Study Questions
1. Waverly wonders whether she will look Chinese when she goes there on her honeymoon. Lindo assures her that everyone in China will know she is a foreigner. What will give her away?

2. Lindo wanted her children to have American circumstances and Chinese character. What was wrong with that?

3. Why has Waverly brought Lindo to Mr. Rory?

4. In what ways does Waverly show that she is ashamed of Lindo?

5. What kind of life did Lindo’s mother predict on the basis of her facial features?

6. What made Lindo’s nose change from being straight and smooth to crooked? What is wrong with having a crooked nose?

7. Who introduced Lindo and Tin?

8. Language is a barrier to Lindo and Tin at first. What problem does Lindo especially mention? How do they get around it?

9. Why did Lindo name her daughter after a street?

10. Lindo decides she will ask Waverly’s opinion of what she has lost and gained in America. What does this decision tell us about their relationship?

Answers
1. Lindo says the way she walks and the expression on her face will give her away, even if her clothing and makeup do not.

2. The two don’t mix.

3. Waverly is marrying Rich, and she wants her mother to look nice.

4. She talks about Lindo in front of her, and she treats her as if she can’t speak English, make her own decisions, or hear well.

5. She will recognize opportunity, have a long life without becoming a burden, and be clever; but she will also have troubles early in her life. She would be a good wife, mother, and daughter-in-law.

6. Lindo bumped her nose on a bus. A girl who has a crooked nose will also have troubles.

7. An-mei Hsu introduced them.

8. She and Tin can’t tease or scold one another while they are dating because they speak different dialects of Chinese and both have poor English. She misses the teasing because that’s how she could tell if the relationship were serious. They get around it by writing in Chinese and by acting out what they mean. Eventually they learn enough English and enough of each other’s dialects to scold and tease.

9. Lindo wanted Waverly to know she belonged somewhere, so she named her after the street on which they lived.

10. Lindo has come to value Waverly’s opinion. The reconciliation they began in “Four Directions” has apparently worked out.