Quotes From Novel

1)

"We were paid 1.5 cents per skirt. For years, I calculated whether or not something was expensive by how many skirts it cost. In those days, the subway was 100 skirts just to get to the factory and back, a package of gum cost 7 skirts, a hot dog was 50 skirts, a new toy could range from 300 to 2000 skirts."

This quote told us how important the money in our life. Even though some people say that money cannot buy everything such as love but it we could not survive without it. Nowadays you need money for your whole life; for clothes, for food, for a shelter and even water costs. You may know the proverb ‘Money doesn’t bring happiness’. It’s very controversial. Half says it is wrong, the other says it is true. But would you be happy without any penny? Since money is a large part of our life, you need at least little money to be happy. 

2)

"There’s a Chinese saying that the fates are winds that blow through our lives from every angle, urging us along the paths of time. those who are strong-willed may fight the storm and possibly choose their own road, while the weak must go where they are blown. I say I have not been so much pushed by winds as pulled forward by the force of my decisions. And all the while, I have longed for that which I could not have. At the time it seemed that everything I’d ever wanted was finally within reach. I made a decision that changed the trajectory of the rest of my life."

 lf I had any criticism, I would say that at times Kim did not have enough flaws; she had huge reserves of strength and determination that kept her forever moving in the right direction. Perhaps she was not always good, but neither did she ever really seem weak. However, I could accept her strength because she had essentially no choice but to be continually strong. If she could not do that, she and her mother would be lost under the press of their financial woes and limited options.

3) 

“What a relationship looks like on the outside isn't the same as what it's like on the inside. You can be more in love with someone in your mind than with the person you see every day.” 

As a person we cannot judge a relationship based on what we see in front of our eye. Sometimes, what we see is not the same as we thought it would be. Relationship is something that dealing with emotion. For me, nothing is more difficult than emotions. We can see if a person is angry, she or he is really mad at someone. But in the other hand, maybe she or he cares and loves that someone and that is one way that they show them. Like love from a mother. Besides, we can become more in love with someone in our mind because mind has no limitation. In other words, mind can imagine something that we want to be happened. Even though it is just a dream, it can bring happiness to us. It is different when we see someone that we love everyday without having a chance to know them. They exist in our real life but it will not bring us a full happiness. 

4)

          “cavernous hall bulging with exposed beams and rusting bolts 

                   covered in ever-thickening layers of filth. The fluorescent light 

                   swirled down through the cloud of fabric dust, 

                   bathing the tops of women’s heads”

                   

This quotation describe about the surrounding area in the garment factory. This place is unclean and will probably cause the employees of the factory to get health problems. In addition to that, immigrants that work in the factory can also experience depression. This is not a good condition to work and at the end it will lowers that quality of things that they make.

5)

          "in writing this book, [she] certainly broke the code of silence 
                around poor, working class, Chinese-American immigrants”

               

Jean Kwok said this quote when she was being interviewed by Good Reads Institution in 2010. She really hoped that this book can exposed what was happened to Chinese immigrants during 1980's.

Characters

MAIN CHARACTER

Kimberly Chang (Ah Kim)

Kimberly is a very smart girl who excels in school. But due to the language barrier once in New York, Kimberly struggles academically. It helped to immerse me in the world of an immigrant to the United States. Jean Kwok illustrated the cultural differences and adjustments Kimberly and her mother had to make, as well as the importance in the Asian culture of education. I felt sad for her because as a child she need to protect her mother while trying to fit in at school. For me English is very important language as we know that we are living in the world of globalization. English language is a common language and is spoken in many countries. It is considered as universal language. Most of the universities worldwide include English as one of their major subject. English is the first and foremost criteria whether you are applying for a job or you are seeking admission in a reputed college,university or institution. Besides, Kimberly is a determined and brave person. You need to brave enough to know your goals. If you don’t know what you want to achieve how can you possibly know where to make brave choices to get there.  Make sure you are facing the direction you want to go.

SIDE CHARACTERS

Kimberly's Mother (Ma)

In my opinion, Kimberly's mother is a very protective person. She is willing to do everything to make sure that Kimberly get a good education in New York even though she cannot speaks English. Being protective or sometimes over protective is common for mothers. They want their children to be safe from any dangers. They also want the best for their children because they hope their children will become more successful than them. Moreover, Kimberly's mother is also a hard working women. She work every day and night arranging skirts in the factory. Being a hard working person can give you many benefits. First, you can feel a sence of achievement. After we've completed a session of hard work, not only is it rewarding to see the end result, but it also gives the sense of achievement. Also, It teaches you to be responsible and independent . Working hard will mean that we will inevitably make a mistake. A mistake, is not only a learning curve for our minds, but also a chance for you to be responsible and accountable for the mistake. Thus in turn making you more independent and more reliable in the future.

Aunt Paula

Aunt Paula is the sister of Kimberly's mother. She married to a rich American Chinese man and stayed in New York City. She was the one who brought Kimberly and her mother to New York after Kimberly's father died. Even though she provided them with jobs and shelter, sometimes she did not being kind to them. She was jealous when she heard that Kimberly got an offer letter to Hunter High School. A school that her son wanted to go but he did not get into it. As a family, it is our responsible to care about each other. We are not suppose to hurt the feelings of our family members. If one of us are in trouble, we need to give them a help as much as we could. Even though she was the one who brought Kimberly and her mother to New York, she did not care much about them when they arrived. She did not make any effort to move her sister into a new apartment. Her sister's apartment was full of rats and cockroaches and soon to be destroyed by the government.  

