The Chen Family

I constructed a simple family tree of Kiam-Kim's family to help me visualize it better. I was going to include Third Uncle but he is a very distant relative on Father's side. He was the one who allowed them to come to Vancouver from China by sponsoring them, therefore he still poses as an extremely important character. Even though he is not included in the tree, I believe he should always be noted when talking about the Chen family.

I didn't find out until a few chapters ago that Master Chen (from Old China) was the one who made Poh-Poh pregnant with Father. I also didn't realize until now that 'Father' is never called by his real name in the book. I wonder why Wayson Choy decided to do that. Stepmother or Poh-Poh didn't call him anything different either. I was surprised she didn't mention this until she reached the end of her life since she always had stories to tell, but I'm sure just like anyone who has had that experience, she didn't want to discuss it. There are a lot of untold secrets in this novel, too.

After making this tree, it reminded me that two of the four children who live in the house are Stepmother's real children, yet they still have to refer to her as Stepmother. She never talked much about it until the last chapter. I'm not surprised she mentioned this while she and Father had an extremely powerful argument. To never be called mother by one's own children can easily upset someone. She was forced to conform and agree to this just so she wouldn't anger the ghost of the First Wife who she didn't even know. I felt really sympathetic for her.

I made the line connecting Jung-Sum and Father and Stepmother red rather than black to show that he was adopted. I have to constantly remind myself that he is adopted because he fits so well into the family and is treated with as much respect and pride as the other children are.

I put 'Unknown' in the box underneath Jenny and Kiam-Kim because at the end of the novel I found out that they were expecting a baby very soon. Poh-Poh told Kiam that he should have several children, so this is something she would have been proud to see.