“‘Chinese people do many things,’ she said simply. ‘Chinese people do business, do painting, do painting. Not lazy like American people. We do torture. Best torture.’” In this quote, Waverly’s mother is responding to the question “what is Chinese torture?” When she answers, she is using dialect. Her grammar is that of someone who’s first language was not English. She skips articles and says things in a way that an English speaker would not.
“‘Ma, it’s not how many pieces you lose,’ I said. ‘Sometimes you need to lose pieces to get ahead.’” In this sentence, Waverly is saying that sometimes people need to make sacrifices in order to get what they want or what is most important to them.
This is still true today. Many people sacrifice things that are important to them to be able to do things and get what they need most. For example, a new mother may sacrifice having a job in order to stay home and raise her child. Although this is less prevalent today, many people still do it. It may mean there is less money for other things or that they are giving up a job they worked toward the majority of their life, but they do it anyway because they love their children.
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