49 pages • 1 hour read
Gloria ChaoAmerican Panda
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 12-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 12 Summary: “Mei-Ball”
Mei meets Xing at a dim sum restaurant. The estranged siblings don’t know how to behave around each other, and Mei still feels guilty for meeting him in secret. Mei is tired of keeping secrets from her parents. When she asks Xing why he disappeared completely from her life, he admits that he thought taking himself out of the situation would be better for Mei. He didn’t want her to have to choose between her parents and brother. Mei is upset that he seemingly sealed her fate as a sheltered, awkward person. She recalls the night that Xing was disowned and how he begged his parents to accept Esther. Instead, they shunned him, and young Mei was confused and afraid. Mei now tries to confide in him about her fears of pursuing medicine. However, once she discovers that Xing enjoys being a doctor, she decides that he wouldn’t be able to relate to her anxiety, so she keeps another secret for now.
Note: There is no Chapter 13 because Mei acknowledges that the number 13 is bad luck in American culture.
Chapter 14 Summary: “MIThenge”
Mei seeks out Darren after class to resolve their conflict. Darren apologizes for hurting Mei’s feelings and admits that he wants to understand her situation because he cares about her. He claims that sometimes going against one’s parents is worth the fight, as was his experience in coming to MIT. Mei also apologizes for her earlier reaction. As she’s leaving, she notices that students have lined up in the Infinite Corridor hallway to await “MIThenge,” a phenomenon that happens twice a year, where the sunlight perfectly fills the Corridor window for a few minutes. Darren is hopeful that he and Mei can still be friends despite her parents’ disapproval. Mei hesitantly agrees, and they exchange phone numbers.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Ruth”
Mei is having trouble keeping track of her lies and secrets from her parents. Mama Lu scolds Mei when she discovers that Mei earned a 72 on her biology exam, which is an “F” according to her parents. Xing arranges for Mei to attend a gross anatomy class with his colleague Anna. The class takes place in a morgue where the students eagerly answer questions and dissect cadavers. Mei is overwhelmed by the smell and by the other students’ passion for biology. Later, she confesses to Xing that her anxiety about germs is severe and debilitating. He accepts that he and Mei are two very different people. Mei struggles with voicing her fears but eventually admits to herself that she cannot be a doctor. She doesn’t bother dancing in the Porter Room that night.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Hot Chocolate”
Mei and Darren meet up for hot chocolate. On the way, Mei is confused when an Asian tourist asks to take a picture of them; she guesses that tourists like to capture the prestigious campus life. Darren suggests sitting outside by the frozen river, and Mei realizes that she sometimes forgets to appreciate the campus’s beauty. Darren shares that his family has been in America for three generations and that he doesn’t identify with Japanese culture. His parents wanted to keep him in Southern California because they feared letting him go. Mei admits that she doesn’t agree with her parents most of the time and immediately feels guilty. Darren reveals that he has noticed her fear of germs, but he is not judgmental. Mei finally shares with Darren her dream of owning a dance studio, which clashes with her parents’ doctor dreams. They joke about Japanese magic tricks and how not all family issues are black and white like a panda. As they laugh, Mei feels lighter.
Chapter 17 Summary: “Ancestor Lu”
Mei continues to see Xing in secret. They go to the museum to see the Terracotta Army exhibit featuring the life-sized warrior sculptures of Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang. They grew up listening to their mother’s stories about the ancient emperor. Mei sees herself and her family in the faces of the warriors, and she wonders if they’re distantly related. She and Xing commiserate about their simultaneous pride in their Chinese culture and their resentment of its restrictive traditions. Mei now understands more why Xing chose Esther over their parents.
Later, Mama Lu invites Mei to see the warrior exhibit, and Mei feels guilty for having already gone with Xing. She lies and claims that she must study instead; Mei is having even more trouble keeping track of her lies. When Mama Lu discovers Mei’s makeup, Mei claims that it belongs to Nicolette. In reality, Mei has been practicing stage makeup for an upcoming dance performance for MIT’s Association of Taiwanese Students (ATS). They have asked her to be the entertainer at their night market event.
