The animals will stop moving when I stop breathing. But if I write to you with all my heart, I’ll leave a little of myself behind on this paper, in these words.
his mom is so precious and thoughtful. she still wanted to remind her son of the times they had when he was young even after how awful he was
Why do you want to learn English?” Mr. Chin asked. “You want to go to the police? We’ll tell the police that you are a mainlander illegally in Hong Kong. They’d love to have you in their prison.
this is really sad because there the moment you want to empower yourself, someone always as to bring you down.
When they heard that I was trying to get to Hong Kong, they laughed. “It’s your lucky day. Our trade is to bring girls to Hong Kong.”
even though it is maid work, it seems like a trafficking ring.
I know girls like you. How old are you now, sixteen? One day, the man who owns you will get drunk, and he’ll look at you and pull you to him and you can’t stop him. The wife will find out, and then you will think you really have gone to hell. You have to get out of this life. I know someone who can help
this happens so much in real life to migrants. in Nigeria, maids (even ones from Nigeria) are treated like trash and it's terrible because there's nothing they can do that doesn't have terrible consequences. thank God for this woman offering help
Now I had someone to talk to. I would teach you my language, and we could together remake a small piece of everything that I loved and lost.
she just wanted a connection to the home that was taken away from her.
And can you understand how it felt when you stopped talking to me and won’t let me talk to you in Chinese? I felt I was losing everything all over again
i feel as if this is something a lot of first gen kids face. you get teased for your heritage and background, then you push it away. your parents don't understand how or why you feel this way, so they end up feeling hurt/betrayed
You grew up a little, and now you could even help your father and me talk to each other. I was really at home now. I finally found a good life.
her son was a pathway to her feeling more comfortable in America.
When you said your first words to me, in Chinese that had the same accent as my mother and me, I cried for hours. W
as a child of immigrants, i know there's almost nothing as joyful to parents than hearing your kids speak your native language.
AsIgrewmorefluent,semagraphicdesignswouldappearfully-formed,articulat-ingevencomplexideasallatonce. Mythoughtprocessesweren’tmovinganyfasterasaresult,though.
what if the point of the heptapod coming to Earth is a slow but sure invasion tactic. even though it's only linguists now, what if their symbols are hypnotic in a sense?
Thatmeanttheheptapodhadtoknowhowtheentiresentencewouldbe laid out before it could write the very first stroke
could that be a reason as to why the spoken language and written language are different? two entirely different thought processes?
Thefirstwordsofthespokenutterancetranslatedliterallyas“inequality-of-sizerocky-orbiter rocky-orbiters related-as-primary- to-secondary.
she's a genius for figuring that out because this phrase makes no sense
HewishesIwerestillakid. Hehasn’tknownhowtoacttowardmesinceIgrewbreasts.”“Well, that development was a shock for him. Give him time to recover.”“It’s been years, Mom. How long is it gonna take?”
this reminds me of my dad so much! he's so overprotective and thinks of me as a little toddler. i feel like a lot of fathers are like this w/ their daughters.
I won’t worry much about a boy taking advantage ofyou; if anything, the opposite will be more likely. I’ll worry about that.
i like the insight into the daughter's personality. so far we've seen she's dramatic but now we know that she's a strong woman. also this made a laugh a little
Your eyes will be blue like your dad’s, not mud brown like mine. Boys will stareinto those eyes the way I did, and do, into your dad’s, surprised and enchanted, as Iwasandam,tofindthemincombinationwithblackhair.
chang is exceptional in describing scenes. like I can easily vividly picture her daughter
ndthentherewillbethetimeswhenIseeyoulaughing. Likethetimeyou’llbeplaying with the neighbor’s puppy, poking your hands through the chain-link fenceseparating our back yards, and you’ll be laughing so hard you’ll start hiccuping. Thepuppy will run inside the neighbor’s house, and your laughter will gradually subside,lettingyoucatchyourbreath. Thenthepuppywillcomebacktothefencetolickyourfingersagain,andyou’llshriekandstartlaughingagain. ItwillbethemostwonderfulsoundIcouldeverimagine,asoundthatmakesmefeellikeafountain,orawellspring.
this imagery is just so powerful to me. it really reminds me of how simple childhood is, like how the smallest things like playing in sprinklers or having a dog lick your hands can really bring so much joy. this is beautifully written.