Annette

She is Kimberly's best friend. Different from any other white children, she did not ignoring Kimberly. They always spent their time together doing homework, studying, chatting and playing. However, Kimberly always  gave excuses when Annette want to go to her house. Annette seems do not have problem about that. For me, even though they are best friend, Annette did not care much about Kimberly. As friend we must be concerned about our friend. We suppose to know a little bit about them like where they live, how many siblings they have, who are their parents and what are problems they are facing. Annette was also easy to be influenced by her surrounding. When she went to high school, she became a member of a politics club. She began to involve in election held in her school. Besides, I think she did not know what is the feeling of become poor because her family lived in Brooklyn upper class area. In my opinion, best friend is someone to share your deepest secret, someone to give you advice and tell you the truth no matter what, someone to keep away anything that could hurt you, standing beside you and protecting you, comfort you with open arms in the bad times, laugh with you in your good times. Someone to hang out with, share thoughts and experiences. To have someone who accepts you as you are.

SETTING

 Place Setting

Chinatown in 1890, Brooklyn

Clothes Factory in Chinatown

Place settings in this novel is mainly at Chinatown located in Brooklyn. This is where Kimberly and her mother stayed in their poor apartment. The factory where they worked also situated in Chinatown. Most of the people that live in this place are Chinese immigrants and it is not a very safe place. For me, living here can make you become creative in many different ways. Kimberly and her mother live in a small apartment full of rats and cockroaches. They had tried many things to chase all these pests. You have no other choice to become comfortable unless you get rid from all of them. Living here also trained you to be more careful toward your surrounding. This is because the security system is not good and there are many crimes taking places around you. Besides, you must also be careful when working in the factory. Sometimes, sewing machines can cause injury and the place to dry the clothes can make your skin burn. 

Hunter High School, Brooklyn

This is the school where Kimberly had been admitted based on her excellent result. At first, she did not so sure to enter this school because she did not have enough money to pay the fees. In the end, the school offered her a full scholarship when they saw her result. Therefore, this shows that with knowledge and good achievement we will be accepted by people. Furthermore, we will also been given opportunity to continue our study if people know that we are the excellent one. Then, entering a new school with new surrounding can also give us an opportunity to mixed around with new people. Each of us has a different way of thinking, so if we can share our ideas it will be good for us.

Time Setting 

The time setting was not mentioned in this novel. But according to the history, Chinese immigrants start to settle in United States in the early of 19th century. Most of them worked as laborers in factories and mining industry. In my opinion, they came to United States to find a better life because there are a lot of job opportunities there. Some of them started to involve in business and marketing until they can opened their own factory. 

The Theme

The main theme of this novel is, only with knowledge and determination can improve someone's life.
Kimberly Chang is an intelligent student and she used her ability to find the way out of her poor life. Besides, she was also a determined person. Being an immigrant in other people's country was a big challenge for her to survive in her life. I am impressed with her because she was able to cope with a very different surrounding when she suddenly move to New York from Hong Kong. If a person is not strong enough to deal with challenging surrounding, she or he will be lost. Lost in translation. They are probably easy to give up in their life and failed to be a successful person. These kind of people do not have a target in their life and at the end everything happened in their life is meaningless.

But we cannot put all the blame on that person especially when they are immigrant from other country. You will not be treated as well as the national citizen when you move to other countries.
These are some example of articles of Chinese immigrants in USA :

in novel : Kimberly work in a garment factory own by her aunt Paula

in novel : Kimberly and her mother need to work in her aunt factory to pay her aunt's money

how the garment factory look like

About the Author : Jean Kwok

Jean Kwok is a chinese women and she moved from Hong Kong to Brooklyn when she was 5 years old and do not know how to speak English.. This novel is actually related to the journey of her life. Even though Girl in Translation is a work of fiction and not a memoir, all the places mentioned in this novel are real. Her family lost most of their belongings when they sold them to pay the cost to go to New York. During her life, she worked at a clothing factory in Brooklyn Chinatown. However, she is a smart students and had entered Hunter High School, a public secondary school for gifted students and received  full scholarship. Upon graduation, she worked in university laboratories and at the same time got an early admission to Harvard College. She graduated with Bachelor in English and now living with husband and two sons in Netherlands. 

Jean Kwok

Graduation Day

with her Principal

when she was small

These are some of her achievement : http://www.jeankwok.com/awards.shtml

For me, Jean is a strong and very determined person. She started her life in United States from below and slowly learned to reach her goals. She always find ways to get what she wished for. Even though her family was poor, she did not give up on her study and tried to work while studying. From that, she probably gained some valuable experience and see the life in a different perspective. At the end, she became a successful person after going through hard times in her life. If I be her, I do not regret for what had happened to me and feel grateful because I can learn many things from that. 

Girl In Translation by Jean Kwok

This is the cover page of the novel that I read. Even though it was simple, but for me it tells me a lot  meaning. The blue color of the background shows the color of inspiration, sincerity and spirituality. Same as the main character of this novel, Kimberly Chang who moved from Hong Kong to New York. A pencil on the girl's hair represents that she is a hardworking person, eager to find knowledge and intelligent student. Kimberly is very good when dealing with numbers and often get the highest mark in her class. As for the tangled hair, it somehow represents tradition. Living in New York city does not mean that she must to follow everything that happened in her surrounding. Her mother always teach to be polite and practice Chinese tradition in their life.