“Pearl Chang took the small mirror out of her pocketbook. She had a look at herself and she was glad the she was Chinese, and quietly she threw away a small picture of a white actress” (94).
One thing in particular that I have noticed about Tsiang’s writing style is that is simple and direct. The text reads easily as every sentence moves swiftly onto the next, and to me, this leads me to feel like I am right in the scene. There is no extra mental or emotional processing of what is going on in the moment from a character because everything is written in the third person, leaving it up to the reader to make sense of what is taking place.
I found this small, tiny moment interesting for this reason. Wong Wan Lee is busy telling the story of his ancestry, of ancient Chinese emperors and of savages. He is putting up a bold front to impress Pearl (which is interesting seeing as though every time she makes a move on him, he is left uncomfortable or annoyed). Pearl is unaccustomed to the Chinese culture that Wong presents to her, yet his story moves her to take pride in her identity as a Chinese woman. She discards the picture she carries with her, presumably for inspiration. In listening to Wong’s story of Chinese excellence throughout history, she is inspired by her past.
It’s interesting to me that this scene is so quickly glossed over. To me, it carries so much weight. Pearl is still young, and she seems to still be easily swayed by what is going on around her. She is used to a certain idea of what Chinese culture is and who the Chinese are, but Wong is continuously changing this narrative, which in turn influences how she perceives herself. This is further complicated by the male-female dynamic that is present between Pearl and Wong. She desires his physical attention and is intrigued by his overall personality, but a part of me feels funny about the attention she gives him. Is it more out of curiosity that she wants to be with him? On the other hand, Wong is not great about understanding Pearl as a human, and is confused by her advances. However, he dismisses her nature, blaming it on her being a woman.
Finally, I’ve noticed that Tsiang hardly touches upon Pearl’s African American heritage. It may be because Wong, who is the main character, either only perceives Pearl as a woman and does not pay much attention to the nuances of her identity, or that he is so focused on the fact that she has “mo no”. Either way, his obsession with her is definitely another offshoot of this awkward m-f dynamic.
This brief moment in the text was definitely one that also snagged my attention, but like you said, it passed by almost immediately. I think your analysis really magnified the details of it into clearer view. Especially the part where you note the strange relationship dynamic between Wong Wan-Lee and Pearl; he tries to constantly impress, yet push away Pearl. Pearl looks at Wan-Lee with deep fascination and curiosity. Though Pearl is subjected to the same kind of gaze as an African-American Chinese woman, she heavily exoticizes Wan-Lee as a representation of everything Chinese as she tries to make sense of the man. Pearl remains an outsider to outsiders, and attempts to conceal the parts of herself that are looked down upon: she would do her makeup to appear less “ethnic”, wear hats in public, or how in this instance, she quietly throws away the picture of the white actress. While at times she desires to identify with Wong Wan-Lee (like in this passage), she also distances her self from him and the idea of being Chinese. I really appreciated the way you described Pearl’s inner conflict as a biracial woman in the U.S — She is used to a certain idea of what Chinese culture is and who the Chinese are, but Wong is continuously changing this narrative, which in turn influences how she perceives herself.”
I also agree with your last point, which was something I didn’t pick up on while reading the chapters. Tsiang’s brevity on the matter of Pearl’s heritage is interesting to think about, and how she is relegated to the idea of “mo no” at every turn of her conversations with Wong Wan-Lee. In the novel, any exploration into Pearl’s biraciality seems to always be in relation to Wan-Lee and his idea of himself/Chinese people. Maybe Tsiang is making a very deliberate point with this kind of silence, preserving the perspective of Wan-Lee as much as possible (or not?)— both of their conceptions of identity/race/class are fraught and dependent on the other.