The Concubine's Children

Family Genealogy:

Big Wife Yuen
May-yin Ping
Nan
Winnie +  Denise Cheong
Chow Guen Leonard adopted
Chinese Diaspora
Chronolgy:
 
The Past 
1848 -- Chan Sam leaves his family
1922 -- arrives in North America
1924 -- May-ying (p. 62)
1929 -- return to China
1930 -- back to Canada, Winnie¡¦s birth
1935 -- second return 
1987 -- Winnie's trip		 1987 -- Winnie's visit of China with Denise
Issues: The Influences of Institutionalized Racism on Family Relationships
  • Gender, Husband and Wife -- Chan-Sam and May-Yin

    • Gender -- Chan-Sam and May-Yin
    their marriage: a hunting knife under his side of the mattress (63)
    May-ying as a waitress (63)
    May-ying as a Concubine (63)
  • Chan-Sam

    • the house 65
    --being fatherly from afar (69; 71)
    -- does not belong in Nanaimo, missing home 58-59
     --sacrifice the famly in Canada for the sake of the family in China
  • May-ying --scary; strong woman  "cutting and curling her hair to look older to conform to the illegally purchased birth certificate¡¨ (62)

    • Leave her husband 63; 65
    claimed back the rites of love (67)
    gamble her love on Chow Guen, get a son Leonard
    Her later years (73-74)
  • Family -- May-ying's influence on Winnie

    • the family photo (p. 60)
    Winnie neglected; Strictly disciplined 66-67
    like a checked baggage, 68;
    dressed as a son 91
    Winnie's rebellion ; decides to quit school;
    after marriage, keep a regular correspondence with her mother  --
    final brokeup 70; 75
     
  • Family Broken Apart and Brought together

    • Paper  daughter 69
    Ping 77 --"I don't deserve this; I was not born here."
    immigration--liberation 77
    Page no. based on the novel version:
    I . grandfather--1913 (racism 11-15  1923 Exclusion)
     --faithful to his wife 20
     --a hunting knife under his side of the mattress
     --being fatherly from afar
       does not belong in Nanaimo, missing home 58-59
     --sacrifice the famly in Canada for the sake of the family in China
    2. grandmother--scary; strong woman "cutting and curling her hair to look older to conform to the illegally purchased birth certificate"
    being a concubine as a mark against her p. 8
    fear of being divorced, everthing accumulated since marriage was the husband's 31
    --sought after as a waitress--teahouse waitresses 28-29, 33; 57;
    her strength 30 herbal medicine, mah-jionng
    challenge fate in gambling table 110
    conflicts 50-51; 62-63
    --claimed back the rites of love and courtship denied her by Grandfather
    gamble her love on Chow Guen, get a son Leonard

    3. between  grandma and mother , and the author

    --not loving; mother, like a checked baggage, 141
    venting her bitterness on her daughters 131; chose to run 140
    Guen 148--Hing
    mother--silent; shame 148; dressed as a son 91; 93; obedience
    Hing's rebellion 126 glum, serious expression; turn at the sign of rooming house
    163--decides to quit school
    p. 202  after marriage, keep a regular correspondence with her mother
    206  live with Winnie
    p. 208-you didnt raise me--210
    HIng--police herself 165
    after her death 235
    "You are Canadian" 238
    Winnie's confusion and regret 241

    the collision of the two worlds
    immigration--liberation 259
    the author--p.4; 195; 206-07

    4. a family inevitably split by history
    1. grandfather's letters p. 199; 211-12
    2. different fates of the three sisters
    the house built by Chan Sam 73
    Ping--"I don't deserve this; I was not born here." p. 3; 77


    5. connection--

    1. grandfather's love for the Chinese family; for Hing 147; 179; for the author 195
    2. May-yin and her grandchildren p. 222-23; and Louise 227
        May-yin and the adopted children 264
    3. travelling back to China
     the coat p. 3
    4. daughter--fill in the blanks 265;-66
    grave visits--she's seen the fruits of their labor unresolved tensions