Jenny, Matthew and Lily’s maid, instantly builds rapport with May when they meet after Nick’s birth. Do you think Lily is jealous of their chemistry, and if so, why?
Jealous, yes, but I think Lily more was confused and hurt by how easily Mei accepted Jenny. I interpreted Lily as always feeling that Mei was distant and not wanting to share their Chinese heritage.
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Jenny does seem jealous. She does not have a warm relationship with her mother. She was never taught the language or really anything about her mother’s life in China.
Yes, May and Jenny bonded culturally and that gave them a sense of easy friendship and understanding which Lily had never felt with her mom. I think it made Lily feel left out.
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Yes I think Lily was jealous of Jenny. Lily never had a good relationship with her mother where Jenny and May bonded very quickly.
I agree with everyone’s comments. I think it was particularly frustrating for Lily that she hadn’t been encouraged to learn/speak Mandarin. So it was especially hurtful when Lily observes Jenny and May easily connecting in their native language.
Lily felt left out of the cultural bond between Jenny and May. She also felt that she could have had that with her mother, who deliberately kept her away from Chinese culture.
I don’t know if it was actual jealousy or more of the feeling of being an outsider and separate from their newly formed connection. I thought that aspect of the story was really interesting and added a new dynamic to the characters and their relationships with one another.
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I agree, I think Lily was jealous, hurt and confused. She didn’t really know her mother or their culture and was never, it seemed, to be able to get our of her own way and thrive. Of all the characters, I was most disappointed the author did not go deeper into Lily’s issues and help her develop and grow.
The bond May built with Jenny was hurtful to Lily as she never had that type of relationship with her mother and here is another person, who May develops a close relationship with right in front of her.
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The fact that Jenny and May shared a language that Lily did not, increased the separation between Lily and May which I think caused resentment as well as jealousy on Lily’s part. I could understand May’s connection with Jenny.
I felt that it was not jealousy as much as sadness that she did not have that kind of relationship with her mother and amazement that her mother could connect with a young woman in that way, especially if it was not related to science.
I do think Jesse resented the ease between her mother and the maid. May did nit open up to Lily at all
Lily and her mother remained distant, and adding someone to the scene made Liy uneasy. Her mother shared her heritage with the maid, which she erased from Lily’s childhood trying to be an American. That is common I would suppose.
Yes, Lily is jealous. Jenny and May do have more in common that Lily and May do. They are both immigrants. May was emotionally unavailable for Lily, so to see a bond develop between Jenny and May must have been heart wrenching.
I agree wholeheartedly. Jenny and Mei had the relationship that Lily had always wanted from her mother.
Also add the fact that the relationship came easy to her mother and I think she felt her mother had never tried with her.