Character Analysis - Interview with 2 characters from the book

Su-Jen's Interview:

How did you feel when you first met Lee Kung?

I didn't understand why, but I felt shy in front of this good-looking man who was my brother.

How did you feel after seeing what your mother and Lee Kung did?

Whenever I looked at someone in my family, I was filled with shame. Icarried a terrible secret that I could never tell anyone.

How did you feel after Charlotte's death?

II hated Miss Skinner for punishing us he way she did. I told myself that if it weren't for her, none of this would have happened. But deep down I knew that wasn't true, that it was my fault. I was the one who wanted to go to the lake and I was the one with the curse. If it weren't for me, Charlotte would still be alive.

What first went into your mind when you found out your mother was pregnant?

He knew about my mother and Lee-Kung: what else did he know? I worried about what might happen to my mother.

How did you feel when you saw your mother breast feed your baby brother Daniel?

I watched my brother curled in my mother's arms and I began to understand how much she loved us and how much she had sacrificed when she arrived in Canada; what she meant when she claimed her life had been over when the moment she stepped off the plane. For my mother the act of living here was in itself an act of love, my mother had given up her own life out of love for me and would do the same for Daniel.

Su-Jen's Mother

How did you feel about Canada when you first arrived?

It's so quiet here. So few people on the street compared to Hong Kong.

What did you tell Su-Jen about your marriage with her father?

I had no choice but to marry your father. It was after the war and i had lost everything. I've never told you this, but before you were born i was married to someone else and I had a son. My husband died during the war and we were left alone. I needed your father to help me raise him, and yor father, he wanted a son for himself.

How was your life back in China before the war?

Back in China, before the war when I was young, people were always telling me how lucky I was. I was the most beautiful girl in the village, probably the county. My father, he said to me many times, if i declared my daughter the third most beautiful girl in the village, no one would dare claim second, much less first spot. I was betrothed when I was three. My father was a herbalist and he arranged a marriage into a very wealthy family. Before I was married, the wedding cakes and biscuits that were sent to the village were the best we had ever seen, and beautifully wrapped in red paper with gold lettering. I gave them out to every family in the village, I had so many. We killed a hundred pigs for roasting and there was a tree-day celebration before I went to Nanking to be married. I was only sixteen. A few months later, just before the Japanese invaded the city, I visited my sister in Canton.Everyone said that I was lucky to have been away, but they were wrong. Those hateful Japanese, they burned down my house and killed my husband. They destroyed the city. Because of them I ended up a poor woman with no husband, and no home to return to. When I discovered that I was going to have a baby, I had no choice but to stay with my sister and her family, but after she died, her husband saw me and my baby son a little more than beggars. Even the jewellery I was wearing, I to sell. 

Contemporary Relevance

This story had many issues throughout the book. It had your mother and your half brother having an affair which eventually led to your mother being pregnant. It had death, where Su-Jen lost her best friend. It had some racism because she was the only Chinese girl in her school she was different from everyone else. This story had all these problems going through their lives so i feel it is very easy to relate to and understanding how Su-Jen might feel.

So obviously the first issue i stated was shocking. A mother having an affair with her step-son. It was shocking yet not unbelievable. Su-Jen had seen many times her mother and brother had connected and they both disliked her father. More so than telling her father she stayed quiet and let them continue with the affair until her pregnancy. Su-Jen's best friend Charlotte died from drowning. Su-Jen's mother had said many times that water was dangerous for her. Eventually Charlotte drowned and it greatly impacted Su-Jen and how she felt after it. This story showed how different it was being different. They where the only Chinese family and myself being Chinese I could somewhat relate to their situation. They had to deal with being different from people and stayed quiet and just moved along. These issues greatly impacted how the story made us feel.

Growing up all these things happen to us and we have to just accept it. However we can get help from all sorts of places. They can help for the moment and for the future:

http://www.immigration.ca/

1 800 668-6868 - Kids Help Phone

Questioning and Critical Thinking

1. What is did the author intend on having us learn from this story?

2. With Su-Jen living in 2 different lifestyles, how does this change her opinion on life?

3. What attracts Su-Jen to Charlotte?

4. Why might Su-Jen look up to some of the other students mothers?

5. Do you understand why Su-Jen's mother might have been going through?

6. Why is Su-Jen's family so concerned with saving money? Why might it affect Su-Jen's life?

7. How important is sacrifice in this book?

8. How does the past affect Su-Jen's parents? Can they ever let go of the pain?

Most Memorable Moment

The most memorable moment is also the most important scene in this book. When Su-Jen woke up in the middle of the night to find that she was the only one in bed, I was thinking of many things, such as where is her mom? What is she doing? Following that, Su-Jen walked across the platform to find that her mother and her half brother together naked on his bed. That moment was not only weird to me but disgusted me. No one can bare the thought of seeing their parents participating in these activities, but to do it with someone else, and that someone else being your brother, was unbelievable.

However, as the reader, you shouldn't have been shocked. Leading up to this being discovered by Su-Jen, her mother and brother had already been spending time together, talking by the fire about how they disliked Su-Jen's father, and them gazing into each others eyes time and time again. Su-Jen's mother and father had families of their own before marrying each other because of the war, and after evaluating all these moments prior to any of this happened, Su-Jen's parents had not made and physical contact whatsoever and rarely even looked at each other. 

This moment had a huge influence on the entire story. Su-Jen's mother even got pregnant. In the end of the story Su-Jen finally understood that in the end through all this, her mother had given up everything so she could have a better future and the same would apply to her brother.

First Impression of Midnight At The Dragon Cafe

When I first got the book "Midnight at the Dragon Cafe" I didn't know what to expect. I understood it had a connection to me as a Chinese minority in Canada. After reading the first chapter of the book, it was relatable  not just to me, but every child born to an immigrated family. Even through just one chapter I could see it was very well written and the accolades that Judy Fong Bates achieved through the success of this book were well-deserved.

This story opened on the main character Su-Jen or Annie, coming to Canada. Her parents like most immigrated families, immigrated to Canada for a better future for their children. As the story started to move forward, I could see that there was a void between Su-Jen's mother and father. Something was missing. Her parents rarely spoke, and her mother would only laugh to Uncle Yat. Who was her fathers good friend and business partner, as they owned a little restaurant in Irvine. I felt it was very strange how the parents would rarely make eye-contact and barely speak to each other would marry in the first place.

With how the story began, so bleak, not knowing the problems with this quiet family I expect that there will be issues in this novel, not just with the struggles of an immigrated family, but much more.