Several Chinese proverbs are woven through the novel, including “Fortune rests in misfortune” and “Knowledge changes destiny.” How do these apply to the story? Do you believe they also apply in real life? If so, how?
Well, Celia had a lot of misfortune! She did end up being fortunate after all.
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The first Chinese proverb mentioned is “The sky can change unexpectedly. Overnight, people’s fortunes can rise or fall.” Celia is in love with Stephen, a promising man of a well-to-do family, who wants to marry her (eventually), but unexpectedly she is with child, then her Chinese father is killed. She believes she has nowhere to go and ends up living in a brothel. Unexpectedly, the women in the brothel, notably Marie and Lettie, become friends of sorts and mainstays in her life. Trying to help Lettie, overnight Celia finds herself on a ship, shanghaied, and then in jail, but is unexpectedly rescued by Owen, who indirectly got her there in the first place, but whose story is complicated, too. Abigail finally comes forward, somewhat unexpectedly, and the fortunes of Celia and her daughter, Pearl, and even Stephen rise again.
“Knowledge changes destiny” comes into play as Celia understands more of her heritage as a “half-breed” child of a Chinese father and a presumably white American mother. She learns of the brutal massacres of Chinese miners in Oregon and in Wyoming. She learns how some Chinese are treated by a number of politicians, in the press and in the courts, especially when they are no longer needed as laborers to build railroads and to mine gold, and are competing with American workers. Eventually, Celia learns that not everyone in the US, including Stephen and maybe even Mayor Bettencourt, is in agreement with this, and their extended family will move forward and try to make a difference.
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Luisa did a beautiful job demonstrating how each of these proverbs played into Celia’s life. Proverbs are wise sayings and usually prove to be true in each of our lives. I am probably going to show my age but, when I was in grade school, each day we had a proverb written on the board to copy in our notebook and then explain what we thought it meant. Learned a lot about life, and it might be a good idea to try this again today. Interestingly, each culture had their own proverbs, so we learned about each other.
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I loved this aspect of the story. The proverbs often applied very specifically to Celia’s situation, but they also gave us a window into into Chinese culture. For example, “Fortune rests in misfortune” can be taken very specifically in Celia’s situation to mean that coping with her misfortunes led her her to a more fortunate place, but to me this proverb also hints at a cultural focus on resilience, endurance, and strength.
Misfortune can cause us to think about our actions or circumstances and learn from them. Knowledge can change destiny is similar to the saying, “when you know more, you do better.” I think there is truth in proverbs.