Shanghai Girls

by Lisa See

Start Free Trial

Shanghai Girls Questions and Answers

What role does place—Shanghai, Angel Island, China City and Chinatown—serve in the novel? What do you think Lisa See was trying to say about "home"?

Pearl says that parents die, husbands and children can leave, but sisters are for life. Does that end up being true for Pearl? If you have a sister, to what extent does the relationship between Pearl and May speak to your own experience? What’s the difference between a relationship that’s “just like sisters” and real sisters? Is there anything your sister could do that would cause an irreparable breach?

In Shanghai Girls, discuss the character of Old Man Louie and Sam's relationship with Pearl and Joy. To what extent does Pearl find her way to healing by the end of the novel?

How long were Pearl and May detained at Angel Island in the novel Shanghai Girls?

In Shanghai Girls, Pearl is a dragon and May is a sheep. Do you think the two sisters, in their actions in the novel, are true to their birth signs?

After Joy points out the differences in the way Z. G. painted her mother and aunt in the Communist propaganda posters in Shanghai Girls, May says, "Everything always returns to the beginning" (page 267). Pearl has her idea of what May meant, but what do you think May really meant? What is Pearl's understanding of this saying at the end of the novel?

What were the main events of Shanghai Girls?

In Lisa See's Shanghai Girls, which sister is smarter?  Which is more beautiful?  

Each sister in Shanghai Girls believes that her parents loved the other sister more. Who is right about this? Why?

In Shanghai Girls, do Mama's beliefs have any influence on Pearl? How do they evolve over time?

In Shanghai Girls, Pearl doesn't come to motherly love easily or naturally. At what point does she begin to claim Joy as her own? How, where, and why does she continue to struggle with the challenges of being a mother?

What is the context for this work?

The narration is level and calm throughout Lisa See's novel Shanghai Girls, even when the events are horrific. What is the function of the juxtaposition between narrative tone and events?