Chapter Eight - The Only Cure for Old Age is to Die

I am nearing the end of the book, and unlike other books I have read (mostly for school) I don't want it to end. I would actually be content if this book carried on for another couple chapters. Compared to the others, this was a very eventful chapter and it created several different emotions for me as a reader.

In this chapter, people are beginning to be judged by their appearance, names, and accents. Since the war is taking its toll on everyone, more and more people are becoming suspects; if you look Japanese, sound Eastern European, or have a German-looking name, you were criticized. At this time it wasn't easy for anyone who had either of the above qualities. This reminded me of an excerpt from something I read in a school book a couple years ago about Japanese discrimination in Vancouver around this time as well. I think it was about David Suzuki. Even though he looked Japanese, he felt Canadian. I quickly read an interview with Wayson Choy and he said he felt like a banana growing up, and still does: yellow on the outside, white on the inside. I think that played a huge role in the characterizing of Kiam-Kim. Back to the David Suzuki excerpt: thousands of Canadian Japanese citizens were put into internment camps (I forget what they were officially named) even if they were born in Canada and knew almost nothing about their background country. These posters were scattered across British Columbia. Kiam and a lot of other Chinese citizens were usually mistaken as being Japanese and that caused some annoyance; they wanted to make buttons that said "I am Chinese".

While at the library, Kiam witnesses Jenny cheating on him with his best friend Jack O'Connor. Instead of confronting them, he walked back to the desk where he and Jenny were previously studying. He continued to ignore it for the whole chapter. He didn't mention it to Jenny when they were alone or even act angry towards her. I'm shocked he hasn't done anything yet because it wasn't just a random guy, it was his best friend (even if it was a random guy I would have thought he would have been mad and visually upset). It did bug him though; he got distracted at school or whenever he saw either of them, but he still didn't react the way I would have assumed someone in his situation would. This suggests that he isn't one to start any drama and just wants peace to always remain between his friendships. This is him attempting to be optimistic; he thinks if he ignores it, he'll eventually forget about it. The common knowledge I have on repressed emotions and memories is that they never end well and these emotions are always there until they are completely solved and understood. He is going to have to bring it up to one of them eventually.

Poh-Poh decided it was time to begin working on the final wind chime, the one that would be raised only after she passed away. She and Sekky had run out of colourful pieces of glass and shiny items and Poh-Poh thought it would not be complete in time. What seemed like a sign from the Gods, a local Chinese church burned down (luckily with no one in it), so Poh-Poh and Sekky both walked down to the ruins and foraged through the rubble. The two began to gain attention and it wasn't positive. People thought their actions were strange and it wasn't making the Chen family look good. From there on they were both strictly told to stay home for safety reasons. Poh-Poh was okay with this, she was waiting for her last sign: the return of an old friend who told her he would come back when she was ready and take her with him. Over the next few days, she kept seeing the ghost of him. She was too ill to stay at home so she was admitted into St. Paul's. The last thing she told Kiam was to have many sons with Jenny. The very next day Father came home earlier than usual and immediately went to Poh-Poh's room. He took the wind chime from underneath her bed and hung it in front of the window; the entire room was filled with dancing colourful spots made by the glass pieces. Personally, I think Poh-Poh was the most lively character, the most colourful one, so this part described her perfectly for me. Any room could be made more colourful or brighter when her presence was there. I was saddened by her death because she was probably my favourite character, but as Jenny said, "Everyone dies, everything ends" (Choy 351). It's going to be strange reading the next chapter because she won't be in it. The title of this entry ("The only cure for old age is to die") is a quote by the Great Buddha and is said by Poh-Poh, lightheartedly. She didn't seem scared of death after she accepted it.

I like how Choy decided to not state her death directly, instead it was implied by the hanging of the last wind chime. The description was subtle, thus if a reader wasn't paying attention they could have missed this significant event.

After her death, Kiam pondered and realized he never called her anything but Poh-Poh. In Chinese, 'Poh-Poh' means the mother's mother, but she is actually his father's mother, thus the proper name would be Nai-Nai. They were not permitted to call her Nai-Nai because on their documents she was stated as being their mother's mother. If they happened to slip up and call her that instead, the demon customs officers would ship them back to Old China. Jung-Sum, Liang, and Sekky were all documented as being his full siblings, too. He thought it shouldn't matter, they've only lived together as family so no matter what he would consider them family. Family ties and traditions both play huge parts in the novel. Kiam also learns that Father's father, his grandfather, was Patriarch Chen, Poh-Poh's master when she was a young slave in Old China. For this to happen he had to of raped her. This thought went through Kiam's mind and he was furious, but he concealed his extreme emotions by thinking Poh-Poh has not only gone through the worst, but she survived. He thought of her perseverance and it inspired him to see through anything no matter what. I thought it was interesting to be told this near the end of the book.  It makes me wonder what else there is that I don't know.