Chinese Words (Simile)
"Chinese words were awkward and messy, like quicksand" (150).
Sek-Lung uses this simile to describe his challenge with speaking and understanding Chinese, and explain why he finds English easier. As a young boy, Sek-Lung is often considered to be somewhat slow or unintelligent, but he actually struggles with speaking and learning two languages simultaneously. Of all the children, Sek-Lung is most immersed in English-speaking Canadian culture, and sometimes he feels alienated from Chinese languages and culture. The simile comparing Chinese words to quicksand shows that Sek-Lung feels threatened and even frightened of situations where he might speak incorrectly in Chinese and embarrass himself. It also creates juxtaposition by comparing Chinese words to a source of threat rather than a source of security for Sek-Lung. He feels unsettled rather than at ease when speaking Chinese because he does not feel fully at home with Chinese language or culture.
Hands (Simile)
“And here I was, ten years old, with hands like silk” (76).
Jung-Sum uses this simile to describe his hands, contrasting them with the hands of the older men around him. Most men in the neighborhood work hard, often doing some form of manual labor, and therefore have roughened hands. The simile reveals that Jung-Sum feels subtly different from the male role models around him, and this feeling of difference foreshadows his later realization about his sexuality and desire for Frank Yuen. The simile is significant because silk is often associated with dress, ornamentation, and personal adornment, which are traditionally more feminine topics, and it therefore hints that Jung-Sum may have a different relationship to masculinity. Finally, the simile contributes to the novel's exploration and celebration of Chinese culture, since the use of silk as a fabric originated in ancient China.
Acrobat (Simile)
“tall and pale as the whiteness of petals” (163).
Grandmother uses this simile when she is telling Sek-Lung stories about her childhood in China, and tells him about the acrobat who taught her to juggle and gifted the jade peony to her. The simile shows Grandmother's more lyrical and emotional side, since she uses poetic language and a simile to describe the acrobat. Usually, Grandmother is quite pragmatic and blunt, so the simile reveals a different aspect of her character and hints at what she might have been like a a young girl, before she endured the many hardships of her life. The simile also creates continuity of imagery, since Grandmother compares the acrobat's skin to flower petals, and he was the one to gift her a beautiful flower carved from pale pink jade.
Trees (Metaphor)
"the skies threatened snow. The trees were skeletons" (268).
This metaphor contributes to imagery describing a cold winter's day in December 1941, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The metaphor likening bare trees to skeletons contributes to a tone of bleakness and hopelessness, and links to themes of death and loss. For the Chinese Canadians, there has already been much death, loss, and suffering, since Canada has already been a part of World War II, and there has been much unrest and suffering in China for decades. Now, the attack on Pearl Harbor means that war, violence, and death are likely only going to increase. Within the world of the novel, the metaphor also contributes to the motif of death, and foreshadows Meiying's subsequent death.
Fluttering Voices (Simile)
"Fluttering voices, like butterflies of palest amber" (276).
At the end of the novel, Sek-Lung reminisces about having seen Meiying happily interacting with his mother. The two women shared a casual and warm intimacy, and Sek-Lung uses a simile comparing the sound of their voices to amber-colored butterflies. The simile evokes transience and the fragility of life, since butterflies are very delicate, and do not live for a long time. Likewise, Meiying's life comes to an abrupt end, and she vanishes from the lives of Sek-Lung and Stepmother. While evoking the fragility and transience of all experiences, the simile also hints at the more enduring power of memory. Sek-Lung mentions butterflies the color of amber (a golden or yellow substance made out of fossilized tree resin). Amber is a material that can preserve and fossilize objects and organisms if they are captured inside of it, and so the specific mention of amber in the simile highlights a key theme of the novel: nothing stays the same, but memories and stories can also ensure that nothing is truly gone.
