China, working in the restaurant, not finding a job after the war, and taking care of Vern.  How much of what happens to Pearl is a product of her own choices?
__________

NOTE:  Has everybuddy finished reading the book?  If so, go ahead and talk about the whole novel.

SG ~ second set of questions

1.  What was it like for immigrant Chinese people at Angel Island (see actual photo above of women waiting for their hearings)?

2.  What were some of the hardships Pearl and May went through -- before, during, and after their stay on Angel Island?

3.  What were paper sons?  How did paper sons drive the storyline?

4.  What did you think of China City, the tourist attraction that was intended to look and feel like an "authentic" Chinese city?

5.  Why do you think nobody insisted that May take care of her own husband?

This is the Garnier Building, seen from the Los Angeles Street side, where Pearl and May lived when they first moved to Los Angeles.  The cars indicate the photo was probably taken in the late 1930s or early 1940s.  Today the Garnier Building is home to the Chinese American Museum.

SG ~ first set of questions

The Old Chinese City in Shanghai

1.  We have a saying that "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me."  Yet Pearl felt very hurt by her father's words, near the beginning of the book.  When have you experienced something similar?

"This is another of my father's standard criticisms and one he picked up from Confucius, who wrote, 'An educated woman is a worthless woman.'  People calle me bookish, which even in 1937 is not considered a good thing.  But as smart as I am, I don't know how to protect myself from my father's words" (pp. 3-4).

2.  The novel begins with Pearl saying, “I am not a person of importance” (p. 3).  After Yen-yen dies, Pearl comments:  “Her funeral is small.  After all, she was not a person of importance, rather just a wife and mother” (p. 246).  How do you react to comments like these?

3.  These quotes from the first chapter show us a major cultural difference for most westerners today.  Try to imagine how you would feel if your father said this to you, and then the man you had a crush on (Z. G.) backs up what your father said.

Their father:  "I've arranged marriages for the two of you ... The ceremony will take place day after tomorrow" (p. 19).

Pearl:  "I'm to be sold -- traded like so many girls before me -- to help my family.  I feel so trapped and so helpless that I can hardly breathe" (p. 26).

Pearl:  "In the end, Z. G. says the one thing I didn't expect.  'You should marry the man.  He sounds like a good match, and you have a duty to your father.  When a girl, obey your father; when a wife, obey your husband; when a widow, obey your son.  We all know this is true" (p. 30).

Shanghai's Nanjing Road in the 1930s

Bonnie's thoughts ~ Shanghai Girls

I have started reading Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, our book for June.  Already I have discovered, after 59 pages, that "beautiful girls" means something different from what I first thought.  Beautiful girls were models who posed for artists making posters and calendars to advertise something like the cigarettes in the retro poster above.  The two girls on the cover of the book were advertising bug spray, according to an NPR story, and that's the poster than inspired Lisa See to write a story about the characters Pearl and May Chin.  The original shows dead insects falling around them, which gives me a very different "feel" for the picture!

Shanghai Girls (SG) ~ by Lisa See, 2009

During June 2010, we'll discuss Shanghai Girls, a 2009 novel by Lisa See.

Pearl and May are inseparable best friends who share hopes, dreams, and a deep connection, but like sisters everywhere they also harbor petty jealousies and rivalries.  They love each other, but each knows exactly where to drive the knife to hurt the other the most.  In 1937 these two are beautiful, sophisticated, and well-educated, but their family is on the verge of bankruptcy.  And one day their father tells these modern and carefree daughters that he has gambled away their wealth and is selling them as wives to “Gold Mountain men” who have come from Los Angeles to find brides.

But when the sisters leave China and arrive at Angel’s Island (the Ellis Island of the West)—where they are detained, interrogated, and humiliated for months—they feel the harsh reality of leaving home.  They face terrible sacrifices and make impossible choices.  And when May discovers she’s pregnant the situation becomes even more desperate. The sisters make a pact that no one can ever know, but through it all the two heroines hold fast to who they are — Shanghai girls.

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• Complete discussion of SG
• DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
• SG ~ first set of DQs
• SG ~ second set of DQs
• SG ~ third set of DQs
• Read a chapter (at the site, click on "Read a sample chapter")
• Lisa See's web site