"This house was built too steep, and a bad wind from the top blows all your strength back down the hill. So you can never get ahead. You are always rolling backward." (p. 109)
This quote stood out to me. It may seem like Ying-ying is constantly trying to redecorate, however, to me this is one of the major warning signs that she was not mentally sound. She is not really referring to the house, she is referring to herself. Something about her is off and she is trying to find balance in her life. Rearranging may be her own way of trying to find this in her everyday life, but it is not going to fix the root of the problem. When she was a little girl, we saw in "The Moon Lady," that she lost part of herself. This has scarred her and effected her, and we see that as this narrative progresses. We can even see how it is effecting her family. She is worrying her daughter and her husband greatly. Lena, her daughter, has even said that she can translate what her mother is saying, but it has no meaning to her. It does not make sense.
I really like how you drew connections from The Moon Lady, and were able to figure out why Ying-ying is the way she is. It's sometimes difficult to keep track of the characters in this novel but this post does a great job of connecting the stories.
ReplyDeleteThere's one question that I stumbled across while reading The Voice from the Wall that reappeared while reading this blog post. Is Ying-ying crazy or does she understand things differently- better - than everyone else?