Chapter 18 Summary: “Night Market”
Xing and Mei are at the mall arcade when Mei asks about Esther. Xing claims that Esther changed his perspective on love. He revealed Esther’s trouble conceiving to his parents, knowing they would disapprove, because he hated the pressure of being the eldest son. He wanted to rebel against his parents’ demands because he felt resentful of Mei being their father’s darling while Xing was treated more severely. Xing realizes that their father’s strict behavior has influenced their mother, and Mei worries about falling for Darren.
At the ATS night market, the Taiwanese vendors remind Mei of visits to Taiwan where her family felt closer; they also went to night markets together. Mei performs a traditional Chinese dance in costume, adding her own flair to the dance. Afterward, boys approach her and ask questions about her performance, but she is more excited to see Darren, whom she invited to the event. Darren and Mei eat Taiwanese ice cream together. She feels more like herself with Darren, so she confesses that she can’t just be friends with him. They hold hands on the way home. Mei feels guilty later when her mother arrives to do her laundry. Mei nervously turns her away as she tells her mother that she loves her. Mei is upset but not surprised when Mama Lu doesn’t say it back; Mei then hides away in the Porter Room.
Chapters 12-18 Analysis
Mei continues exploring campus traditions and starting her own. She begins to appreciate the beauty of being at MIT even if she’s not as independent as a typical college student. Experiencing “MIThenge” shows her that campus traditions can be just as powerful as her family’s. The opportunity to perform at the ATS night market is empowering for Mei. She is finally doing something she loves on her own terms and honoring her culture in her favorite way: “I felt such a pull to ATS, to Chinese dance, almost as if I was desperate to hang on to the bits of culture I still loved” (170). Adding her own flair to the dance illustrates her personality and highlights the way she is learning to balance The Challenges of Navigating Cultural Identity and Assimilation with her own identity: She is honoring her ancestors by performing a traditional dance, but she is also honoring herself by enhancing it with her own personal style.
Accompanying her in these new and old traditions is Darren. Mei has struggled with her feelings for him and how they conflict with her instinct to be obedient. Mei exhibits growth by learning to embrace what she wants. Sharing the Taiwanese ice cream with Darren represents sharing both herself and her culture with him. Mei is opening up to new love and independence even though it scares her: “I could feel some of the resistance planted by my parents melting away, and it was terrifying” (163). Connecting with Darren also shows how old prejudices can be overcome by younger generations. Had Mei obeyed Mama Lu in shunning Darren, she would be unwillingly perpetuating the racial stereotypes and values of her family and culture. Associating Darren with the historical Japanese occupation of Taiwan is unfair, but it shows how, for many immigrants like Mama Lu, some cultural trauma can be left unresolved. While she has tried to pass down this pain in the form of hatred, Mei has broken the cycle.
At the same time, Darren’s disconnect from his Japanese heritage shows how some children of immigrants may feel more American over time. Darren claims that he wishes he had been raised to speak Japanese; he only knows the word kiemasu for “vanish.” Like how the novel’s frequent Mandarin references illustrate Mei’s connection to her heritage, the single use of a Japanese word represents Darren’s separation from his. His grasp of his ancestors’ language doesn’t match Mei’s narration, which is embedded with Mandarin to show her relative closeness with her culture. Darren’s family has been in America for three generations, a span of time that has enhanced the distance from his ancestors’ culture. Therefore, Darren’s cultural identity is not in crisis like Mei’s. Still, Darren feels his own guilt for leaving his home, even if he has done so to pursue a successful career to help his family financially. In this way, Darren also has to adjust to and assimilate to a new place with its own language and customs in order to help his family back home.
Meanwhile, Mei’s “immigration” to MIT is fraught with more conflict as she reconnects with Xing and more easily rejects her parents’ traditions. She is haunted by good memories that seem to overshadow the overbearing behavior. For example, she remembers her mother’s stories and her father’s shows of affection in her childhood. Despite this, as Mei’s secrets build up, she strengthens her resolve to disobey her parents and pursue her own autonomy. This shows her ongoing character development and illustrates Coping With Guilt and Anxiety Through Self-Acceptance.
